Chapter 15 page 383
Table 15.3
Cognitive Roles in Herrenkohl & Guerra (1998)
Cognitive role Questions developed by students
Making a prediction and building a
theory
What is your prediction?
What is your theory?
What do you think is going to happen?
Summarizing results of
investigations
What did you find out?
What were your results?
Relating the results to the prediction
and theory
Did what you think was going to happen really happen?
Where did you find your theory in your findings?
Did your results support your theory?The students subsequently used the questions they developed when they listened to group
presentations of their science investigations. When groups make presentations in class, students in the
audience often become bored and disinterested. (You have probably experienced this yourself!) Herrenkohl
and Guerra (1998) wondered if student engagement during presentations could be increased if students
were assigned to the three roles in Table 15.3 while the groups were making their presentations. Students
were assigned to roles (one role per student). After hearing each presentation, students in the audience were
supposed to ask questions relevant to their role (such as the questions in Table 15.3). Herrenkohl and
Guerra found that when students were assigned cognitive roles during the presentations, student
participation in discussions about the presentations quadrupled, in comparison with a class that had not
used the roles during group presentations.
Although research has shown that cognitive roles can be used effectively, one concern is that they
students may limit their discussions to what their activity cards direct them to say. However, the success of
methods that use roles suggest that students may use the roles as a springboard for expansive discussions
rather than as a constraint.
Problem 15.11. Evaluating Teaching. Constructing role cards.Ruth Rodriguez is a high school teacher of English as a second language. Her students are
all recent immigrants to the U.S. from Caribbean, Central American, or South American
countries. She is having groups carry out research on their home countries. Their tasks is
to prepare a tourist brochure to attract Americans to their country. She is having
students work in groups of four. She has created the following roles for this activity:- Discussion leader, who leads discussions that the group undertakes.
- Notetaker, who takes notes of their ideas as they prepare for the brochure
- Audience checker, who encourages the group to think about their intended audience
when making the cards. - Artist, who creates the art for the final brochure.
Before introducing the project to the class, Ms. Rodriguez creates role cards. Here’s the
card for the audience checker.
Audience checker
Your role is to make sure that your group is
thinking about your audience—Americans—as you
plan your brochure.
Evaluate Ms. Rodriguez’s plan, and propose any changes that you think are needed.