Collaborative methods are very effective for Step 3: Challenge.

Collaborative tasks involve activities where students work together in a small group. This might be a joint task, where the group members do different tasks which contribute to a group outcome, or a shared task where group members work together throughout the task.

Collaborative tasks can also involve an element of competition, which can be effective, but sometimes can result in the students focusing more on the competitive element than the learning.

Collaborative (or cooperative) methods are shown to be very effective in the research. The evidence is consistent and robust, and collaborative methods are shown to work for all ages across the curriculum.

Many teachers are wary of using these methods, because they have experienced a lack of control in their classroom or have seen some students idle while others do all the work. This can happen, but it can be avoided by following the two golden rules:

 Golden Rule 1: Make groups small enough for effective discussion.

 Golden Rule 2: Assess individuals, not the group.

Why are collaborative methods effective?

Imagine this scenario, or test it out in your classroom:

• Ask a group of people of any age a challenging question. A few people will answer.
• Ask the others in the group, and they will most likely report not having an answer.
• Ask the same question to the same group, but this time tell them to discuss the question with their partner for 30 seconds.
• Pick someone and ask them to report the discussion.

Usually, using this collaborative approach increases the response rate from 10% to 95% – nearly everyone has an answer. This scenario is a great illustration for the power of discussion. The dialogue gets the brain working.

Often, part of the reason for this is that each individual in the group has only part of the answer. So when the group tries to figure out the answer together, the parts can be more easily assembled.

It’s vital to organise collaborative tasks so that everyone in the group participates (instead of some members doing all the work while others sit idly!).

One option is to give each member of the team a different job. For instance: chairperson, secretary, artist, and presenter.

Another option is TEAMS:

T: Talker

E: Enthusiast

A: Artist

M: Manager

S: Secretary

While the students work as a group, their output needs to be assessed individually to ensure that each member has done some work and learning.

Some helpful pointers

Here are our two golden rules again:

 Golden Rule 1: Make groups small enough for effective discussion.

 Golden Rule 2: Assess individuals, not the group.

And here are some more helpful pointers:

 Pointer 1: Give your students support and guidance.

Effective group work doesn’t happen automatically, so it’s important to guide your students and help them to practise this skill.

 Pointer 2: Design effective tasks.

Make sure you design tasks where the students have to work together effectively and efficiently, rather than an unbalanced team effort, or a situation where the students end up working independently.

 Pointer 3: Use competition, but carefully.
Competition between groups can be used to help your students to work more effectively together. The downside is that it can focus students on the competition rather than the learning, so use competition sparingly and carefully.

 Pointer 4: Help lower-achieving students.
Encourage these students to talk and participate, because they might contribute less or find it harder to articulate their ideas.

 Pointer 5: Look into professional development.
More about that here.

Find out more

There is also some good information on our Australian sister site, and on the EEF website.

Image credits

Header image: https://robdeabreu.com/tag/lev-vygotsky/

Group work image 1: http://www.evidencebasedteaching.org.au/robert-marzano-vs-john-hattie/

Group work image 2: https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/how-to-improve-group-work-perspectives-from-students/

Hands up image: http://www.lightshiningacademy.com/?lightbox=dataItem-ise7gg05

Group work image 3: https://www.youcubed.org/category/making-group-work-equal/