For my last post as we were instructed to pick one learning environment to research and write about, I was excited to read my classmates’ posts to learn about the other approaches.
After reading this post on cooperative learning, I began to wonder how my group can incorporate this approach in our blueprint. As we are planning to teach a mathematics course at the grade 2 level, I believe cooperative learning should be used not only for students collaborate to increase understanding of a topic but also so students at this level can start developing Gillie’s 5 key components that this author mentions, positive interdependence, promotive interaction, individual accountability, interpersonal skills, and group processing. The author emphasizes the importance of these skills to create cooperative learning that meets the learning outcomes. Learning these skills early can help the students in future collaborative work of any kind so I think teachers creating group activities that implement and foster these skills is essential.
I really enjoyed reading this post as the author’s passion for inquiry-based learning was evident through their writing. I was hooked from the beginning when they included the quote from Jeff Hopkins, “Education is not the filling of a pale, but rather the lighting of a flame”. Using this as an analogy for inquiry-based learning helped me grasp the concept of how the learning should be initiated from intrinsic motivation and curiosity rather than from extrinsic sources. I agree that this approach places responsibility and ownership on the student for their own learning however this does not evade the teacher of all their responsibilities as they must help guide and direct this learning so that learning outcomes can still be met. After reading the post I can see the benefits of this approach such as self-motivation, self-responsibility and, as the author says, preparing “students for success and produce lifelong learners”.
