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a first year zoology class through the use of ... practical courses tend to emphasise the completion of tasks ... drawings in their practical books. At the end of class ...
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/5 H E R D S A

N E W S

A u gu st l 9 9 9

Cooperative learning

first year zoology class

.

m

a

S u sa n

J on es

w eekly programme of lunchtime " study

bo ok s th at w ou l d be rew arded by hi gh

groups" . T hi s initiativ e grew out of the

grades. S tudents w i thout li ttle intrinsic

F o r m e to o , i t t o o k th e s t i m u l u s o f a

perception that many fi rst y ear students

m o ti v a t i o n c o u l d d o t h e w o r k w i t h o u t

G r ad u a te C e r ti f i c a te i n E d u c a ti o n to

ne ed he l p to e stab l ish a peer su ppo rt

ac tu a l l y l e a r n i n g v e r y m u c h - e v e n

netw ork . A sim ple m eans of doi ng this i s

th ou g h I th ou g h t I h a d d e si gn e d th e

to prov ide a ti me, a place and a reason

a sse s sm e n t w i t h t h e p r o m o ti o n o f

for

learni ng v ery m uc h i n m i nd.

I r e a l l y r e l a te d to D ar r y l J o n e s ' artic le i n H E R D S A N ew s A pri l l 998 .

m ake m e real ise that w hat w as i m port ant

w as no t i m p r o v i ng m y teac hi ng , but

helpi ng my students to improv e thei r l eam ing .

O ne thi ng I reali sed w as. that i t i s

important to allow for different learning sty les among students; yet, especially for

large fi rst y ear science classes, didactic

teachirig strategies continue to dominate ( M att h e w s ,

l 99 l ) .

I n n o v ati o n

l S

discouraged by (perceived) timetable and staffi ng constraints. H ow ev er, in recent

y ears, J ohn D earn has done muc h to encourage us to re-think our approaches t o f i r st y e ar sc i e n c e te ac h i n g ( se e H E R D S A N ew s A pril l 998) particularly thr o u gh t he u se o f c o l l ab o r at i v e o r cooperative learni ng.

C oope r ati v e

l e arn i n g

an d

opportunities for self-directed learning can encourage students to bec ome more a c ti v e

l e ar n er s

th r o u g h

t ak i n g

responsibility for their ow n learning. I n parti c ul ar the re i s a l ot of l i ter ature

suggesting that small group proj ect w ork c an be hi ghly m oti v ating f or students,

en c ou r agi n g th em to g o " b ey on d

reproducti on to the appl i c ati on of know ledge" (G ibbs, l 990: p. l 3) . A s a coroll ary , it i s al so im portant to u se a

v ariety of w el l desi gned assi gnm ents.

R arely w ill one assessment method fulfi l all obj ectiv es for a course; a v ariety of assi gnments i s needed to accommodate d i f f e r e n t l e ar n i n g sty l e s , an d i t i s

therefore important to have sev eral bases for assigning grades (M atthew s, l 99 l ) H ow ev er

tr a d i ti o n a l

f i r st

y ear

sc i en c e te ac h i ng p attern s te n d no t to

pr ov i de opportu ni ti es. I n p arti c ul ar,

practic al courses tend to emphasise the compl etion of tasks set by the teacher an d

th e

a sse ssm e nt

l abor atory l e arn i n g

w o rk .

c an

of

indiv idual

C o m pu ter -ai de d

pro v i d e

se l f -g ui de d

ac ti v i ti e s , bu t w h at abo u t th o se o f u s

w ho do not hav e the resources to prov ide them , or al tern ati v e ly , are sti ll ab le to c o n si der

m ore

i n ten si v e

te a c h i n g

patterns?

I n my fi rst year Z oology I classes, I hav e been using tw o strategies to try to

address some of these points. T he fi rst of the se i s m y S tudy G rou p sc hem e. F or F v e y e ars now , I h av e been runni ng a

l i k e -m i n d e d

stu d e n ts

to

m eet

regularly . T he regular but informal S tudy

T th e re f o r e i n tr o d u c e d a e r o u p

G roup m eeti ngs prov i de a contac t poi nt

p roj e ct , b a se d on the h y p othe si s that

a n d f o ste r th e d e v e l o p m e n t o f p e e r

s tu d e n t s w o u l d b e m o r e m o ti v a t e d a n d

support netw orks. I n l 998, I targeted

m o re l i k el y to ado pt a de ep le arni ng

m atu re age students particularly , usi ng

approach if w orki ng in small groups and

stu d e n t m e n to r s w h o c o n tr i b u te d to so m e

i f gi v e n s o m e au to n o m y o v er t hei r

early S tudy G roups

assessm ent task . T his took up tw o n on-

T he S tudy G roups also addressed a

c onsecuti v e c l asses. T he proj ec t brief

second m aj or c oncern . M any students,

w as to present a c ompar ativ e study of

o v e rw he l m e d by the ne w k n ow le d ge

the th r ee m aj o r gr ou p s o f an ne l i d s

base, adopt a surface learning approach

(w orms) , and to show an appreciation of

to the m ateri al , f ocussing on " learning

f u n d a m e n ta l a n n e l i d c h a r a c te r i sti c s a n d

the new v ocabulary " rather than looli ng

functi onal anatomy

for c onnections. S tudy G roup prov ides

structure refl ects its ec ologic al ni che) .

an op po rtu n i ty to re fl e c t u pon , and

W hile there w ere some com pulsory core

di scu ss the c ourse m ateri al , dev el opi ng a

t a sk s , th e y c ou l d Ch o o se h o w t h e y

deep leam i ng approac h to the subj ec t.

completed the proj ect, al low ing for some

T he emphasi s is on talking, not w riting

i n i ti ati v e an d v a r i ati o n s i n f o c u s b e tw e e n

dow n answ ers, and I provide help only if

group s. S o me re al l y

they get stuck ! I al so use S tudy G roups

c h al l en g e , i nc o rpo r ati n g f i e l d d at a ,

to i ntrodu c e e f f ec ti v e stu dy tec hni qu es

building a w orm farm or ev en presenting

such as concept mapping: there is much

a seri e s o f p h o to gr aph s o f a l ee c h

ev idence to suggest that l ear ning skill s

f eedi ng

( how an anim al ' s

to ok u p th e

are b e st d e v e l o pe d w i th in a su bj e c t-

O bviously , I w as interested to see if

s pe c i f i c c o n te x t . T h i s p r o g r a m m e

the proj ect resulted in w ork of a higher

c o n ti n u e s to a ttr a c t stu d e n t s i n te r e ste d i n

standard . A ssessment of group w ork is

de v e l opi ng thei r thi nk i ng sk i l l s and

al w ay s a th o r ny i ssu e . T hi s p r oj e c t

enhanci ng thei r u nderstandi ng of the

re pre se nted o nl y a m i no r p ar t o f an

m aterial c ov ered in thi s uni t, and m any

overall assessment pack age so I decided

peer support netw orks grow out of Study

to aw ard the same grade to all members

G roup

of the group, but w ith a mechanism for

I have also been experimenting w ith

adj u sti ng g r ad es a c c o r d i n g t o e a c h

w ay s of introduci ng some cooperativ e

stu d e n t ' s c o n tr i b u ti o n . C o n t r a r y to

l earni ng i nto pr ac ti c al s . M y students

e xpe c tati on , the re w as no si g ni f i c ant

u n dertak e a sem ester-l o n g l abo r ato ry

d i f f e r e n c e b e tw e e n t h e m e a n sc o r e f o r

c our se i n ani m al sy stem ati c s. D uri ng

the proj ects and for the most equiv alent

these classes, they are introduced to the

' indi v idual" presentation. H ow ev er the

maj or phyla; laboratory activ ities include

range of sc ores for the proj ect ranged

o b se r v i n g l i v e a ni m a l s , l o ok i n g a t

from 4 - 20/20, w hil e f or the indi v idu al

m i c r o sc o p e

practical s on annelids the range w as 4 -

sl i d e s

an d

m u se u m

sp ec i me n s, and do i n g som e si m pl e

l 8 /2 0 . S t u d e n t e v a l u a t i o n s s h o w e d

d i s s e c ti o n s . T h e s tu d e n t s r e c o r d th e i r or as

stron g support for the grou p proj ect al though there w as a signifi cant rninority

drawings in their practical books. A t the

that did prefer to w ork alone (they w ere

e n d o f c l a s s th e re i s a d i s c u s si o n se ss i o n ,

abl e to c oul d exerci se thi s opti on) .

o b se r v a ti o n s i n w r i t t e n

form

and t hey al so w ri te answ er s to these discussion questions in their books.

I don' t pretend to have presented any

H ow ev e r, the teac hi ng str ate gy w as

r adi c al l y n e w i de a s he re . I to o am leaming as I go along, and the w ay that I

being perceiv ed by a proportion of the students as w hat M organ ( l 993) c alled

present my practical cl asses changes a bit each y ear. I n fact, this y ear' s students

" explicit pedagogy " ; i .e. they saw that there w as a " r ight w ay " to complete their

w ill not be doing a proj ect; instead they w ill

be

e x pe c te d

to

do

m ore

H E R D S A

N E W S

A v g u s t 19 9 9

collaborative work within each practical. T he S tudy G roups conti nue, and I am

enc our aged by the many po si ti v e

R ef e r en c e s

M organ, A . l 993. Improving your

Gibbs, G . l 990. I mproving student

c o m m e n t s f r o m s tu d e n t s w h o a t te n d

learning: proj ect briefi ng paper for

them. I f the proj ect goes some w ay

proj ect participants. O xford C entre

towards helping a few students adj ust to

for S taff D ev elopment, O xford

u n i v e r si t y

life,

th e n

i t h as

be e n

w o rt h w h i l e .

P ol y tec hni c

M atthew s, D . B . l 99 l . T he effects of

A ck n ow ledgm en t I am grateful for the support of the

U ni versity of T asmani a T eaching

learning style on grades of first year college students. R esearch in Higher E duc atio n, 32 : 2S 3-269

D ev elopment G rant S cheme in l 99S , 6

9 7 for consecutive stages of this, and related, proj ects.

-

students' leaming. R efl ections on the

experience of study. K ogan page in association with the O pen

University, L ondon & Philadelphia

S u sa n

M.

J on es,

S c h ool

of

Z oology, U niversity of T asmania, B ox 252-O5, H obart ,T A S 7001 S . M . J o n es @ u t u .ed u .a u