Collaborative Learning

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Collaborative Learning

• Do not try to satisfy your vanity by teaching a
  great many things Put there just a spark. If
  there is some good inflammable stuff, it will
  catch fire.
• ANATOLE FRANCE

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The Collaborative Learning Project
Stephen Blaney, Nick Wallace, Abigail Gallant
The Helena Romanes School, Gt Dunmow, Essex
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What is Collaborative Learning?

• Students working in small teams
• Students taking responsibility for their own
  learning
• Each group works together to acquire knowledge
• The teacher takes a secondary role in the class,
  rather than leading it
• The students work together until the task has
  been finished

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Able Student Questionnaire

• Students were interviewed individually about
  learning
• The questionnaire was comprehensive covering
  learning styles, perceptions of learning and
  teaching, questioning skills and assessment and
  target settings
• 62 students were interviewed
• NFER scores of the pupils ranged from 97 to 130
• Interviews were carried out by a member of staff

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The Results

• 54 of students expected to obtain a B grade at
  GCSE interestingly no one said they thought
  they would achieve an A
• 46 of students felt that their teachers
  enthusiasm for their subject was extremely
  important
• 47 of students often asked questions to peers,
  whereas 25 often asked questions to teachers

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The Results

• 31 of students said that their teachers
  enthusiasm was the factor that motivated them the
  most
• 55 of students were aware of their targets and
  what they needed to do to achieve them
• 58 of students preferred a student-based
  classroom environment. Only 10 of students
  preferred a teacher-based classroom environment

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Why is the questionnaire relevant to
collaborative learning?

• From the results the teacher could see if the
  collaborative learning project would work with
  his or her class
• Collaborative learning addressed the issues in
  the questionnaire, for example was it the
  teachers enthusiasm that motivated most students
  or were they able to be motivated without a
  teachers input?

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The Collaborative Learning Task
Design a revision guide for year 11 students
focusing on poems from other cultures and
traditions which enables them to achieve the
highest grades (A/A)
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Why use Collaborative Learning?

• Students learn better as a group
• Increased focus / concentration
• Study teams allow students to pool their ideas
  together
• A group of students with guidance from a teacher
  can access more knowledge than one teacher can
  give to a class of 30 students
• Students learn best when they are actively
  involved in the learning process
• Permanent learning happens through talk

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What Collaborative Learning Means for a Teacher

• Preparation
• Facilitation
• Breaking down the barriers
• Continual assessment
• Taking risks

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What We Gained

• Developed communication skills
• Good for students with different learning styles
• Classroom style less pressurised
• Sharing ideas, we benefited from others
  interpretations

• Responsibility
• Positive Peer Pressure
• Tolerance
• Self-esteem

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How is collaborative learning changing the
curriculum?

• More student centered
• Changes the importance and role of the teacher
• Students are able to work effectively as part of
  a group without the support of a teacher
• Demonstrates the positive aspects of peer
  pressure
• Students are able to work in a democratic
  environment

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The progress of the collaborative learning project

• The project has been adopted by other schools
• Introducing the Year 7s to collaborative learning
  in 2004
• Conferences
• Chelmer Valley
• London
• Nottingham
• Birmingham

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Question and Answer

• With Stephen Blaney, Abigail Gallant, Nick
  Wallace and also the project co-ordinator Karen
  Evans