Transcript Preparing Peer Facilitators for Cooperative Learning Groups Hal White Professor of Biochemistry University of Delaware Case Studies in Science Teaching Buffalo, NY 7 October 2005

Preparing Peer Facilitators for
Cooperative Learning Groups
Hal White
Professor of Biochemistry
University of Delaware
Case Studies in Science Teaching
Buffalo, NY 7 October 2005
Common Group Situations
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Consider each of the situations on the handout.
Check the 5-6 boxes next to those situations that
you think are the most common problems
encountered.
Go back and circle the number of the situation
you think is most likely to interfere with the
success of groups.
How did you decide on the most serious problem?
How would you deal with that situation?
Common Situations
Encountered in Groups
1. Student who confidently presents information that
is incorrect yet goes unchallenged by other group
members.
2. Student who misses class or regularly comes late to
class and requires class time for the more
conscientious members of the group to fill him or
her in on what was missed.
3. Unprepared student who routinely comes to class
but doesn’t contribute to group discussions or
projects.
4. Likeable talkative student who is unaware that he
(or she) frequently interrupts others and dominates
discussion thereby preventing contributions by
quieter members of the group.
5. Student who readily understands the material but is
not particularly interested in sharing that knowledge
with other group members.
6. Student who thinks problem-based learning is not a
good way to learn and deliberately or unconsciously
disrupts the process.
7. Quiet student who has good thoughts to contribute
but never seems to get the attention of other
members of the group.
8. Students whose friendship outside of class creates
a subgroup that frequently breaks off from the main
group in class discussion.
9. Student who, due to illness or some other legitimate
reason, misses a week or more of class.
10. Group that gets along well and is satisfied with a
superficial procedural understanding and doesn’t
seem to be aware or interested in a deeper
conceptual understanding.
11. Student who has difficulty focusing on course
material and frequently ends up discussing sports,
the campus social scene, or the previous night’s TV
show.
12. Student who ignores or puts down group members
that have a different cultural background, racial
background, or physical appearance.
13. Student who doesn’t listen to or seem to understand
the points made by other group members.
14. Group that can’t make progress without assistance,
and show signs of frustration (and perhaps
resentment) when the tutor doesn’t provide the
information desired.
15. Group in which a disparity in the abilities of
members makes communication of concepts difficult.
16. Student who directs all of her/his questions to the
tutor (and instructor).
17. Students who do all of the necessary work but do not
seem to enjoy discussing problems and related
concepts with one another.
Common PBL Group Problems1
Problem Identified by Peer-Facilitator
Obs Maj
10. Satisfied with superficial understanding
90
40
16. Student directs all questions to tutor
63
6
7. Quiet student who does not contribute
62
5
4. Likeable dominant student
49
12
1. Authoritative incorrect statements unchallenged
43
7
40
7
15. Students with disparate abilities
1 Based
on responses from 126 peer-facilitators over 11 semesters
Some Issues Related to “Dawn”
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Tardiness and absenteeism.
Time management.
Group ground rules.
Group responsibility for individual behavior.
Dealing with hostility within a group.
Personal privacy.
Timing and method of intervention.
Ground Rules for Behavior in Groups
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Come on time and be prepared for every class.
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Freely share information you gather outside of class with other
group members.
Notify other group members, your tutor, and the instructor in
advance (when possible) if you must miss a class.
• Use class time wisely.
• Solicit and value contributions from every group member.
• Group members who disrupt the group's function by ignoring the
group's guidelines can be confronted by the other members of
the group and suffer the following consequences: ….
Groups in Action
• Dawn’s Eight O’Clock and Water Striders
come from a series of 12 video vignettes
(trigger tapes) on PBL group problems
available on line at:
<http://www.udel.edu/pbl/groups-in-action/>
Chinese Proverb
Tell me, I will forget
Show me, I may remember
Involve me, and I will understand
Stand and Deliver
1. Teacher Selection
The “teacher” is the group member
who has a birth date closest to
today’s date
2. Lesson Plan
Teachers study a geometric figure
they will describe orally to their
“students”
Stand and Deliver
3. The Lecture
Teachers describe to your students
what you saw, as accurately as you
can: 2-minute time limit.
NO GESTURES, NO QUESTIONS!
4. Teacher Conference
Teachers leave the room and discuss
your lesson with one another.
Stand and Deliver
5. Individual Work
Students, without talking, draw a
“carbon copy” of what your teacher
described: 2 min.
6. Group Work
Students within groups, compare
drawings, discuss, and develop
consensus drawing: 5 min.
Stand and Deliver
7. Teacher Assessment
Teachers return and see what your
students have drawn. Students
discuss exercise with your teacher.
Stand and Deliver
8. Reflection
Did everyone in your group draw the
same picture?
Did subsequent discussion improve
the representation?
Was the teacher happy with the result?
What were your frustrations, if any?
Can you make any conclusions?
How would you grade this assignment?
• Is there a “correct” answer?
• How important are
– Shapes?
– Relationships?
– Orientation?
– Size?
– Position on Page?
Observations and analysis of students working in
groups in class have revealed that:
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Learning is identified by students as getting the right
answer.
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Learning is disassociated from understanding and
explaining.
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Answers are sought first by recall, not analysis.
Considerable time is needed before concepts are
considered and even rudimentary analysis is attempted.
from D. Hanson and T. Wolfskill, J. Chem Ed. 75(2): 143 - 147 (1998)
Institute for Transforming
Undergraduate Education
January 18-20, 2006
Institute for Transforming Undergraduate
Education – PBL Workshops
University of Delaware
July 17-21, 2006
PBL2006, an international conference
Lima, Perú