When students begin to collaborate with one another, I believe that a good strategy for a teacher to start off is giving students an option to choose who they want to work with. Why? If a teacher starts teaching collaboration by letting students pick who they want to work with, then the students will most likely pick to work with someone that they are comfortable with - therefore giving them an opportunity to learn how they need to accomplish an overall goal together. When the students have a chance to figure out how to accomplish an overall goal while working with someone that they are comfortable with, they are then set up with their own formula for success. When working on collaborative projects after the first initial project, the teacher should be able to assign groups and have them be able to work collectively with people that they may not know so well to accomplish the group goal.
If all of the students in a class aren’t around the same ability level, one way that a teacher can scaffold is to pair a student with a lower ability level with someone who has performed at a higher ability level. When partnered with someone of a higher ability level, the student with a lower ability level can 1) learn from the other student, and 2) be motivated to try harder to match the overall groups performance.
A teacher may also help groups work together by sitting with each group for a few minutes to help direct conversation or listen in to see if groups are on the right track to complete a project. If the group is struggling, a teacher may suggest a path on which the group should follow further.
Another way that a teacher can scaffold a collaborative project could be to show a project that they have completed themselves along with how the teacher divided a project up amongst their partners and themselves. Giving this demonstration could aid in a students time management or division of materials. For example, I recently completed a project based learning assignment with a group that I was assigned to for my Human Development class at UNH. I had never worked collaboratively with any of these peers before, but since I have learned how to collaborate with peers that I tend to know a little better, I was able to help my group complete its goal.
If all of the students in a class aren’t around the same ability level, one way that a teacher can scaffold is to pair a student with a lower ability level with someone who has performed at a higher ability level. When partnered with someone of a higher ability level, the student with a lower ability level can 1) learn from the other student, and 2) be motivated to try harder to match the overall groups performance.
A teacher may also help groups work together by sitting with each group for a few minutes to help direct conversation or listen in to see if groups are on the right track to complete a project. If the group is struggling, a teacher may suggest a path on which the group should follow further.
Another way that a teacher can scaffold a collaborative project could be to show a project that they have completed themselves along with how the teacher divided a project up amongst their partners and themselves. Giving this demonstration could aid in a students time management or division of materials. For example, I recently completed a project based learning assignment with a group that I was assigned to for my Human Development class at UNH. I had never worked collaboratively with any of these peers before, but since I have learned how to collaborate with peers that I tend to know a little better, I was able to help my group complete its goal.
Above is the end product to a group project that had to be completed within a one and a half hour session during class and then presented at the end of class. I believe that we were all able to work together to complete the project in the short amount of time given because we had first had opportunities to pick partners before being paired with people we had never worked with before. To break up our topic, Prenatal Care, we each took a subheading and it was our given job to research that subheading and teach our partners about it. Then, we all found a video together that would tie up any loose ends on our project. We were very respectful of one another's opinions and we were open to changes that we wanted to make as a group.
Overall I think that the ability to collaborate with people you both do and don't know is essential in making any project a success. Each person needs to learn both research and time management strategies that will assist them in figuring out when and how to attack a project. A teacher can help assist students by demonstrating strategies and by overall pushing students to work to the best of their abilities.
Overall I think that the ability to collaborate with people you both do and don't know is essential in making any project a success. Each person needs to learn both research and time management strategies that will assist them in figuring out when and how to attack a project. A teacher can help assist students by demonstrating strategies and by overall pushing students to work to the best of their abilities.