The shift towards cooperative learning has advantages and disadvantages. Some children do well and like, and others do not. My daughter always felt like she did a better job alone and that she found that when others were in a group, she did most of the work. Then when the grade was given, everyone received the same grade, even though they did not do most of the work.
What is your opinion of this?
Re: disadvantages of coop learning
Several factors seem to be important here:
1. Group member roles (each must have one and be accountable for that segment of the project…)
2. Carefully written scoring guide or rubric…that addresses group member roles, team work, and individual effort. (Yes, it can be done.)
3. Supervision of work. No comments needed here.
4. Learning demonstration choices must allow group members to show their role in the project…
There are more, but this is what comes to mind quickly. I just think about it as I’m designing the project, selecting groups, and supervising the work.
IT’s one of those things that *needs* to be done well and carefully (like inclusion, eh?) — and still has advantages and disadvantages. One would hope no teacher did basically everything that way. And yes, one of the big pieces of fallout is that teachers often *don’t* plan it well enough, and the hardest workers are really getting graded on their ability to get effort out of the less ambitious team members — which, I doubt, is really what they’re supposed to be learning.