PROBLEM BASED LEARNING IN GROUPS
GOAL & METHOD
GOAL#6 INCLUSIVE TEACHING
METHOD#1: cooperative group teaching.
Advised Age Group
14-15 year-old
Target
ALL LEARNERS
Subject
SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS
Requires
PC with internet connection (one per learner); topic: Scratch
Length
SHORT
Presentation stage
Introduce topics with frontal teaching and by using a projector or IWB. Set up a brief frontal teaching session to introduce the subject and the key notions to be developed. Discuss and clarify with learners.
Set up one or two main teaching goals to this activity, for instance: to enhance self-esteem, to increase knowledge, to develop relevant skills, to enhance reworking skills in order to match notions with the context.
Deepening stage
Form small groups to search for meaningful information. Groups have to create a document in the form they choose – text, images, videos, ppt – on the topic. Set up cooperative group teaching moments in the classroom and at home to deepen some key notions highlighted during the presentation.
Exposure stage
The class shares the outputs and discusses them by using the projector or IWB. Learners show the results of the deepening stage, involving their classmates and the teacher with questions and prompts for discussion. By collecting the suggestions of the classmates and summing them up into few and clear responses, the groups provide each other a shared identification of the goals or improvements to reach in the next stage.
Reworking stage
Stimulate groups to rework their materials according to the suggestions and feedback they received. Autonomously, in the lab or at home, learners work to reach goals or draw up documents.
Evaluate with a broad view in mind.
Continuous observation is required throughout the phases of the activity. First, when presenting an activity that does not overlap with curricular subjects, you need to evaluate the adequacy of the topics. Second, you need to assess participation, interaction and reworking some parts if needed.
Share with your colleague(s) indicators and opinions about evaluation. Explain and share with learners the indicators and criteria which made up your evaluation. Leave time for debate and ask for peer assessment as well.
Finally, reconsider the goals that you set for this activity and evaluate for future implementation.
SUMMING UP
Cooperative group teaching has a positive impact on individual learning if a good level of collaboration is acquired first into the single group in the deepening stage, then among all the learners in the exposure stage.