Peer Learning Groups Jared Barber October 22 2006 Mentoring Seminar Overview Peer Learning Groups Cross KP Steadman MH 1996 Classroom Research Implementing the Scholarship of Teaching San Francisco Jossey Bass Pgs 172 182 Peer learning group features Benefits of peer learning groups Implementation of peer learning groups Possible readings Features of Peer Learning Groups Motivation Motivation Active learning and involvement Improving peer interactions through peer motivation and support Students are teachers Elaborate and employ new concepts techniques Features of Peer Learning Groups Examples Collaborative Learning Cooperative Learning Pairs Pair and share Small group discussion Peer tutoring Reciprocal Teaching Study groups Small groups Case Studies Course assignments Research projects Features of Learning Groups Cooperative vs Collaborative Both enable students to learn through sharing of ideas Cooperative More teacher involvement giving more student accountability Originated in k 12 Group grades eliminate class competition Proponent Bruffee 1995 Collaborative Less teacher involvement giving less student accountability Seen more in higher ed Individual grades Proponent Cooper Robinson and McKinney 1994 Benefits Is the group activity time well spent e g compared to lecture time Reinforcing main points vs trying to pack in details Big question Who does most of the complicated difficult thinking in the classroom Cooper 1995 p8 What do you want as a balance See the processes behind the final results regardless of how messy they might be Preparation participation and attendance become necessary Benefits Is the group activity time well spent e g compared to lecture time Shift in job wider description Student s job becomes Question explain express opinions admit confusion and reveal misconceptions listen to peers respond to questions question opinions share information or concepts that will clear up confusion McKeachie 1994 p149 Not fast vs slow learners but confused and unconfused benefit to help each other McKeachie 1994 p149 Benefits More general Improved involvement and gains in achievement Cooper Mueck 1992 Cooper Robinson McKinney 1994 Johnson et al 1981 Slavin 1983 200 college survey Astin 1992 Studentstudent student faculty interactions important for retention Differing viewpoints help intellectual development Discipline vocabulary familiarity gotten from peers Often we e g faculty do not notice when we have stopped speaking plain English Nelson 1994 p50 Undergrad teachers classes did better than faculty in discussion sections Nelson 1994 Benefits More general King s peer questioning teaching students to ask deep questions deepens students King 1990 Article experiment Benware Deci 1984 Give students article Tell half class they have a test on article Tell half class they have to teach the article Teachers had higher conceptual learning scores and felt more actively engaged pray to be a tutor not to be tutored McKeachie 1994 Implementation of Peer Learning Groups Promoting positive interdependence Promote individual responsibility for success of all Suggestions Assign different portions of material e g reading for students to teach it to others Assign different portions of project e g coding building in interdependence as much as possible Implementation of Peer Learning Groups Individual Accountability Minimizing freeloader phenomenon Majority of credit on outside individual work Participation allowed only if e g a worksheet is produced showing they ve prepared beforehand Rau Heyl 1990 Assigning roles Leader recorder reporter presenter writer etc Ask what people have learned from others to make sure they pay attention to each other s work Nelson 1994 Implementation of Peer Learning Groups Student Teamwork Group work skills Interpersonal skills being friendly listening to others eye contact speaking positively with no harmful forms of communication Group management skills organizing the work of the task keeping members on task taking time for group processing and analysis of effectiveness Inquiry skills asking clarifying questions probing for additional information critiquing ideas probing assumptions eliciting the views of other group members helps promoted intellectual development and critical thinking Conflict prevention mediation and resolution skills Presentation skills oral and written communication including summarizing synthesizing speaking before groups Bosworth 1994 pp27 28 Implementation of Peer Learning Groups Student Teamwork Motivation More prepared for job Sharan 1980 Inform students of Group work skills which enhance their work Bosworth 1994 Demonstrate model talk through above skills e g ask me a question Bosworth 1994 Implementation of Peer Learning Groups Group assignment Consider students majors ages abilities personally assign Study on correlations with worst vs best group experiences Fiechtner and Davis 1992 Self chosen groups bad on basis of not having evenly spread talents like computers Constantly switching groups bad Implementation of Peer Learning Groups Practical Advice Don t go too far too quickly i e our first time don t be too idealistic One suggestion Asking students to make up questions is good not much overhead easy for us to do and for them Tell students why we re doing the groups why they are productive and valuable Goals and rationale Benefits of group learning Fair grading Implementation of Peer Learning Groups Practical Advice Be organized and explicit You can never be too explicit More explicit in beginning less explicit later Implementation of Peer Learning Groups Practical Advice Learn something not just do something Busy work vs work with a point Personal teacher probing just asking them deeper questions communicate that the team s work is never done until all members have mastered the skills that underlie the cooperative learning activity Cooper Robinson McKinney 1994 p93 Conclusions Extent of Peer learning groups How they can be beneficial Things to consider when implementing them Suggested Reading Bosworth K Hamilton SJ Collaborative Learning Underlying Processes and Effective Techniques New Directions for Teaching and Learning no 59 San Francisco Jossey Bass 1994 Cooper JL Robinson PR McKinney M Cooperative Learning in the Classroom Changing College Classrooms New Teaching and Learning Strategies for an Increasingly Complex World San Francisco Jossey Bass 1994 Davis BG Tools for Teaching San Francisco Jossey Bass 1993 Goodsell A