Co-operative Learning - TBo

Co-operative Learning is an approach to teaching which foregrounds students working in pairs and groups, high levels of engagement, participation and, erm, co-operation. It has been comprehensively branded by Dr Spencer Kagan, the US professor who first articulated the method, and who has presumably made stacks of cash from its global success; as a result, much of the literature and web-presence is a bit cheesy and commercial, which can be off-putting. However, its success cannot be denied, and those of us who have begun to experiment with Co-op have developed strong enthusiasm for the success, energy and fun it can bring to lessons.

Learning to use co-op will furnish your teaching with a range of student-centred structures and activities which are easy to use and which stick to a simple set of principles about learning. Kagan refers to these as the PIES principles, which state that activities which work well should promote:

· Positive interdependence (students need to work together to achieve a set goal or complete a task)

· Individual accountability (students have to play their role and are accountable to their group – without their input, the task can’t be completed)

· Equal participation (each student is expected to make an approximately equal contribution to the tasks)

· Simultaneous interaction (lots of students are active at any one time; lessons dominated by teacher-talk from the front are not encouraged!)

So in practice, what does it look like? To begin with a very simple structure, the teacher might replace traditional teacher-led Q and A with an activity such as Think, Pair, Share. In this structure, a question is posed, think time is given, then Student A is asked to explain their thoughts to Student B. Following this, Student B may be asked to explain A’s thinking to the rest of the class. That’s it – not rocket science, but very effective at creating an active buzz in the room, and avoiding the domination of the start of lessons by teacher-talk.

A slightly more complex structure could be Numbered Heads Together, where teams of 4 students are set an open ended, multiple answer question to investigate (could be anything: ‘why is this an effective piece of writing?’, ‘why are we here?’, ‘how can Science save the world’, ‘School uniform: good or bad?’, ‘which teacher has the worst dress sense?’. Students number up from 1 – 4, take think time, then stand up and huddle together – literally put their heads together – before each contributing their thoughts in turn. From here, they discuss their views until they agree on a team answer (a process which will involve some negotiation and compromise!). When they are agreed, they sit down, knowing that the teacher could call on any number to contribute, so they all need to be sure they understand their group’s view.

Of course, sometimes it works well, and sometimes it doesn’t work at all! Running co-op successfully certainly takes some practice, and a structure like Numbered Heads is likely to take a few goes before it runs smoothly. Learning to co-op has been compared to learning to drive; it’s a bit wobbly and anxiety-provoking at first, but you are soon whizzing along enjoying the ride. When it goes well, co-op lessons are brilliant – much more fun, much less tiring, much more productive and, when allied to the principles of Agile Teaching, there can be a real sense that the studentsare learning and making progress.