Cooperative Learning. Guinevere Palmer, Rachel Peters, Rebecca Streetman Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology, University of Georgia Review of Cooperative Learning Introduction Scenario Mrs. Solomon teaches a 9th grade Careers course. Mrs. She has tried a number of teaching methodologies. She also decided to try to make her classroom more student-centered by turning to a computer-based curriculum. As a last resort, Mrs. Mrs. Definition and Background Cooperative learning is defined as students working together to "attain group goals that cannot be obtained by working alone or competitively" (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1986). Cooperative learning is a methodology that employs a variety of learning activities to improve students' understanding of a subject by using a structured approach which involves a series of steps, requiring students to create, analyze and apply concepts (Kagan, 1990).
Theoretical Framework for Cooperative Learning Collaborative vs. Pre-Implementation As Mrs. Game-Based Learning Units for the Everyday Teacher. Game-based learning (GBL) is getting a lot press. It is an innovative practice that is working to engage kids in learning important 21st century skills and content. Dr. Judy Willis in a previous post wrote about the neurological benefits and rationale around using games for learning. She also gives tips about using the game model in the classroom.
James Paul Gee has long been a champion for game-based learning in speeches, blogs, and books. Quest to Learn, located in New York City, infuses technology with game-based learning, where entire units utilize missions, boss levels, and the like for learning important standards. Myths About Game-Based Learning First, let's clarify a couple things. Gee refers to teachers as "learning designers," and I couldn't agree more. Inspired by the work I've seen, here is an overview of components and structure for the everyday teacher to implement game-based learning Overall Structure: Individual Quests and Boss Levels Overall Theme Need to Know Incentives. Three Brain-based Teaching Strategies to Build Executive Function in Students. Updated 01/2014 For young brains to retain information, they need to apply it. Information learned by rote memorization will not enter the sturdy long-term neural networks in the pre-frontal cortex (PFC) unless students have the opportunity to actively recognize relationships to their prior knowledge and/or apply new learning to new situations.
Here are some teaching strategies to help build executive function in your students. 1) Provide Opportunities to Apply Learning When you provide students with opportunities to apply learning -- especially through authentic, personally meaningful activities -- and then provide formative assessments and feedback throughout a unit, facts move from rote memory to become part of the memory bank. These opportunities activate the isolated small neural networks of facts or procedures, which then undergo the cellular changes of neuroplasticity that link them into larger neural circuits of related information. 3) Model Higher Thinking Skills Judgment.