Using Cooperative Learning to Integrate Thinking and Information Technology in a Content-Based Writing Lesson
Gabriel Tan (Xinmin Secondary School, Singapore) Patrick B Gallo (SEAMEO Regional Language Centre) George M Jacobs (SEAMEO Regional Language Centre) Christine Kim-Eng Lee (Nanyang Technological University)
Abstract
Cooperative learning can be defined as a range of concepts and techniques for enhancing the value of student-student interaction. The article begins with separate discussions of how cooperative learning promotes effective instruction of thinking skills and creativity, and of information technology. Thinking skills and creativity are promoted when students interact with their peers to brainstorm, explain, question, disagree, persuade, and problem-solve. Cooperative learning offers many tools for structuring this type of thinking interaction. Educational applications of information technology are enhanced by peer interaction in cooperative learning groups, as students can engage in peer tutoring, model effective behaviours, communicate electronically, and take on a range of roles while working at the computer.
Next, the authors describe a content-based writing lesson for secondary school students in Singapore in which cooperative learning is integrated with thinking and creativity, and with information technology. Explanations are provided of how key cooperative learning concepts are embodied in the lesson. Materials used in the lesson are made available.
Introduction
In this article, we present a blending of three important trends in education: cooperative learning (CL), thinking and creativity (TC), and information technology (IT). Elsewhere, authors of this paper have considered the integration of cooperative learning with TC (Lee, Ng, & Jacobs, 1998) and with IT (Jacobs, Ward, & Gallo, 1997). Below, we briefly review key elements of cooperative learning and then describe some of its links with thinking and creativity  and information technology. The main part of the article consists of a description of a Singapore secondary school Geography/English lesson taught by the first author in which cooperative learning, thinking and creativity, and information technology were woven together.
Singapore has a bilingual education policy in which from primary school the medium of instruction is English, with students studying their mother tongue (usually Malay, Mandarin, or Tamil) as a subject. The secondary school at which the lesson was used is what in Singapore is called a neighbourhood school. This is the type that most students attend, rather than autonomous or independent schools that are more selective as to whom they admit. Students attend secondary school from approximately 13-16 years of age. Class size is normally about 40 students. The normal period lasts 35 minutes.
Cooperative Learning
Cooperative learning can be defined as a variety of concepts and techniques for enhancing the value of student-student interaction. In one well-known operationalization of cooperative learning (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1993), key concepts include:
Positive interdependence - the feeling among a group of students that they sink or swim together, i.e., that what helps one helps all, and that what hurts one hurts all.
Individual accountability - the feeling among a group that each member is responsible for their own learning as well as that of their groupmates.
Collaborative skills - these skills, that students need to cooperate successfully, often must be explicitly taught.
Processing group interaction - time spent for groups to think about how well they have collaborated and how to enhance their future collaboration.
Heterogeneous grouping - students working with groupmates who are different from them on such variables as sex, past achievement, ethnicity, and diligence.
Research on cooperative learning (Bossert, 1988-1989; Cohen, 1994; Johnson & Johnson, 1989; Sharan, 1980; Slavin, 1995) across a wide range of academic subject areas and age groups suggests that the use of cooperative learning may be associated with gains on the following variables:
Achievement
Liking for school
Inter-ethnic relations
Thinking skills
Self-esteem.
Enjoyment
Cooperative Learning and Thinking and Creativity
Cooperative learning is believed to promote thinking and creativity in many ways (Hythecker, Dansereau, & Rocklin, 1988; Qin, Johnson, & Johnson, 1995; Webb, 1989), including:
Compared to a whole class format, in cooperative learning, students have more opportunities to talk and to share ideas. This interaction with groupmates encourages students to restructure their ideas. For instance, they may need to summarize, elaborate, exemplify, defend, and explain their ideas.
Disagreement, if carried out constructively, pushes students to clarify and rethink their ideas, potentially leading to cognitive restructuring.
By working in groups, students enjoy more opportunity to see how their peers think and create new ideas. Witnessing this process can provide useful models.
Discussing, creating, and thinking in a group, rather than in a whole class context, can provide a less anxiety-producing context. If groupmates feel positively interdependent with one another, a supportive atmosphere can develop. In such an atmosphere, students may feel more free to try out new ideas.
The multiple perspectives of others in their heterogeneous groups may spark new ideas in students` minds.
The greater achievement that cooperative learning can foster provides students with a