Page 28 - CBSE Cover Jan-March 2014_16-07-2014 FINAL

Role of a Teacher in Collaborative Learning Rosy Jain* “It is long history of human kind, those of who learned to collaborate and improvise most efectively has prevailed” - Charles Darwin In order to visualize the concepts already introduced in class and to reinforce learning through group collaboration, the Mathematics teacher takes students of class IX outside for a geometry lesson, A team of three students started constructing an equilateral triangle, after which they construct two parallel lines and a triangle circumscribed by a circle. One student holds the rope from the place of a vertex of the triangle while the other two slowly move in a circle, using rope as a giant compass to mark the other points of the triangle. “Excellent work, champs” the teacher says, nodding her approval. So instead of considering herself as a teacher, as keeper and dispenser of disciplinary expertise and bound up in the lecture podium; she acts as facilitator, co-creator of knowledge and collaborator. She let her students construct their own learning based on their experience. In collaborative scenario, there is no ofcer above the learners where everyone shares an equal footing and learner choose their own unique path. Collaborative learning shifts the responsibility of learning to students as researchers and self-directed learners. Another Maths teacher divides the class in groups and his students can be seen asking unraveling problems of mathematics and explaining each other before asking him. So students learn to rely on their collective wisdom. Te daily class worksheets and periodic group tests are intentionally designed to be harder than the individual homework or exam. Students quickly come to recognize their ability to solve things as a group which they might not have been able to do on their own. Proponents of collaborative learning claim that the active exchange of ideas within small groups not only increases interest among participants but also promotes critical thinking. In Language classes students can be encouraged to listen to each others individual interpretation of the text, underline the notion that there can be multiple right answers. It empowers and enables students' resilience to observe how your neighbour can act as a resource, how do you test your own theories, how to understand if you are on the right track or the wrong. Students become more proactive when they go in to the real world, they already know how to work with people and how to draw out their strength. In collaborative learning, the teacher acts more as organizer, facilitator and mediator than a transmitter of knowledge. 90% of class time should be spent on application of content and 10% on delivery of content. Teachers must act as connector of learning frst and content expert later. Tey should be learning guides bringing their experience and expertise to bear much like" wilderness guides "who help hikers and explores. An analogy for the st new role of teachers in 21 century is as a ‘Sherpa’ ± experts in their felds who guide others on the journey of self discovery. * Principal, Shifaly International School, Rahon Road, Ludhiana, Punjab 26 Collaborative Learning