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?
I teach developmental mathematics at a four year state college and teach
almost exclusively in cooperative groups without lecture. My students range
in age from 18 to 50. Many have math anxiety; others are dismayed at being
placed in a remedial class after passing Algebra II in high school because
of low ACT scores. Many of my younger students have extensive experience in
group settings because of their school experiences; many of my older
students have experience at working in groups from their employment.
In general, I would say that as long as the groups are not required to meet
outside of class, most of my students strongly prefer groupwork to lecture.
Since I am also using a constructivist/discovery approach which seems to
work very well for this type of discouraged or disgruntled learner, I don't
know if they like the groups because of the social aspect or because they
are experiencing success in the coursework. They do often remark that the
class just races by. Those students who prefer to not attend class
regularly or have difficulty doing so because of sick kids or irregular
work schedules do not like cooperative learning. They can't pick up the
material by borrowing another student's notes and they are behind when they
come back to class.
There are a few students that argue that they don't learn as effectively in
groups as they do in a lecture or on their own and I am sure that this is
true (it is true for me). However, I point out to them that they are to
spend two hours of class time for every hour in class and that they may
choose to do work during that time alone and meet their learning
preference. I also have my students complete a series of readings/questions
which discuss the theory of cooperative learning, learning style, multiple
intelligences, and so on. I want them to know the why of the design of the
instruction they are completing. That seems to help a great deal, they make
jokes about Johnson & Johnson's five elements of cooperative learning --
who is doing what and so on.
Are students "today" more negative? Less willing to work? Qualitatively, I
don't think so. But I do think they have learned to scope out the
class/instructor to see if it is a class where they will have to learn the
material enough to demonstrate it on a summative assessment or if they can
get by with Ds or even Fs on whatever assessment(s) there are and pad that
up to a passing grade with homework and extra credit and class
participation and so forth. I suspect this isn't much different than it has
ever been. In my experience, high school teachers are often in a difficult
spot with students who have the ability to learn, are "good" kids, but
don't want to work. If they don't provide extra credit and lots of homework
points, their fail rate is unacceptable.
A colleague of mine used my materials and sort of used cooperative learning
this last semester. By sort of, I mean she didn't do anything to cause
"positive interdependence" and she let them be lazy about learning on their
own. When the students whined about not understanding stuff (which is part
and parcel of "discovery" learning), she went to the board and explained it
to them. She was afraid of them failing and afraid of them not liking the
class. They were quite critical of the group activities on their
evaluations, a definite contrast from the feedback I get. She found the
whole experience frustrating. I told her I was willing to help coach her
through the process but also willing to let her try blending group
activities with lecture and traditional grading practices. She chose to
sort of meander through the experience and it was not positive. This is
relevant because I think student attitudes are very much shaped by
instructor attitudes and instructor vulnerability. They knew she wasn't
committed to the method or willing to force them to learn using it and they
essentially forced her to go back to telling them what they needed to know.
I agree with Martha; my retention isn't better but the students who are
passing can do much more since I started teaching in cooperative groups. My
tricep has gotten smaller because I don't get to write on the board much.
I'm not as bored as I was lecturing although there are days when a nice
canned lecture with a few pointed questions would be mighty relaxing
comparing to coaching groups!
--Laura
____________________________________________________________________
Laura Bracken bracken@lcsc.edu
Division of Natural Science and Mathematics Office: 208-799-2484
Lewis-Clark State College Fax: 208-799-2064
500 8th Avenue
Lewiston, ID 83501
_____________________________________________________________________
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