Source: Openai.com
It was the time when I was in grade III. The teacher asks us to solve the problem related to in filling the numbers. The questions seem easy we started to solve them but we could not make it and he asked us to work together and with great effort, we were able to solve it, it was a most joyous time for us as we could solve the problem in our own efforts.
Similarly, repeating the childhood memories again I could remember the work that was done by me and my two sisters. We were supposed to make a meal for our family it was hard assignment for us even though we are supposed to prepare it as my mother was busy in the paddy fields. We worked together as we previously saw numerous times cooking food by mother. We worked hard with our full efforts to prepare the food.
In my teaching profession, mostly I used to make the group of different types of learners and assign them the work such that there will be the involvement of all the student and finally the assignment used to be complete on time will nearly full correct form. While teaching trigonometry in grade IX, I have created a group consisting 5 student in each group all together 6 group. They need to create the story that deals with the triangles concept along with trigonometric ratios. Not only this it should include the contents of other subjects too as an integration of mathematics with science, social too. The story is listed below and the creator of this fictious story is Aahana Shakya:
“Story of right angled triangle“
There was a school at Kathmandu Metropolitan City at Naxal. The school was big enough to have a swimming pool, basketball court, futsal and a big garden. All the students used to bring their own snacks. Aarami(Pseudo Name)hana and Gallan(Pseudo Name) was the student of grade 9 and were good friends. Both of the students were foodie. There was a lot of complains from the student of grade 9. All the students complained about seeing their snacks box empty before they eat their snacks. One day Aarami brought sushi and she was so excited that she went to take her snacks box earlier than the other days. When she went to grab her snacks box she caught Gallan eating the sushi. She was red due to her anger seeing Gallan eat the sushi she brought for herself. Gallan noticed Aarami breathing heavily. Gallan leaves the grade room as quick as possible. He started running as quick as he can but he realized that Aarami runs quicker than him. He noticed a avocado tree and decides to climb up the tree. He was an expert climbing up the tree while Aarami had no idea to climb up the tree. Gallan reaches the top branch which thick enough for him sit there. He starts teasing her ani he decided to throw the avocado. She notices the ladder. She brings the ladder and puts near the branch Gallan was sitting. While she climbs up Gallan climbs down. When he was about to reach the bottom end of the tree he slips down and sprains his ankle. While he cries aahana confronts him till then he realizes his mistake and asks for apology. She forgives Gallan and takes him to the hospital for the treatment of his ankle.”
Laal, M. (2012) states that “Collaborative learning (CL) is an educational approach to teaching and learning that involves groups of learners working together to solve a problem, complete a task, or create a product”. This learning method directs the learners in solving the problems in a group with the mutual efforts of all learners. Learners completes the assignment/work and finalized the conclusion. I have created five students in each group to create the story for the measurement of physical quantities so that it will help them in understanding the measurement of angles. Students themselves divide their assignment among themselves as one will create the theme/concept of story, next will write it or accumulates third one helps in the formation of story in sequential order, fourth one represents the story in pictorial form and finally, the last student will recite/present story in the class. This collaboration and problem-solving help them to solve problems easily with their collaborative work.
Benefits of CL
Numerous benefits have been described for CL (Pantiz, T., 1999). A good way for organizing the benefits of CL, are to put them in categories. Johnsons (1989) and Pantiz (1999) list over 50 benefits for CL. The list below is based on their works. This paper summarizes them into four major categories of; social, psychological, academic and assessment, as in the following:
– Social benefits;
– CL helps to develop a social support system for learners;
– CL leads to build diversity and understanding among students and staff;
– CL establishes a positive atmosphere for modeling and practicing cooperation, and;
– CL develops learning communities.
– Psychological benefits;
– Student-centered instruction increases students’ self-esteem;
– Cooperation reduces anxiety, and;
– CL develops positive attitudes towards teachers.
– Academic benefits;
– CL Promotes critical thinking skills
– Involves students actively in the learning process
– Classroom results are improved
– Models appropriate student problem-solving techniques
– Large lectures can be personalized
– CL is especially helpful in motivating students in specific curriculum
– Alternate student and teacher assessment techniques;
– Collaborative teaching techniques utilize a variety of assessments
”Solving problems is not only a goal of learning mathematics but also a major means of doing so. … In everyday life and in the workplace, being a good problem solver can lead to great advantages. … Problem-solving is an integral part of all mathematics learning.” (NCTM, 2000, 52). Problem-solving helps in the analytical power of the learners and reflects the understanding too. My teaching and learning experiences help me to understand the actual as well as factual importance of collaboration and problem-solving.
References:
Laal, M., & Laal, M. (2012). Collaborative learning: what is it? Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 31, 491-495.
Williams, K. M. (2003). Writing about the problem-solving process to improve problem solving performance. The Mathematics Teacher, 96(3), 185-187.
