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PD BULLETIN_ A. [12]

To : All Staff

From : Adnan Mohammed (PD Chairman)

Date : March 17th

, 2011

Subject : Cooperative Learning

CC. : Deputy Directors, RPA Coordinator

Cooperative Learning [2]

Frameworks

With the following frameworks, a teacher can simply adopt an existing lesson plan and modify the organization of

the lesson. All cooperative learning frameworks emphasize the individual accountability, positive

interdependence, team reward and equal opportunity. Students can contribute more to the success of their

teams if they show improvement in comparison to their basic level of performance.

1- Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD)This is the most basic framework of those that involve group study with group reward for individual achievement.

It involves four major steps:

A- Teaching: In this step, the teacher presents the material using whatever method he chooses.B- Team study: The purpose of this step is to help team members master the material. Students, in this regard

explain problems, check each others work, prepare answers and resolve discrepancies.

C- Testing: There is no more help during the quiz. Members performance affects the overall teams scoreQuizzes are scored by the teacher or by the students. Points that are earned by each member are computedIn STAD, the points contributed by each member are based on the improvement he shows over the basic

score (past record).

D- Team recognition: every team earning a predetermined number of points receives a reward or certificateEqual chances of success are open to all teams. This reward does not only motivate students to improve

individual performance, but also to help improve that of their teammates and to encourage them to learn.

2- Teams-Games-Tournament (TGT) :This is similar to (STAD), except that instead of testing, (TGT) uses academic games or tournaments, against

equivalent members of other teams, to contribute points to their team scores. It goes over three steps.

A- The teacher begins by teaching the material. The class time is determined according to the nature of thematerial.

B- Next, the teacher studies the teams. Students review the material the teacher presents in their teams. Thepurpose here is to prepare students for the tournament.

C- In the third step, students participate in the tournament. Here students are assigned to different tables. Inacademic games, students compete with members of other teams to earn points for their teams. To ensure

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that students have equal opportunities to succeed, tournament tables are assigned with students of the same

achievement level.

The game goes with a table having a deck of down-faced numbered cards, a game sheet and answer sheet

The game sheet has a list of numbered questions to serve assessing students learning- just as the quizzes

do. Each student draws a numbered card from the deck. The student with the highest number becomes the

reader of the first round. Another student holds the answer sheet. The reader gets a card and answers the

correspondingly numbered question. The student with the answer sheet checks the answer. If the answer is

correct, the student keeps the card. If not, the card is returned to the bottom of the deck and the game

continues. If the students think that the reader gives an incorrect answer, they can challenge. The player with

the correct answer keeps the card. If the challenger gives an incorrect answer, he returns a previously won

card to the deck. Points are computed by counting the cards the students win to take back to their teams

Low-achieving students have equal chances to win points as high achieving students do.

D- The final step is the team recognition where teams earn certificates or rewards. (TGT) is unlike (STAD) in thatit does not provide a way to assess individual student performance.

3- Jigsaw II:In jigsaw II, which uses the task specialization with group reward for individual learning, each member of the team

becomes an expert on an aspect of the lesson content and shares that expertise with the other members of the

team. Each student shares the information he learns quite like that in a jigsaw puzzle. It is an adaptation of

Aronson's (1978) Jigsaw method and involves six steps.

A- Teaching: The teacher introduces the lesson and the objectives to be achieved.B- Reading: The students are divided to focus on a different topic while reading in the material. Students from

different teams, with the same assigned topic, meet in expert groups to discuss their topics.

C- Expert groups: The responsibility here is for students to help each other learn the material to teach it to theirteammates later. After they have become experts, students return to their teams for team reporting.

D- Team reporting: In this stage, pieces of the puzzle are assembled together. Experts teach team membersabout their topics. The members listen carefully as they are expected to learn all the material.

E- Testing: Students are individually accountable for learning the material; therefore, they work alone on a testcovering all the material.

F- Team recognition: This is based on how team members performed in the test. Scores are calculated the swayin (STAD). Earned points are based on improvement shown over past performance.

Regards,Adnan MohammedChairman, PD Committee

Slavin, R.E. When Does Cooperative Learning Increase Student Achievement PD COM M I TTEE