Cooperative Learning Strategies
Module Seven

This last module will be devoted entirely to the preparation of your Final Product for this course and the session at which you will share your product with those present.

Before you proceed with this lesson, please take time to reflect on your experience with last module's activity and email Jerry Peters at gpeters@twcny.rr.com with a brief description of the activity you did with your students, how it went, and any questions you need answered. You might want to attach an electronic copy of the activity to the email. If you have any questions at this time about your final product, you may include them in this email.

The objectives for this course as stated in Module 1 are listed below.

Participants will:

1. Increase their knowledge of and ability to use cooperative learning strategies;

2. Reflect upon the impact of the cooperative learning strategies on student learning;

3. Create a product by the end of the course that provides evidence of the accomplishment of the above two objectives.

Objective #1 was accomplished by reading the monthly modules and successfully completing the tasks assigned for each module. By responding to the reflection questions in each module, you satisfied the second objective. Your final product will provide evidence of the knowledge and teaching skills you have learned (Objective #1) by your participation in this course. A considerable amount of reflection on your part (Objective #2) will also be necessary in order for you to complete your final product.

Recent studies on how the human brain learns has validated the importance of reflection in the chain of events that ends with the brain sending new learning to long term memory. Cognitive scientists call the reflection process metacognition or "thinking about thinking". This important step should occur in every lesson during closure when each learner is engaged in summarizing what he/she has learned. A very effective strategy for closure involves the use of individual journals during the final few minutes of the learning episode. Prompts such as "Describe at least three important things you learned today about (name the objective of the lesson here) and rank them in order of importance." require learners to reflect on their learning and make judgments about the relative importance of the content learned. In other words, learners have the "think about their thinking", thereby increasing the probability that their brains will store that new learning in long term memory.

Please review the descriptor for the final product format that you chose and self-assess your product to make sure it meets the criteria in the descriptor.

The session for presenting your final product will be scheduled by Don Mesibov. You will receive communications directly from him regarding the time and place of the session, and what you should bring to the session. If you have any questions or problems regarding the content of your final product, please email Jerry Peters at gpeters@twcny.rr.com.