Page 17 - CBSE Cover Jan-March 2014_16-07-2014 FINAL

Collaborative Learning Dr. Dharam Veer Singh* Tere is a big Peepal tree outside our school canteen which shades a stone platform. It is a favourite spot for students to gather and talk on wide array of things and activities like sports, T.V., fashion, teachers, homework, syllabus and upcoming exams. Sometimes they sit there to discuss the complex problems of Maths, Physics or Chemistry. Tey exchange ideas, make plans and propose solutions. You can tell intellectual work is taking place; the concentration is quite evident, the seriousness is real. Such group discussions are quite common during recess time or free period. It is during this interaction that a lot of the learning occurs. Students interaction make collaborative learning powerful because knowledge is most benefcial when shared. Today, the world has changed drastically. Efective communication and collaboration are essential now to become a successful learner. In schools, the three R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic) are no longer enough. We need to focus on the four C’s ± critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication. As its name suggests, collaborative learning is a method of teaching and learning in which students team together in small groups to achieve an academic goal. To make this technique successful students must collaborate productively and work together on a task, sharing ideas and learning from one another. According to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one where they sprung up. Te active exchange of ideas within small groups not only increases interest among students but also promotes critical thinking. According to Johnson and Johnson (1986), there is persuasive evidence that students retain information longer and achieve higher levels of thought when they work in groups than students who work individually. Collaborative learning involves joint intellectual efort by students and teachers to search for understanding, meaning or solutions or to create an artifact or product of their learning. It encourages problem-solving skills, understanding complex relationships and decision making in an open ended situations. Such problem solving processes also mirror “real world” working environments. In collaborative learning, the teacher acts more as an organizer, facilitator and mediator than as a transmitter of knowledge. Learners do not passively receive knowledge from the teachers but become active participants of the teaching-learning process. Collaborative learning shifts the responsibility for learning to the student in the role of ‘researcher’ and self-directed learner. John Dewey strongly advocated discussion based teaching and the importance of giving students direct experiential encounters with ‘real world’ problems Te teacher’s role in collaborative work is to be a ‘guide’ for the work to be done, rather than ‘only decision- maker’. Collaborative teachers encourage students use of their own knowledge, ensure that students share their knowledge and their learning strategies, treat each other respectfully and focus on high levels of understanding. Before any work is assigned to the students, teacher must discuss the areas that will be assessed for measuring achievement. * Director/Principal, Sri Guru Harkrishan Sr. Sec. Public School, Amritsar, Punjab January-March 2014 15