The Nuts and Bolts of an Inquiry Based

Cooperative Learning Environment

J. E. TrempyOregon State University

Cooperative Learning

• A very powerful student active method

• High student satisfaction

• High retention of information

• Stronger impact on student productivity

• Effective in improving critical thinking, self esteem, racial/ethnic relations and prosocial behavior

Students must move from:• Passive listeners and note takers to active problem

solvers, discoverers, contributors• Low/moderate to high expectations of preparedness• Low risk private to high risk public presence• Personal responsibility for attendance to community

expectation• Individualistic competition• Formal impersonal relationships with peers and

instructors to genuine interest in others• Viewing instructors and texts as sole authorities to

seeing themselves as experts and contributors

Traditional College Classrooms

• Of the four learning styles, Digital (reading/writing) and Auditory learners do not usually face difficulties in traditional college classrooms

• Visual and Kinesthetic learners however are often left behind

Multi-Sensory Teaching• Propose: all students learn more and

better from multiple sense presentations (Woods, 1989)

• Reading 5-10% retained• + Hearing 10-20% retained• + Visual 30% retained• + Speaking 70% retained• + Doing >90% retained

What is cooperative learning?

Learner centered instructional process.Small (3-5 students), intentionally selected

groups of students work interdependently on a well defined task, such as a problem to be solved.

Students are individually held accountable for learning and participation.

Cooperation is necessary for success.Instructor/Professor is the

facilitator/consultant in this group learning process.

D. Johnson and R. Johnson

Cooperative learning is NOT:

Students sitting together and discussing, yet working on their individual assignments.

Students doing individual projects or assignments with the instructions that the ones who finish first are to help the others.

Assigning a task to a group of students, yet only a few members of the group work on the assignment.

D. Johnson and R. Johnson

Cooperative learning is NOT a new idea

• Talmud: “In order to learn you must have a learning partner.”• Quintillion: “Students could benefit from teaching one another.”• Seneca: “When you teach, you learn.”• Comenius (1592-1679): believed students would benefit both by teaching and being taught by other students.• Lancaster/Bell (late 1700’s): used cooperative learning groups in England. Lancastrian school opened in New York City in 1806, bringing this teaching method to America.

D. Johnson and R. Johnson

• U.S. Common School Movement early 1800’s: strong emphasis on cooperative learning.• Colonel Francis Parker (1870-1900): strong advocate of cooperative learning in public schools.

• John Dewey followed Parker in his promotion of cooperative learning groups.• In the 1930’s interpersonal competition began to be emphasized in schools• In the late 1960’s individualistic learning began to be used extensively in schools.

• In the later part of this century, schools are now reexamining cooperative learning. D. Johnson and R. Johnson

Do you know how your students interact with one another?

• We (the professor) spend a lotof time arranging appropriate interactions between students and materials (textbooks, content, etc.). • We devote some time learning how to interact with our students.

However! •Very little time is spent on how students should interact with each other.

Peer interaction is a neglected aspect of instruction.

Three basic ways students interact with each other as they learn

• Competitively: compete to see who is the best• Individualistically: work alone toward a goal• Cooperatively: work together toward a goal

with a vested interest in each other’s learning as well as their own

Of the three, competition is presently the most dominant form of interaction during the learning process. Current teaching strategies

reinforce competition and individualisticlearning in college courses

Big difference between assigning students to work in a group and structuring groups

of students to work cooperatively.

•Cooperative learning is notdiscussion groups (collaborative learning) or study groups.•Cooperative learning is not a group of students assigned to do a project but onlyone or two members in the group actuallycontribute while the others are along for the free ride.

Elements of Cooperative Learning

• Clearly perceived positive interdependence• Considerable promotive interaction• Clearly perceived individual accountability and personal responsibility to achieve the group’s goals• Frequent use of the relevant interpersonal and small group skills• Frequent and regular group processing of current functioning to improve the group’s future effectiveness

R.T. and D.W. Johnson

What is positive interdependence?• Students perceive they are linked with their team members in such a way that they cannot succeed unless their whole team does. Each team member’s efforts are absolutely required. • Students must coordinate their efforts with the efforts of their team in order to complete a task.• Each team member has a unique contribution to make to the joint effort because of his/her expertise and responsibilities.• Expert roles• Functional roles: recorder, spokesperson, summarizer, corrector, skeptic, organizer, manager, observer, time keeper, conflict resolver, liaison

Examples of structuring positive interdependence within a

cooperative learning group:

Positive goalPositive reward

Positive resourcePositive role

Positive interdependence must be clearlystructured. It provides the context withinwhich promotive interaction takes place.

What is promotive interaction?

Team members encourage and facilitate each other’s efforts to achieve, complete tasks, and produce in order to achieve the group’s goals.

How do you structure accountability? No freeloaders allowed

• Size of the group---should be small.• Individual grades• Individually test after completing the cooperative activity.• Observe the activities of the group.• Ask each member to participate in a presentation so as to demonstrate what they have learned.• Have each student teach the other students what they have learned.

“I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability underthe sun.” -John D. Rockefeller

Not only are interpersonal and small groupskills important in the real world, they arean essential element of cooperative learning.

Humans are not born instinctively knowing how to interact effectively with each other.Students must be provided with role modelsand examples of effective interpersonal skills.

The fifth essential component of cooperative learning is group processing

Group processing: Reflection on how well the group is functioning and formulating plans as to how to improve the groups’ work processes.

Purpose: To clarify and improve the effectiveness of the members contributing to the cooperative group efforts to achieve the group’s goals.

Structuring Cooperative

Learning Activities• Think pair share: dissect a question that has

multiple components• Jigsaw: each team member is assigned a mini topic

to research. Students then meet to discuss, integrate and further refine

• Constructive controversy: assigned opposing sides of an issue

• Group investigation (inquiry based, problem based, case study based)

How do you develop appropriate activities for inquiry based

cooperative learning?•Develop projects using the who, what, where, when, why and how approach• Consider demographics and skills when developing teams and assigning expert roles.• Act like a manager and be arole model: don’t be afraid to emulate good interpersonal skills in the classroom, even in a large classroom

What makes CL work?

Structuring tasks so that students have to work cooperatively together.

Professor needs an understanding ofthe components that make cooperation work (positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, social skills, and group processing).

Acknowledgement that learninginvolves both academic and teamwork skills.

D. Johnson and R. Johnson

Common Mistakes• Group size too large• Not preparing students to work in cooperative groups• Not teaching students appropriate interaction skills• Letting students choose their own groups• Not planning tasks with care, an unclear learning goal• Assuming cooperative groups can handle complex tasks• Not building in accountability• Assuming students will magically develop social skills.• Not understanding the power of positive relationships on achievement• Not carefully monitoring groups while they are working• Giving group grades

Structuring an Inquiry Based Cooperative Learning Course in

Microbiology Myth #1: Students know how to identify

relevant problems.Reality #1: Students do not know how to

identify relevant problems.

To avoid unclear learning goals:Teams of students are assigned a contemporary global problem involving microbes as either the cause of the problem or the solution to the problem. The problem is relevant, controversial, and has multiple components and outcomes.

Myth #2: Students know how to be productive in a group

situation. Reality #2: Students do not know how to work productively in groups.

The professor must assume the role of CEO for this course, and be responsible for initially defining team goals and facilitating productive team interactions. Four students from different disciplines are assigned to a team. A liaison for each team is identified and the role of an expert on a subject relevant to the problem is assigned to each member of the team.

Positive interdependence Promotive interaction

Individual accountability

Myth #3: Students know what to do in a cooperative learning environment. Reality #3: For the most part, studentswill not know what to do in a cooperative learning environment because they have been conditioned to learn competitively/individualistically.

Provide learning activities that require frequent use of relevant interpersonal

and small group skills as well as opportunity for group processing

Examples of Controversial Problems and Corresponding Expert Roles

•“So, work makes you ill?” Legal aspects of sick building syndrome; infectious disease specialist, environmental engineer, health

specialist, lawyer

•“Manure happens!”The use of converted cow manure to provideelectricity to homes; anerobic microbiologistenvironmental engineer, agricultural specialist,energy specialist

“Splish, splash I was taking a bath!” Legal aspects of Legionella

outbreaks on cruise ships; infectious disease specialist, health care professional, environmentalist, maritime lawyer.

Effectiveness of Cooperative Learning (CL) at the college level: 120 studies involving verbal, mathematical and procedural tasks

•CL promoted higher individual achievement than did competitive or individualistic learning.• Greater intrinsic motivation to learn.• More frequent use of cognitive processes.• Greater long-term maintenance of the skills and concepts learned (retention).• Other outcomes: increased retention of students until graduation, and increased building of positive and supportive relationships among diverse students.

D. Johnson and R. Johnson

TABLE 3. Student Assessments in MB390

Retention of concepts and details >90%

Student success in expert roles:Earning grade they set out to achieve

98%

Student attendance in class and teammeetings without any absences

97%

Student success in materialcontribution

100%

Student participation in CL activities 100%

Criteria of Earned Success Assessment Outcome

J.E. Trempy

TABLE 4. Student Evaluation of MB390

Evaluation CriteriaEvaluation Outcome

Student self-recognition they usedproblem solving, critical thinkingand analytical skills

95%

Student self-recognition thatcommunication and teamwork skillswere essential components ofsuccess

90%

Students that considered CLmethods as first effective teamlearning environment in theiracademic career

98%

On a scale of 0 – 4 (0 = low, 4 =high): Students felt they had learneda significant number of new ideasand skills

3.9

On a scale of 0 – 4 (0 = low, 4 =high): Average student evaluation ofMB390

3.9

J.E. Trempy

MB390 Pretest/Post-test Analysis

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Year

% Correct

Pretest resultsPost-test results

J. E. Trempy

What’s going on in MB390?

• Inquiry based learning• Cooperative learning environment• Kinesthetic learners, as well as visual,

digital and auditory learners are engaged• Requires the use of the following skills:

– Inquiry, synthesis, critical thinking, problem solving

– Communication skills (verbal and written)– Computer skills– Information access skills– Team work skills– Initiative, accountability, promotive

interaction