Engaging With Learning
Cooperative Learning:
Cooperative learning is something that I have always been aware of as it was included from a young age at Primary school. At University there is an expectation for you to take control of your own study and learn things for yourself based on what a lecturer has used in an input. However, this doesn’t always mean that you have to be completely by yourself and I agree that it can sometimes be easier to work in a group of peers from your course.
I believe, and I’m sure many others will as well, that working as a group is an effective way of learning because of the many different personalities that there are and the learning styles can be varying too. There are many advantages of working in a group and incorporating cooperative learning within your studies.
- Learning from one another: This is very beneficial as you are able to identify how other people learn and it may help to clear any difficulties that you may have had before.
- Opens up debates that you would not have thought of before: This allows you to see what other ideas people have and also lets you develop other ideas that you hadn’t thought of during an input or lecture.
- Additional notes: Working in group and getting other ideas from peers will allow you to take additional notes that will complement what you have taken down in your lectures. This also allows you to use additional ideas to do further research helping with any individual tasks or assessments.
However, it is important to remember that you are a member of a group and so you should respect the views and opinions that are stated. It is also extremely important to ensure that no one person is dominating the discussion. After all, this a group task and so everyone has to have an equal opportunity to express their views.
Active Learning:
I believe that active learning is important at all stages of your education. It is particularly useful when you are teaching young children as it allows them to engage with what they are being taught. Active learning is also important for splitting up a child’s day rather than having them sit in the classroom not paying attention and struggling.
Much of the active learning in Primary schools, I have witnessed, is used to support and extend the children’s education and is supported through the Curriculum for Excellence system throughout Scotland.
Active learning allows children to develop their imaginations and creativity and encourages them to develop new skills which will benefit them when it comes to literacy and numeracy in particular.
Overall, cooperative working and active learning are two extremely important factors to keep in mind when thinking about the way in which we learn.
