Pair them up: Basic Cooperative Learning Strategies!

There's nothing worse than a distracted classroom; feels like both the teacher's and student's time goes to waste and nothing gets to remain in the learner's mind. Engaging students in pair or group work has proven to be one of the most effective ways to enhance the participation of all in the classroom (Even those who are most quiet!) 

The following is a sampling of basic cooperative learning strategies can apply to almost any lecture and it will sure hold your students' attention throughout most activities you carry through during class:

1) Think/Pair/Share

• Have attendees turn to someone near them to summarize what they're learning, to answer a question posed during the discussion, or to consider how and why and when they might apply a concept to their own situations. The objectives are to engage participants with the material on an individual level, in pairs, and finally as a large group. 
• The activity has been helpful to carry through with any of the following tasks: organization of background knowledge, question brainstorming or simplu summarize/apply/integrate any new information.
• Approximate time: six to eight minutes.
•  The procedure is as follows: 1) individuals reflect on (and perhaps jot notes down) for a couple minutes in response to a question; 2) participants pair up with someone sitting near them and share responses/thoughts verbally for two minutes; 3) the discussion leader randomly chooses a few pairs to give thirty-second summaries of ideas.

2) Question and Answer Pairs

• The main objective of this activity is to engage students in readings to later pair them up to answer particular questions.
•  This helps deepen the level of analysis of presentations/readings, and helps fuel students' interest in new concepts and how to properly explain them, as well as how to apply these new ideas to their own work setting. 
• Approximate time: five to ten minutes.
•  The procedure: 1) participants respond to a presentation (video, panel, readings) and compose one or two questions about it;; 2) the participants pair up; A asks a prepared question and B responds; then B asks a prepared question and A responds; 3) the leader may ask for a sampling of questions and answers in order to bridge to a full group discussion.

3) Shared Brainstorming

• Presenter administers sheets of paper to each small group of 3-5 people. On each sheet is a different question. Team members generate and jot down answers to the given question. The presenter then instructs each group to rotate to another sheet containing a different given question to answer. 
• Depending on the time available, this procedure is repeated, giving each group the opportunity to respond to as many questions as possible. 
• At the end of this activity, each group returns to their original question sheet, reviews the given responses, generates a summarization of ideas, and shares their conclusions etc. with the entire group.

4) Peer Survey

Each participant is given a grid that is to be filled in according to the needs of the group. Group members can be instructed to fill in the grids on their own or they can collect statements from peers and then share in small groups. Groups can then generate and share conclusions. Grid topics or categories can be designed as needed/preferred; here's a sample grid:

   

Example of Idea:
Useful Information:
Unresolved Question:

5) Background Knowledge Probe

BKPs questionnaires ask for basic, simple responses (short answers, circling, multiple choice questions) from students who are about to begin a course, a unit, or study of a new concept. Such probes are meant to help teachers determine effective starting points/appropriate levels of instruction for a given subject and/or class. Used to both open and close course activities, a BKP helps students focus attention on what will be important material.