JSP 2011-2012

UNIT 11. COOPERATIVE LEARNING

ENVIRONMENTS

TASK BASED LEARNING AND

PROJECT BASED LEARNING

JSP 2011-2012

AIMS OF THE UNIT

Presenting two cooperative learning environments

Knowing task-based learning Knowing project-based learning Knowing the difference between a project

and a task. Introducing ThinkQuest online

environment. Presenting some examples of tasks and

projects

JSP 2011-2012

SKILLS FOR THE 21st CENTURY

WORKING IN TEAMS SOLVING COMPLEX PROBLEMS RESPONDING CREATIVELY TO RAPIDLY

CHANGING BUSINESS LANDSCAPES USING RAPIDLY EVOLVING

TECHNOLOGIES

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COOPERATIVE LEARNING

Learner’s autonomy Project works Constructivist principles Interactive instruction

The success of cooperative learning is dependent upon the expertise of the

teacher

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PROJECT BASED LEARNING A systematic teaching method that engages students in

learning essential knowledge and life-enhancing skills through an extended student-influenced inquiry process structured around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and tasks.

Group work› Positive interdependence› Individual accountability› Face-to-face promotive interaction› Appropriate use of collaborative skills› Group processing

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PROJECT BASED LEARNING

Project based learning Traditional learning

Long-termInterdisciplinaryStudent-centred: intrinsecally motivatingIntegrated with real worldCollaborativeProductionContinual assessmentLearning by doingHigher-order skillsTeacher-facilitatedConstructivismPeer-evaluation

Short practicesIsolated from the real worldTeacher-centredSubject-centredIndividualisticNon-productiveFinal assessmentLearning about thingsLow-order skillsTeacher-directed

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WHAT DO LEARNING PROJECTS LOOK LIKE?

Essential question or problem (from the real world)

Central to the curriculum Variety of activities Extended period of time Collaboration among students Students initiative and autonomy Use of technology Final production to be communicated to an

audience

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PROJECT LEARNING AND 21st CENTURY SKILLS

Critical thinking Creativity Teamworking Cross-cultural understanding Communication Technology Self-direction

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PLANNING Definition of the project

› Objectives› Timeline› Assessment plan› Rubric used› Resources: traditional and ICT› Class time› Specific feedback› Other teachers collaboration

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STUDENTS PRODUCTIONS Posters Oral presentations Data show Presentations Booklets Reports Debates Movies Graphic organizers

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TRADITIONAL PROJECTS VS. SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS Take a field trip to Gettysburg and

write a report on the experience.

Make posters depicting the architecture of ancient Egypt.

Listen to different sounds. Make a graph. Identify features of common sounds that are disturbing to the ear.

Observe and measure various school buildings and record data.

Investigate the question "How could wars be more humane?" Use Gettysburg as an example of a high casualty battle, comparing it to other battles. Complete a portfolio, including an essay and a literary response journal, then conclude with a debate

Complete a case study on the pyramids using the question "How were the pyramids built?" to address five controversial issues: source of the design, source of materials, time to completion, method of transportation of materials, and contents of the chambers..

Identify five sound pollution problems in the community. Form a task force to investigate the problems and devise technically feasible solutions for each.

Design a "School of the Future" with scale drawings and models, taking into account the site and anticipated needs. Present plan to an audience of school officials or community experts.

JSP 2011-2012

TRADITIONAL PROJECTS VS. SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS Research and write a 10-paragraph report on

an animal of your choice.  Create a visual representation of your animal, using a drawing or a diorama.

Students learn the basic metabolic process of the cell and create a visual drawing of a cell showing at least two of the processes.

Students read The Odyssey and create a drawing depicting the journey of Odysseus.

Have students create a mock stock portfolio and follow stock prices over several months.

Choose an animal and address the following question in a report and oral presentation:  'How does a _______succeed in the wild?'  Be prepared to answer the questions from your audience.

Students are asked to run around the school track during PE and observe their physiological reaction to exercise. They then are asked: “Why do we perspire?” They answer the question based on intuition and observation, then use their answers as a guide to creating a further set of questions to be investigated and answered over a period of week.

Students discuss the meaning of the world ‘hero’ and as a class list the criteria for heroism. They then choose someone in their lives or community who meets these criteria, and write an essay on the meaning of heroism in contemporary life. As part of their assignment, they read and discuss The Odyssey.

Have students analyze the relationship between the stock market and the business cycle and answer the question: “Do the fluctuations in the stock market over a 4 month period provide evidence that stock markets are affected by the business cycle?

JSP 2011-2012

HOW TO MANAGE THE GROUPS

As you begin the project, make sure all students are on the right track. Tailor your grouping strategies to the needs of the project. Plan how to accomodate the needs of diverse students. If individual group members don’t carry their own weight, fire them! If individual group members aren't working, talk with them (and their

parents) about their behavior. Keep track of each group's progress. Make sure groups keep track of their own progress. Keep public records of group progress. The Internet is only one information resource. Students often need help

using it efficiently. Technology can be a powerful tool. It can also crash and leave you

stranded. Think about how technology will make  your project more effective. Don't

use technology blindly. Don't be afraid to make a mistake. Don't be afraid of making midproject corrections. Debrief the project with your class and note ideas for improvement. Reflect on the Driving Question

JSP 2011-2012

TASK BASED LEARNING Task: “Activity where the target language is

used by the learner for a communicative purpose in order to achieve an outcome” (Jane Willis, 2005)

The task is central to the learning activity Meaningful tasks: experiments, getting a

job, conducting a review on famous writers Authentic language Assessment on task outcome

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TASK BASED LEARNING

Focus on exchanging and understanding meanings

Learners know what they are expected to achieve

The outcome can be shared

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When an activity is a task?

Willis and Willis (2007): criteriaa) Will the activity engage learner’s

interest?b) Is there a primary focus on meaning?c) Is there a goal or an outcome?d) Is success judged in terms of outcome?e) Is completion a priority?f) Does the activity relate to real world

activities?

JSP 2011-2012

CASE STUDY AND DISCUSSION

IS THIS A TASK? The teacher asks the students:

Talk about your grandparents in pairs. Tell each other what you know about their

past lives. Use the phrases and patterns from the box

above.

JSP 2011-2012

CASE STUDY AND DISCUSSION

The activity needs a goal or outcome so that learners know when they have finished the task.

The final instruction shows that the activity is aimed at practicing some expressions. So, students cannot use English in a free way.

JSP 2011-2012

When an activity is not a task?

It doesn’t create opportunities for meaning-focused language use.

Learner’s speak to practice a new structure.

Learner’s don’t make free use of whatever English they can recall to express themselves.

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TASK PHASES PRETASK:

› Topic introduction› Clear instructions› Help on language and content› Examples› Students preparation

TASK:› Group work, cooperative way› PLANNING

Students preparation of the oral or written report› REPORT OR TASK PERFORMANCE

Students show the rest of the class their outcome POST-TASK

› ANALYSIS OR FEEDBACK Teacher highlights relevant elements of the task Students analyse language, structures, patterns used

› PRACTICE OR LANGUAGE FOCUS Teacher selects Academic Language usage to be practiced by students

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TASK TYPOLOGY Gap principle

› Information› Reasoning› Opinion

Reaching a decision or solution through interaction› Decision-making› Debate

Listing and / or brainstorming Ordering and sorting: sequencing, ranking, classifying Matching Comparing: finding similarities and differences Contrasting, reasoning, problem solving and analyzing Sharing personal experiences Creative tasks and projects: fact finding, surveys, interviews Other types: split information, jumbles, restoration, memory

challenge

WHICH IS COLDER: THE NORTH POLE OR THE SOUTH POLE?

 

1 Introduction Put the question to the class, to a vote and askione or two students to give reasons for their

answers.  2 Discussion of relevant questions  Put learners into groups to discuss these statements and decide if they are true or false:

› 1 There is no land at the Antarctic – only an ice-cap. › 2 The polar regions get very little sunshine compared with other latitudes.› 3 The ice is several metres thick in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.› 4 For six months in the year there is no sunshine in the Arctic.› 5 Water keeps in the heat of the sun better than dry land. › 6 The Antarctic is by far the highest of the five continents, rising to more than

two thousand metres above sea level.  Look at the questionnaire with the class as a whole and make sure they understand the

questions.

3 Discussion  Put learners into groups and ask them to reach a decision.  Once the discussion begins try to leave learners to get on with it by themselves as far  4 Preparation  In five minutes their spokesperson may be asked to report the group discussion to the class

as a whole. They have five minutes to help the spokesperson prepare for this.  

JSP 2011-2012

NORTH POLE, SOUTH POLE

5 Report Ask one or two of the spokespersons to present the views of their group. Help out by asking supplementary questions. After each report you can summarise what has been said.   6 Decision making  Take a final vote on the question. Ask one or two people if they have changed their minds, and if

so, why?   7 Reading  Give learners this text to read:    WHICH IS COLDER: THE NORTH POLE OR THE SOUTH POLE?   The North and South poles are both very cold because they get very little sunshine compared with

the rest of the earth. The sun never rises more than 23.5 degrees above the horizon, and for six months of the year the poles get no sunshine at all. Also most of the sunlight is reflected back by the bright white surface. So both poles are very cold, but the South Pole is much colder than the North Pole because it sits on top of a very thick ice sheet, which itself sits on dry land, on the continent of Antarctica. The top of the ice sheet near the South Pole is more than 3,000 metres above sea level – more than a mile and a half high, so Antarctica is by far the highest continent on earth. In comparison the North Pole rests in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, where the surface of the ice is only about a foot above the sea. Water keeps in more heat than dry land so the Arctic Ocean retains the heat, making it less cold in winter and warmer in the summer.

  

JSP 2011-2012

NORTH POLE, SOUTH POLE  8 Review  Ask learners to put away their texts and summarise the passage orally. You could ask them to

prepare this in groups. There is, of course, a danger of overkill. It may be that learners have had quite enough of the North and South poles by now. This is the kind of judgement that can only be made by the teacher on the spot. As we are all aware, learners have ways of letting us know when their interest is waning.

  9 Language Study  9.1 Consciousness-raising  Underline all the expressions to do with comparison.

› Which is colder: the North Pole or the South Pole?› They get very little sunshine compared with the rest of the earth.› The sun never rises more than 23.5 degrees above the horizon.› The South Pole is much colder than the north Pole.› The top of the ice-sheet is more than 3,000 metres above sea-level, more than a mile and

a half high.› Antarctica is by far the highest continent on earth.› In comparison the North Pole rests in the middle of the Arctic Ocean…. › Water keeps in more heat than dry land.› The ocean retains the heat, making it less cold in winter and warmer in the summer.›  

 You can show the class this list then remove the italicised words and see if they can recall them. You can then remove the sentences and ask them to work in pairs to see how many they can

recall.  

JSP 2011-2012

VANISHING WORDS

Take a sentence which contains one or two useful phrases or grammar points and show it to the class:

Both poles are very cold, but the South Pole is much colder than the North Pole.

Ask a couple of people to read out the sentence, then remove one or two words and see if they can remember it:

  **** poles are **** cold, but the South Pole is **** colder **** the North Pole. Then remove more words and ask learners to try again to recall the sentence:  **** poles *** **** cold, but *** South Pole is **** ****** **** the North Pole Continue this process until you have removed all the words leaving only a string of blanks:  **** ***** *** **** ****, *** *** ***** **** ** **** ****** **** *** ***** **** And see if learners can still recall the sentence. You can vary the difficulty of this exercise in a number of

ways: 

› by choosing a longer or shorter and more or less complex sentence.› by varying the number of words you remove at each stage.› by varying the number of repetitions of the full sentence at each stage.› by allowing learners to work in groups or making them work as individuals

http://sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=000F04F4-5DD2-1EB1-BDC089EC588EEDF 

JSP 2011-2012

THINK QUEST (Oracle Education Foundation)

Online environment for teachers to design and carry out learning projects.

Components:› Shared online space› Easy-to-use publishing and collaboration tools› Global community of teachers and students› Competition space: international contests› Library› Professional development program for

teachers

JSP 2011-2012

THINK QUEST EXAMPLES S.O.S. Save our Lagoon: Connecting Students’ Lives to Science

Project tied to a local lagoon cleanup

Students learned to think and act as environmental scientists:Background research using resources linked from their ThinkQuest project space. During the lagoon cleanup, they collected not only garbage but also data on the types of garbage encountered. Back at their classroom, students used mathematical skills to analyze the data and determine patternsThe students used this information to send letters to businesses

In addition to learning important science concepts, reported outcomes included: › Technology skills

› Creativity and communication skills: the idea of the letter-writing campaign. multidisciplinary activity, which linked content from students’ science and Spanish classes, students learned how to write persuasively and format business letters properly.

› Critical thinking and self-direction. The students used their own initiative to decide what action to take based on their analysis of the data and their desire to make a difference.

› Teacher professional growth: ongoing collaborations with educational organizations overseas, received several national awards for excellence in science teaching, and worked as a project learning coach for other teachers in Puerto Rico.

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THINK QUEST EXAMPLES Forest Fires: Engaging Students with Real-World Problems Motivated by a recent forest fire that had threatened their school,

the students chose to focus their project on the topic of fires and fire prevention.

The students organized the project into tasks that were delegated to smaller sub-committees. As students worked on their entry, they were motivated by the fact that their work would be seen by a global audience and compared with other high-quality entries.

Outcomes from the project learning approach: › Critical thinking: to survey peers and interview civic leaders. Through

this process they learned proper research techniques, including how to avoid leading or revealing questions. This prompted them to begin thinking more critically about other surveys and interviews they had encountered.

› Creativity and self-direction› Teamwork and communication skills. According to the coaches, the

project helped students learn how to discuss and negotiate goals, resolve disagreements, and divide responsibilities among team members.

› Technology skills.

JSP 2011-2012

USEFUL WEBSITESwww.pbl-online.orgwww.eduscapes.comwww.thinkquest.orgwww.epals.comwww.etwinning.netwww.willis-elt.co.uk/taskbased.htmlwww.teachinglish.org

EXPERIENCIAS EN EL APRENDIZAJE MEDIANTE TAREAS. Carmen Hoz (Instituto Cervantes. Berlín) II Encuentro práctico de profesores de español en Alemania 2. International House Barcelona – Difusión http://www.encuentropractico.com

JSP 2011-2012

FINAL TASK

Can you think of an example of a task?

JSP 2011-2012

THANK YOU

See you after Easter holidays