Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004 COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004 CONSIDERATIONS IN GROUP WORK Task-related talk is high in cooperative groups. Plan tasks which require collaboration. Groups of four or five are likely to work better than too small or too large groups. Being a girl in a group with mostly boys depresses the amount of participation by girls and the amount of high level talk. Have reporting back sessions.

Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004 GROUPING CRITERIA Age groups Attainment groups Mixed ability groups Interest groups Friendship groups Convenience groups Gender groups Activity groups Preferred learning style.

Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004 MOVING TO GROUP WORK Re-arrange the classroom for group work. Stage one: Have only one or two groups working apart from the class at any one time, while the remainder of the class is involved in class/individual work. Stage two: Each group replicates the same activity. Stage three: Each group works on the same activity in a variety of ways. Stage four: Each group work on a variety of aspects of a topic.

Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004 KEY CONSIDERATIONS IN GROUP WORK Avoid being too ambitious for self and students. Enable students to learn and practise being in a group. Don’t expect too much too quickly by way of results. Tell students clearly the intended outcome of their group work.

Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004 KEY CONSIDERATIONS IN GROUP WORK Give clear instructions. Be vigilant to the whole class. Comment on the group success. Be prepared to stop everyone to calm matters. Reward group behaviour.

Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004 TEACHERS AND GROUP WORK Judge when to intervene and when to stand back: children work well in groups when the teacher is with them, but the level of activity can drop by 50 per cent when the group is working without the teacher. Getting ideas from the group. Allocating tasks. Pacing the work. Providing encouragement and support. Fitting it all together.