Chapter 15 page 367
How guided cooperation promotes core processes. Guided cooperation methods (including
scripted cooperation, PALS, and guided peer questioning) promote many of the core processes of effective
groups. First, guided cooperation is tightly focused on the goal of enhancing high-quality strategy use in
classes. The scripts and the question cards explicitly direct students to use targeted strategies. Because
students are expected to respond to their partners by answering questions or giving feedback, the methods
encourage uptake of ideas. As students gain confidence that the strategies they are learning are enhancing
their achievement, these methods should also boost students’ expectations of success, which encourages
engagement, as well. Students gradually master advanced cognitive strategies through repeated, engaged
practice. Finally, guided cooperation promotes positive interdependence in that students must work together
to perform the task. The formats require students to work together to take turns speaking and then attending
carefully to what the other student is saying.
Guided cooperation versus traditional teacher and textbook questions. As you think about
designing guided cooperation for your classes, keep in mind that the guided questions are a special kind of
question. They are focused on useful strategies, and they are general enough to be used across many
different specific tasks. This differs from more traditional questions found in textbooks, which focus on the
current content rather than general strategies. For instance, consider the following questions from an earth
sciences chapter in a middle school science textbook (Aldridge et al., 1998, p. 81):
- At what point does magma turn into lava?
- What differentiates the three types of seismic waves?
- Describe how volcanoes and earthquakes are alike.
A guided questions approach such as King’s guided peer questioning gives students the resources they need
(the question stems) to develop these questions on their own (e.g., “What is the difference between
and ?” or “How are and similar?”). By learning to develop their own questions,
students learn more about how to think about the text than if they simply respond to questions that teachers
or textbooks pose (A. King, 1999). Furthermore, by repeatedly using the same set of general prompts, they
come to understand how the same strategies can be used in many different tasks.
In this section, we have examined methods that engage students in conversations using high-level
cognitive strategies as they question each other about texts that they have read. In the next section, we will
examine a very different instructional method to promote effective group processes: using complex tasks
that go beyond reading and asking questions about a text passage.
Complex Tasks
Much of the research on collaborative learning during the past two decades has employed more
complex, authentic tasks that require students to engage in activities such as solving realistic problems,
writing skits, creating multimedia presentations, and carrying out original research. Here are some
examples of complex tasks that can be used with collaborative groups:
Ɣ Fourth graders develop a skit about law enforcement in feudal Japan, working with a variety of source
materials providing needed information (Lotan, 1997).
Ɣ A high-school social studies class develops a thorough plan to convert a vacant lot owned by the city
into a playground. The plan includes detailed cost and use estimates.
Ɣ Middle school students research, design, and implement a plan to reduce nitrogen run-off from their
school’s ground (Malhotra, Chinn, & Obrupta, 2005).
Ɣ A second grade class investigated how the length of their shadows changes as the day progresses
(Wainwright, 2002).
Ɣ A high school history class develops a museum exhibit that teaches museum goers about the Robber
Baron Age.
Ɣ A kindergarten class transforms their room into a travel agency with posters, brochures, ticket booths,
and so on.
These tasks require at least several hours to accomplish. Many require days or even weeks of work for
successful completion. They also require a great deal of higher-order thinking and high-level strategy use.