1. education
2. teaching and classroom resources
3. lesson plans

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INNOVATIVE TEACHING LEARNING
THROUGH
PEER GROUP CO-OPERATION
Dr. Kamlesh Sharma
Principal Rayat Bahra College of Education
Bohan Hoshiarpur
India
ABSTRACT
Innovation in teaching practice has been variously associated with learning technologies,
pedagogical approaches, and organizational processes. The term is put to many uses,
from government policy to frequent appearances in university vision statements, and as a
rhetorical participant in organizational change. What actually is teaching, and how might
it be conceptualized? We explore curriculum theory and practice. Learning is planned
and guided. We have to specify in advance what we are seeking to achieve and how we
are to go about it. We should recognize our current appreciation of teaching methods and
practice emerged in the school and in relation to other schooling ideas such as subject and
lesson. In what follows we are going to look at four ways of approaching teaching
practice. Teaching as a way of knowledge to be transmitted; Teaching as an attempt to
achieve certain ends in students – product; Teaching as a process; Teaching as a practice.
It is helpful to consider these ways of teaching for approaching curriculum theory and
practice into three disciplines; the theoretical, the productive and the practical. This
Research papers discusses about innovations in teaching learning activity through peer
group co-operation.
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INTRODUCTION:
It is usually said that teaching is not a cup of tea which every one can drink. Today in the
time of achieving target of universal education, teaching must be a cup of tea for
everyone. Teachers are the main link between societies' expectations of their educational
systems and concrete student outcomes. Present research has been done to judge the
achievement of the students by using ‘’Innovation in Teaching – Peer Group Cooperation”
Teachers enter particular schooling and situations with an ability to think critically, inaction, an understanding of their role and the expectations; others have of them, and a
proposal for action which sets out essential principles and features of the educational
encounter. Guided by these, they encourage conversations between, and with, people in
the situation, out of which may come thinking and action .They structure learning goals
to promote cooperative, competitive, or individualistic efforts. In every classroom,
instructional activities are aimed at accomplishing goals and are conducted under a goal
structure. A learning goal is a desired future state of demonstrating competence or
mastery in the subject area being studied. The goal structure specifies the ways in which
students will interact with each other and the teacher during the instructional session.
Each goal structure has its place (Johnson & Johnson, 1989, 1999). In the ideal
classroom, all students would learn how to work cooperatively with others, compete for
fun and enjoyment, and work autonomously on their own. The teacher decides which
goal structure to implement within each lesson. The most important goal structure, and
the one that should be used the majority of the time in learning situations, is cooperation.
How students interact with each another is a neglected aspect of instruction. Much
training time is devoted to helping teachers arrange appropriate interactions between
students and materials (i.e., textbooks, curriculum programs) and some time is spent on
how teachers should interact with students, but how students should interact with one
another is relatively ignored. It should not be. How teachers structure student-student
interaction patterns has a lot to say about how well students learn, how they feel about
school and the teacher, how they feel about each other, and how much self-esteem they
have. “Without the cooperation of its members society cannot survive, and the society of
man has survived because the cooperativeness of its members made survival possible….
It was not an advantageous individual here and there who did so, but the group. In
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human societies the individuals who are most likely to survive are those who are best
enabled to do so by their group.”(Ashley Montagu, 1965)
“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change.
And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” Peter F. Drucker
PEER TEACHING METHODS:
Think-pair-share: After posing a question (particularly a complex one), give students
five minutes to think about it, perhaps even jot down some notes, after which you have
them partner up for a quick discussion about what they think and why. After giving
ample time for discussion, ask partners to share their insights with the entire class.
This strategy is helpful in engaging students in a more meaningful way. Think-pair-share
provides time to think about the answer to a question or problem and time to discuss it
with a group, before proposing an answer or solution to the entire class. Regardless of
whether the result ends up being shared in the larger class discussion, the process often
leads to more thorough, deeper thinking on the part of each student.
Peer Instruction using Clickers: One well-researched peer instruction model (see, for
example, Simon et. al, 2010) involves both individual and group work. Students are
assigned a reading prior to class and then quizzed on one or two of the more difficult or
complex items using Clickers to submit their answers. Students then form groups, discuss
the quiz question, and re-submit a group answer. Instructors can then instantaneously see
where clarification is needed based on what the groups struggled with, or when they
overwhelmingly chose an incorrect answer.
Reciprocal peer tutoring: Give students time in class to pair up in an in-class tutor/tutee
relationship—taking turns between being the tutor and the tutee. They will benefit in two
ways: 1) from explaining their own personal understanding of the material to another and,
2) from hearing the other explain, from their understanding or viewpoint, the same
material.
In this model, students spend time summarizing information, assessing the work or ideas
of a peer, and explaining rationales—all meaningful activities that promote critical
thinking and long-term retention of information. This type of peer instruction is
associated with the promotion of critical thinking skills as well as understanding of
complex scientific concepts (Griffin & Griffin, 1997; Goto & Schneider, 2010).
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Use undergraduate teaching assistants: Recruit students who have performed well in a
previous semester to serve as teaching assistants in the next. If your department offers
credit for Supervised College Teaching—many of them do—offer one or two as
compensation. Research shows that students gain the most out of a study or discussion
group when that group stays on task. Having undergraduate TAs roaming the lecture hall
randomly participating in small group discussions, or leading study groups outside of
class, helps ensure more time spent on task. In addition, it makes more people available
from whom individual students may turn for assistance. (Fingerson & Culley, 2001).
RATIONALE:
“All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret
of everything.” Swami Vivekananda
Students who work in groups perform better on tests, particularly in regard to reasoning
and critical thinking skills (Lord, 2001). Having students work with each other is an
effective methodology because it forces students to be active learners and to talk through
course concepts in their own words. There are many variations on how peer teaching can
be used to enhance learning in the classroom.
For helping students understand what studying in the course means and how they can
attain better academic success, to help students who seek advice on how to do better,
after having poor performance on the first exam in the course. “The true aim of everyone
who aspires to be a teacher should be, not to impart his own opinions, but to kindle
minds.” Frederick W. Robertson
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:
I)
To make the teaching-learning process more interesting and effective.
II)
To make the teaching-learning an activity centered activity.
III)
To ensure the active participation of the students in the teaching-learning
process.
IV)
To develop the qualities of team work, co-operation and leadership among the
students.
PRINCIPLES FOR INNOVATIONS IN TEACHING PRACTICE THROUGH
PEER GROUP CO-OPERATION INCLUDE:
1. Principle of selection of content - what is to be taught
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2. Principle of development of a teaching strategy - how it is to be
taught.
3. Principle of making of decisions about sequence.
4.
Principles
on
which
to
diagnose
the
strengths
and
weaknesses
of
individual students
PROCEDURE:
To meet the daily challenges for improving teaching and learning in the
classrooms the investigator taught the students using ‘Innovation of teaching learning –
peer group co-operation’ through following steps:Step1) Taught the lesson to the whole class of fifty students each of the class VI,VII and
VIII.
Step2) Evaluated their understanding about the lesson taught, in oral and written form as
per requirement on ten point scale.
Step3) Ten students secured higher grades/marks. Selected the students with higher
grades or marks in the lesson taught.
Step4) Divided the remaining students of the class into small groups of five students
each.
Step5) Selected the group leaders for each of the groups out of the higher achievers.
Step6) Let the group leader taught the same lesson to the group assigned to him/her.
Step7) Re- evaluated the learning of the students of the whole class by means of oral and
written test.
MAJOR FINDINGS OF INNOVATIONS IN TEACHING – PEER GROUP COOPERATION:
Achievement of students before Peer-Group Teaching Learning Process:
Class Total
Number of Students Number
number
with High grades or Students
of
marks
of %age of
with High grades or
Low grades or
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Students with
marks
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Students
marks
in sample
VI
50
12
38
24%
VII
50
14
36
28%
VIII
50
17
33
34%
Achievement of students after Peer-Group Teaching Learning Process:
Class
Number of Students Number
of %age of Students
number of with High grades or Students
with with High grades
Total
Students in marks
Low grades or or marks
sample
marks
VI
50
34
16
68%
VII
50
38
12
76%
VII
50
35
15
70%
Increase in Students’ achievement:
Class
%age of
Students with %age of
Students %age
increase
in
High grades or marks with High grades or students’ achievement
before
Teaching
Peer-Group marks
after
Learning Group
Peer- through
Teaching Teaching
Process
Learning Process
Process
VI
24%
68%
44%
VII
28%
76%
48%
VII
34%
70%
36%
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Peer-Group
Learning
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Ɣlearning of the students improved.
ƔNumber of the higher achievers increased.
ƔIndividual attention of the students is possible.
ƔQuality of leadership is developed in the students when teach to the peer groups as
higher achievers
ƔQuality of team work is developed in the students.
ƔDue to same age group of the students, achievers can better explain the lesson to their
peer group and the understanding level of the students increased.
ƔStudents do not hesitate to ask question or ask to repeat lessons. It results in better
understanding.
ƔBy teaching the lesson to others; achievers become more efficient and revision of the
lesson make them able to understand the subject matter thoroghly.
ƔTeacher’s work load decreases and teaching becomes easier.
LIMITATIONS:
ƒTeacher may become passive and dependent on higher achievers.
ƒHigher achievers may become over confident and egoistic in their attitude.
ƒIt may result into groups of higher achievers and low achievers in the same
class.
ƒ It is time consuming.
SUGGESTIONS:
Teacher should remain active and not be completely dependent upon the higher
achievers.
Teacher should evaluate the low achievers again and motivate to make equal to the
higher achievers.
SUITABILITY OF THE INNOVATION:
Innovation of teaching through peer group co-operation is suitable for Primary grade and
High School students (Grade- I. to Grade-VIII)
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