I was too swamped to jump in the last time you asked about experiences with
group work, but enjoyed the discussion. I do a considerable amount of
group work in just about all of my classes. (When I teach a class that I
have not developed hand-outs for, I find myself falling back into the
comforatable, easy old shoes of more lecture until I get ideas for creating
supplemental materials that support group work.)
I find that many students are resistent to discovery and group work
methods. I also have students do seem that I should "earn my pay" by
working examples that they mimic, and by finding their mistakes, rather
than having them reason through problems or learn how to use the book or
other resources for finding answers. One student once said before dropping
the class, "You want us to THINK!"
As I have incorporated more group work, discovery exercises, and conceptual
problems into my class, I have not seen a difference in attrition, but I am
in general happier with the quality of student who makes it through the
class. If nothing else, they learn to articulate mathematics by working in
groups.
The types of group activities are critical to effective group work. The
"good" group activities make students think about concepts as well as
skills. Getting students to think rather than mimic does not necesarily
make students happy with a math class. Many would rather memorize some
terminology and steps, pass the course, and never see mathematics again for
the rest of their lives.
I do not know if there is a change in attitude towards group work, but I
think there is a change in attitude toward committing time to school
work--and since group work takes a time committment, it is no doubt part of
the annoyance of school. As a division chair, I hear many student
complaints. An increasing student expectation is that showing up to class
most of the time should guarantee a C or higher in a class, and if most
students do poorly on an exam that it is because the teacher is not
"teaching." When discussing the situation with the student, many times the
student thinks that 1 hour a week study time is "studying a lot."
> From: ted panitz <tpanitz@cape.com>
> To: wac-l@postoffice.cso.uiuc.edu
> Cc: aera-c@asuvm.inre.asu.edu; aera-k@asuvm.inre.asu.edu;
aera-j@asuvm.inre.asu.edu; mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu;
math@lists.davis.k12.ut.us
> Subject: [MATHEDCC] coop learning discussion
> Date: Tuesday, May 26, 1998 8:38 AM
>
> Hi Listers,
>
> It has been a while since we have discussed cooperative learning
> approaches on the list. I would like to jump start a discussion by
> looking at student reactions I received after completion of a course
> which utilizes cooperative learning techniques extensively.
>
> Each of the students did well in the course (intermediate algebra),
> receiving "A" grades, but as you will see they each had different
> reactions. These students worked hard and had excellent exam results.
> You might think that this would help convince them that the cooperative
> processes were working for them. However, there were a number of
> negative reactions despite the fact that the students were becoming
> successful, independent, mathematics learners and doing very well in the
> course.
>
> Below are several student "self evaluations" written by the
> students at the completion of the course. I have organized the
> testimonials by alternating negative and positive student reactions. I
> am finding that over time the positive responses are getting stronger
> but so are the negative ones.
>
> I would hypothesize that the negative reactions came in part from
> students who were under pressure from outside sources and viewed the
> extra time, effort and responsibility placed upon them as an unnecessary
> burden which could have been relieved by my telling them the answers to
> all their questions. Ironically their questions were answered by the end
> of each class, but not necessarily by me.
>
> (As an aside, to prove how burdened one student was she brought her
> baby to class, when it was sick and they both looked pretty haggared and
> miserable. She tried to make the case that she should be relieved of the
> additional pressure brought on by this math class by my somehow infusing
> her with the necessary information. )
> (Ah, if only I had that power!!)
>
> A second phenomenon I noticed was that at the beginning of most
> classes the students would start out slowly and hesitatingly until they
> realized I wasn't going to do the work for them. As the class progressed
> they became more and more active until they became quite competent in
> the subject under study. What surprised me is that this scenario played
> out every class throughout the semester, despite the fact that I
> encouraged them along and kept pointing out how they were indeed able to
> learn together. In previous classes as students became more comfortable
> with the cooperative approach they worked harder and complained less. I
> wonder if this is a trend???
>
> A second hypothesis I have is that students are becoming more and
> more dependent (addicted??) upon the teacher for instructions and
> information transfer. They are offended when asked to look something up
> or try to solve a problem without first being shown and example.
>
> My questions the the list are:
>
> 1. Has anyone else has noticed a change in student attitude toward
> cooperative learning (or learning in general), toward the negative? Even
> after the students have succeeded in a course?
>
> 2. What student reactions in general do people get when using
> cooperative methods ?
>
> 3. What are people doing to deal with the changing student attitudes?
>
> (In the class described above I actually did start lecturing at the
> beginning of each new topic, had the students work on review sheets in
> groups, and take group quizzes before taking individual exams, and the
> students responded by asking me to go over my explainations again and
> again.)
>
> I look forward to hearing your responses and will build a file of
> responses. Please send your messages to the list.
>
> Regards,
> Ted
> tpanitz@cape.com
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Student #1-
> This math course was certainly different for me this semester from
> other semesters. I actually think I did worse this semester than I have
> done in the past.
> The thing that went well for me in this course is the group work.
> It helped working in groups where we received no class room lecture. I
> learned from the group work more than when I tried on my own.
> I did not like the fact that when we asked a question on a problem,
> that we did not receive an answer. We were given round about answers or
> told to look it up in the book. The book does not help at all. What I
> would have liked is if you would have taken the time to do the problem
> that we had a question on, on the board. You did this at times
> throughout the course, but most of the time you told us to look it up.
> That does not help at all.
> Another negative about group work is that if the whole group does
> not understand the material, we are all teaching each other blindly. If
> we do not understand the material, then it does not help to work in
> groups.
> Overall. I thought the course was OK. I have had better math classes
> and in some ways I feel as if I have lost out this past semester.
>
> Student #2-
> My approach towards math has drastically been changed since the
> first day of class. Before coming into this class I was extremely
> reluctant where math was concerned, but now that I have completed the
> course I feel I really can accomplish math if I work hard. This class
> has given me a better outlook on math. I think I did quite well in this
> course. A lot of that had to do with the fact that we were allowed to
> work in groups. After not being in a math class for about three years I
> was worried that I would be really far behind everyone in the class, but
> working in groups showed me that it wasn't a big competition, we were
> all working together to get each other through the class. The thing I
> liked best was having numerous opinions on how to do a problem, that way
> we could figure out which was the best way.
>
> Student #3-
> The next time I go through the process of selecting a math class, I
> will inquire much more intently into the teaching methods. My feelings
> toward math have not changed. I don't dislike math, but I would rather
> avoid it whenever possible.
> I felt that this collaborative learning approach as it was
> presented to me was a miserable failure, and it didn't have to be. The
> method was excellent for making students work together; nothing teaches
> one better than teaching someone else. Without a teacher, however, to
> teach the students, what are they going to teach each other? from the
> book you might say? In that case why do we need to pay the instructor?
> To improve this course, the teacher needs to earn the money the students
> are paying him and teach in a concrete manner as well as using the
> collaborative approach. If I had it to do over i would have transfered
> to a course which had more concrete methods. The teacher could be an
> excellent teacher if he would only realize that his students need to be
> shown how the math is done. He should realize that if the students were
> adept enough to learn straight out of the book, they would not need
> intermediate algebra.
>
> Student #4-
> With each course I take I gain more confidence in my math ability.
> In the past I would have said I had no head for math, but I was very
> wrong. I always had the ability but never forced myself to use it. In
> regard to my apporach to math, this particular course showed me that I
> now have the capability to use the good math foundation and brain I have
> to further my learning without constant hand holding.
> As far as group work, I know from experience that all through our
> lives there are many times we have to work as a group, just consider a
> family unit or coworkers, but I also recognize that from time to time
> there will be inevitable breakdowns in the groups dynamics, as happened
> with our group. Sometimes we were functioning as small groups within a
> larger group, but then as in the case of all groups, if the going got
> tough, the group got going-together. All in all, you can not get around
> the fact that any kind of collaborative work in school is good practice
> for the future, what ever your plans.
> I have signed up to take Survey of Mathematics this Summer (YAH!-
> finally my college course) and it is a terrific feeling to know I will
> enter the classroom having learned that I can do (corny as it may sound)
> what ever I put my mind to.
>
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