Working Together: How Teachers Teach and Students Learn in Collaborative Learning Environments

Abstract

Active Learning in Maths and Science (ALMS) was a six-month face-to-face professional development program for middle school maths and science teachers carried out between June and November, 2010 in two Indian states. ALMS’s theory of action is grounded in the belief that collaborative learning serves as a “gateway” to learner-centered instruction. Designers theorized that this shift from individual to collaborative learning would redefine the teacher’s role; alter the teacher and student relationship; change teachers’ organizational, instructional and assessment practices; and begin to lay the groundwork for an eventual shift toward full learner-centered instruction. As this paper will discuss, this proposed theory of action was largely confirmed. Over 80 percent of teachers across the two states regularly implemented collaborative learning techniques and began the larger journey toward learner-centered instruction. This implementation also resulted in a number of benefits for students, including greater levels of engagement, increased confidence, and improved behavior. The research also suggests that when teachers see positive changes as a result of their actions, their deeply-held beliefs about traditional instruction may conflict with what they in fact witnessed in their classrooms. This is the beginning of the evolution of change

Keywords

• Collaborative Learning, Learner-Centered Instruction, Professional Development, Learning, Instruction.

Working Together: How Teachers Teach and Students Learn in Collaborative Learning Environments

Öz

-

Anahtar Kelimeler

• -

Kaynakça

1. Barak, M., Ben-Chaim, D., & Zoller, U. (2007). Purposely teaching for the promotion of higher-order thinking skills: A case of critical thinking. Research in Science Education, (37) pp. 353-369. doi: 1007/s11165-006-9029-2
2. Bell, B.S. & Kozlowski, S.W.J. (2008). Active learning: Effects of core professional development design elements on self-regulatory processes, learning, and adaptability. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(2) 296-316.doi: 10.1007/s11165-006-9029-2
3. City, et al., (2010). Instructional rounds in education: A network approach to improving teaching and learning. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
4. Danermark, B., Ekstrom, M., Jakobsen, L., & Karlsson, J. C. (1997). Generalization, scientific inference and models for an explanatory social science in Berth. In B. Danermark (Ed.) Explaining society: Critical realism in the social sciences. Oxford, UK: Routledge.
5. Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education. New York: Free Press.
6. Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
7. Johnson, D. & Johnson, R. (1988). Learning together and alone. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
8. Joyce, B. & Showers, B. (1980). Improving in-service training: The messages of research, Educational Leadership, 37, 379-385.

9. Patton, M.Q. (2003). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
10. Piaget, J. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence. London: Routledge.
11. Rogers, E. (1995). Diffusions of innovations (4th edition). New York: Free Press.
12. Schunk, D.H. & Ertmer, P. A. (2000). Self-regulation and academic learning: Selfefficacy enhancing interventions. In M. Boekaerts, P.R. Pintrich, & M. Zeidner (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation, 631-649. San Diego: Academic Press, doi: 1016/B978012109890-2/50048-2
13. Simmons, et al., (1999). Beginning teachers: Beliefs and classroom actions. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 36, 930–954.
14. Simons, H. (2009). Case study research in practice. London: Sage Publications.
15. Stake, R.E. (1995).The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
16. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
17. Yin, R. K. (1989). Case study research: Design and methods. Applied Social Research Methods Series, 5, Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.