Cooperative Learning Strategies in the STEM Classroom Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement Classroom Instruction That Works! By: Robert J. Marzano, Debra J. Pickering & Jane E. Pollock Introduction and Ice-Breaker activity

The Color Trader Objective This activity was designed for the purpose of creating an atmosphere where students are required to think about the ethical ramifications of the decisions they make. During the implementation of this activity, students will need to be placed into teams of two or three and grouped around the parameter of a table

The Color Trader Scoring   If every team decides to trade a “White Chip”, each team loses $2,000. If every team decides to trade a “Green Chip”, each team wins $1,000. If one “White Chip” and three “Green Chip’s” are traded, the team that played the “White Chip” wins $3,000 and the teams that played the “Green Chip’s” lose $1,000 each. If one “Green Chip” and three “White Chips” are traded, the team that played the “Green Chip” wins $4,000 and the teams that played the “White Chip’s” lose $2,000 each. If two “White Chip’s” and two “Green Chip’s” are traded, the teams that played a “White Chip” win $2,000 each and the teams that played a “Green Chip” lose $1,000 each.

The Color Trader Each team will start the activity with $2,000, Procedure Each team will start the activity with $2,000, Each team should calculate their score at the completion of each round, Conversation between teams is not allowed during rounds 1-5, Conversation between teammates on one team is always allowed, Conversation between teams is allowed in rounds 5-10, You will have 2-3 minutes between rounds for planning you next move and the calculating your total score, All teams must place their selected item on the table simultaneously, Round six and ten are bonus rounds. At the completion of rounds six and ten, teams will total their scores and then double them (For example, if your total score at the end of round six is negative $4,000, you will double it to negative $8,000), After completing round ten, teams should calculate their total scores and share that information with the remainder of the class.

The Color Trader

The Color Trader Teacher Summary At the conclusion of this activity, ask the teams to share their team scores. Typically, you will find that a number of the teams lost a significant amount of money. This loss is caused by a lack of cooperation among the teams. If all teams cooperated, each team would complete the activity with a total of $40,000. However, most of your teams will probably not complete the activity with this total. This lack of cooperation between teams is very common. You may wish to calculate the total amount of money that could have been earned by the class if all teams had cooperated. The lesson: Cooperation between competitors is not always a negative. Too often, we teach students that in order to win, they must defeat their competition—this is most often not true in the “real-world”.

Learning Goals can be structured 3 different ways: Individualistically Cooperatively Competitively

Individualistic Learning goals Each person’s goal attainment is unrelated to goals of others No correlation among goal attainments No Interdependence “We are each in this alone.” Evaluation is criterion referenced and may be limiting. Rewarded for individual product.

Competitive Learning Goals One student obtains goal if and only if the others fail Negative correlation among goal attainments Negative Interdependence “If I swim, you sink; If you swim I sink.” Comparative (norm referenced) evaluation Winners are rewarded

Cooperative Learning When one person achieves goal, ALL achieve goals Positive correlation among goal attainments Positive Interdependence “We sink or swim together.” Evaluation is criterion referenced. Rewarded for group product.

CL Research Findings Increased achievement and retention Improved critical thinking and higher-level reasoning Changes views of others Increases willingness to listen to opposing opinions Increases positive views of classmates

Research Findings, cont. Improves perception of the teacher Improves expectations toward future interactions Increases interest in subject areas Increases social skills Improves self-esteem

5 Key Elements of Effective CL Groups Positive Interdependence Individual Accountability Face-to-Face Interaction Direct Social Skills Instruction Processing

Individual Accountability: How Teacher Monitors 1. You must do your fair share of the work. You must master the material being learned. You will be held accountable for your share of the work and mastering the learning. How: Using signatures, different colored pencils, spot checking, random questioning

Face-To-Face Interaction: How Teacher Assures Send the message that students: have a group, need to work with their group, need to stay with their group, work synchronously How: Sit at round tables, space between groups

Monitoring & Processing CL Monitor student/team behavior Provide task assistance Intervene to teach collaborative skills Ask probing questions Provide closure to lesson Evaluate quality and quantity of team product Assess group function

The Spy Game For your eyes only… In real life, team members don’t always work toward the same goals. In fact, some people try to achieve personal rather than team goals and some people let others do all of the heavy lifting. There may be such a person on your team today. We’ll call that person a SPY. Your team may have one or more than one spy.   If you are a spy, you should do everything you can to hinder your team’s efforts to solve the problem shown at the bottom of this page. Just be sure not to let anyone know you’re a spy. If you think another member of the team is a spy, then you should accuse that person of spying. Your team members will vote, and if one-half of those agree, the accused person is excluded from any further team deliberations. If you are voted out of the group and accused of being a spy, you should never reveal whether or not you “really” are a spy until we get back together as a large group.

The Spy Game The Problem: A man went into a store to buy a twelve-dollar shirt. After selecting a shirt, he handed the clerk a twenty-dollar bill. It was early in the day and the clerk didn’t have any change. So the clerk took the twenty-dollar bill to the restaurant next door, where he exchanged it for twenty one-dollar bills. He then gave the customer the correct change. Later that same morning the restaurant owner came to the clerk and said, “This is a counterfeit twenty dollar bill.” The clerk apologized profusely, took back the phony bill, and gave the restaurant owner two good ten-dollar bills. Not counting the cost of the shirt, how much money did the store lose?