QUESTION 2

QUESTION 2. WHAT TYPE OF ACTIVITY HAVE YOU USED TO PROMOTE A CLIMATE FOR COOPERATIVE LEARNING?
RESPONSES

a. Student pairs interview each other and then introduce each other to the class	25
b. Short presentation (each student briefly introduces himself/herself to the class)	15
c. A regular math assignment done in groups	82
d. A non-math group activity (such as those involving circles and line-ups)	20
e. Other (please specify)
Group quizzes	3
Computer projects	2
Background survey	1
Discussion of homework assignments	1
Class work and tests or quizzes in groups	1
Experiments with Probability	1

COMMENTS

When I have students work together on problems that were previously assigned as homework, many students treat the group-work session as a sort of study hall. They work as individuals and direct their questions to me.
This (c.) is not the best way to group but it has worked okay so far.
Non-math activities seem to be more successful. Students were more at ease.
I have found that almost always a group builds a healthy climate while working on problems.
My cheerleading keeps them at it for a while and then they begin to see a multitude of values in cooperative learning and that is the real basis for successful climate building. Examples of unsuccessful are rare, isolated and due to specific circumstances.
I find c and d work better, b can work if you ask them to answer a very specific question with the potential for a variety of interesting answers.
I prefer c which is natural, to the others, which are artificial. I have no difficulty getting students to accept group work.
First 2 weeks of semester students "turn" to different neighbors and work on 5 - 10 minute problems. Then permanent groups are assigned, by student preferences (people they like = good climate). I don’t feel that I have time for non-math related activities (may pay off, but I don’t see how)
Climate to a large extent seems to depend on the group. I can at times influence this.
Excellent - In basic Algebra/College Algebra it really makes a difference in the student’s attitude toward class.
It takes a long time to build climate (at least a few weeks).
I think it helps to set the tone if a non-math activity is used to get the students talking and interacting. In several classes that I teach, the students are very anxious coming in and often think they are the ONLY one in class whose favorite class is not math. By engaging them in non-threatening activity that gets them interacting with other students they begin to open up to the possibilities of the mathematics and the cooperative learning experiences. .
Having students briefly introduce themselves to the rest of the class (and I do it too) gets a course started on a very positive note. When students form groups, I always have them introduce themselves to each other and trade phone numbers. This seems very valuable.
Giving extra time to get to know one another. In my course for E. E. majors I usually am able to find better problems for group work and the climate is built better than in my college algebra course where I have had more troubles finding good group engaging problems with the resources I currently have.
The assignments in Calculus worked well. The students in the elementary teachers class made up data and did not actually perform the experiment.
I want students to take responsibility for climate-building. I have sometimes given them surprise quizzes asking, for instance, to name the other people in their group. I often discuss with them after the fact the need to create a cooperative climate.
Special projects involving reading, writing, mathematics and science; group presentations, projects, computer labs, evening cooperative study rooms (with student assistants). Cannot measure success -- but they were not unsuccessful - also not visibly successful to any great extent (also refers to (a) and (c).
Successful: In statistics, "given statistics is a sound, what sound is it" done in groups. Students say one unique thing about them. Students introduce others to the class.
I have used a survey form to get the best match possible and most often the match is based on time available. When a person did not wish to become involved in this type of activity, that person or persons became a member of my study group.
The background survey seems to work well. I did this for some semesters. Each team usually consists of a student good in math, one good in computer. I also allow them to choose their team members as well.
I use group exercises in class/lab & group name selection by each group. The occasional group has problems cooperating well. In most cases listening to the concerns of each student has helped to dissolve those problems. In general the groups have adopted their role quite willingly
Assignments include labs, projects, and homework problem sets
Some students resist the idea of group work based on their study habits or scheduling conflicts. Other students think that the group work is the best part of the course.
Students work in groups of three members on half of their homework assignments (in the College Algebra course). The group is to meet regularly (at least twice a week) and also meet a couple of times with me to go over issues affecting effective group performance.
I believe in order to have a successful climate cooperative learning must be used on a regular basis. I also believe it works best when students work in the same group for the entire semester although I have changed groups simply because the students were not working well together. In summary the more I use groups the more they enjoy it.
I tried assigning the groups and discouraging students from switching. That didn't work well. I've had better luck letting students choose their own groups and switch groups as desired.
Class work and tests or quizzes in groups
Group work is difficult in community colleges because so many students drop out of classes, so few are serious about the class, and most are commuters and have to make extraordinary efforts to contact each other outside of class. Another problem is absenteeism and tardiness: a person may find him or herself without any group members on a day that a group assignment is scheduled. If I reform groups with the people present on that day, then there is no continuity from one day to the next.
The student pairs introducing each other to the class seems to work well as a first-day warm-up. My math-for-ed-majors classes were composed entirely of activities on which the students worked first in small groups and then hashed it out in one large group (class size <=20). It worked generally quite well, though some small groups (one or two per semester) had to be changed due to personality conflicts, and large-group discussions were sometimes difficult to get going.
We don't do much here. Most of our students these days have worked in groups before. We just form the groups and get them started on a project.
This did not seem to be a problem. We are a small school. The students knew each other. They had worked in groups in previous courses.
Working in a computer lab setting generally seems very successful in developing good group feeling.
Sometimes students do not work well together and it causes friction. Often if groups work together frequently good relationships are formed and they care for each other and help each other to learn, even when not working in groups. Often they will study together outside of class.
Groups were used informally, students really liked working in groups, therefore success overall.
Group quizzes, group activities (especially in math for elem. ed. majors)
Introductory activities where personal data (first name, no. of pets, etc is used as a basis for a math problem) Students need to be given some non-threatening activity in a group before they start working together so that everyone feels comfortable participating. Some students cannot find time to get together with a group.
Random assignment to temporary groups for the first week, with student selected groups thereafter
Forcing students to interact with many others and then allowing them to choose their own group was a smooth transition to a cooperative setting. The continual expectation of group responses to questions helped also.
Occasionally personality conflicts within groups create difficulties however this can be a learning experience in effectively handing conflicts in working situations.
Normally, students do a short presentation and a regular math assignment in groups. Last quarter, I've tried a line-up by birthday in order to distributed different questions to groups of students. The students were much more involved in knowing their group members and assigned question for their group as well to other groups with this later type of activity
I put them in seating groups of 3-4 and they introduce themselves to their group mates in a few minutes and then I have them do a math group think. I can ask any group member what their group thinks. I warn them the first day that tomorrow I am going to have them sit in groups. The next meeting I have their assigned seating set up and then give them my propaganda about working in groups in the work place. I just say that is the way it is going to be with lots of ideas thrown out and they go along with me with very few exceptions.
guided self-selection after about 2 weeks of various class activities in groups
I usually take about two weeks to form groups. During each of the first several class periods, we discuss how groups work, the kinds of strengths that each class member might bring to the group experience, and the value of working in groups to learn mathematics. During one of these discussions, we talk about combinations of skills that each group might want to have: someone with computer skills, someone with strength in algebra, students with different majors, younger/older students (who bring different life experiences), and so on. Usually someone observes that groups will need to meet with each other outside of class, and so compatible schedules is a concern for members of a group. Then I lead an exercise in which students self-select with some guidance from me in having each group meet the criteria that we have agreed on in the earlier discussion. I have a large number of returning adult students, and a large number of commuters. So, I have found that some degree of self-selection in groups is important so that students feel that they have had some choice.
Successful: increased interest among students, less anxiety about asking questions Unsuccessful: Some dependence of students on fellow group students, not too many activities that could be assigned for group work
A non math group activity
Students divide into groups of three or four and read a current article from the news that involves probability or statistics concepts. They then answer, as a group, a set of three or four questions about the article. We then discuss their answers. The group activities such as having a group choose one student who things he or she can tell the difference between Pepsi and Coke and then design and carry out a test to see if he or she can have been very successful. The success of a discussion of a news article depends on how good the questions we raise are. With some experience these group discussions have been very successful. These have been more successful in the smaller classes -- 30 or so students. We have also been able to use them in large classes (100) but with less success.
At … the students enter college with a very authoritarian mindset; they want to be told what to do, they distrust their peers' ability to help them learn mathematics, and most of all they don't believe that anyone except the teacher has an epistemic privilege, that is, only authority may decide what counts as 'knowledge'. Overcoming or subverting this attitude is key to having students benefit from cooperative learning.
I have found that the personality make-ups of classes make a great difference in what can be done. I have had classes that work well in groups and a separate class that same semester that I could not get to work in groups. The classes that tended to work in groups tended to have more questions that were conceptual in nature, rather than computational. I expect that one of the members of the group was able to deal with the computational part, while no one was able to deal as easily with the conceptual questions.
Students not all present, commenting how dumb this is.
I have used groups on the first day of class to have students discuss positive/negative experiences in math classes. They used round-table to list things that made math classes difficult (a couple of times around), and then things that made math classes more pleasant places to be (again a couple times around). This seemed to work well in getting students to talk to each other and get all those issues out in the open.
math activities that involve interaction.
Using cubes to illustrate the binary representations for numbers from one to fifteen. Students work in pairs and create a set of four guessing cards. Then they play a game.
computer programming discovery activity in pairs or trios
Success seems to partly depend on the students view of learning and grades. Some students like it very much and some are worried about how it will effect their grades feeling that others in their group were not taking the work as seriously as they were. Most of the students seemed to feel comfortable enough to choose groups after any of these activities.
Well, not really a 'regular' math assignment, but a math assignment nonetheless.
The group assignments in calculus I were quite successful in developing both group and class focus and purpose. I would say that the efforts in College Algebra were much less successful.
A project (in more depth than the regular assignment) to be completed in groups.
It seems to be much easier to build this climate successfully in certain courses or subgroups of the student population than in others. Working with engineering and science students, it has been quite difficult -- they are often very caught up in competitiveness and individualism. Preservice teachers seem, on the whole, to be more receptive to it, perhaps because they are being introduced to it in many of their classes.
General resistance to grouping due, I think, to the non-residential nature of our student body and our older than 'normal' students. They work, have families, etc. and find group activities pose substantial difficulties.
I was unsuccessful in a large class with no one else to help me. I was more successful with a smaller class or when I had an assistant.
When students choose their own groups, most of them work on the assignments as instructed. However, some of the groups choose to talk about non-related things. When students are put into groups, then some of them still work well; however, some of the weak students (when put with a stronger student) will let the other group members do the assignment.
A Scavenger-hunt
Students end up nice and friendly but weak and soft.
Students in these courses have already had several courses together and know each other pretty well, so I have not felt the need to address this issue.
Both a. and c. are successful, although success varies with different classes
I would not term everything I do an assignment since they are not always to be turned in.
I am not sure what is meant by climate building, but usually most of the class finds group activities quite helpful, and therefore they seem to enjoy the class more (and get more from it). There always seems to be a core of about 22-25% of the class who do not like group experience -- some feel it slows things down and others feel uncomfortable with the interaction itself. Another problem that I have run into is that people will get off track (i.e., talk about non-math stuff!!), but I find that this can be dealt with easily if I wander around the room and visit with each group (or assign more work than I expect the average student to do!)
In our Basic Statistics course the final exam was a poster presentation of a semester-long project involving the design of an experiment and then the collection and analysis of the data.
all CS labs done in teams of 2 or 3
If the activity is carefully planned and laid out, then it generally goes better. Some difficulty in getting all team members to participate, and being sure this in fact happened. Students tend to depend far more on each other than on the instructor.