Contact Mrs. Russ | ©2005-2011 by Jill S. Russ | Last Revision
April 7, 2012
The structures, adapted from Spencer Kagan's Cooperative Learning, are designed for "teams" for four students to work together.
Assign each student on the team a different number. The teacher asks a question. The students "put their heads together" and make sure that everyone knows the answer. After the students have had a short time to discuss, the teacher calls a number at random. Students with that number raise their hands, and the teacher calls on one of them to give the answer.
Students work with a partner on a worksheet. One student in each pair works the first problem on the worksheet while the other, the coach, watches and helps if necessary. The coach checks the partner's work. If the partners don't agree on the answer, they may ask the other pair on their team. If the two pairs cannot agree on an answer, all four students raise their hands so the teacher knows the whole team has a problem. If the partners agree on the answer, the coach offers the partner a praise. For the second problem, the partners switch roles. When the worksheet is completed, the two pairs compare answers.
Round 1: Maximum Cues. Students make a set of flashcards, usually on items missed on a pretest. They sit in pairs. One student hands five of his cards to the other. (To keep the learning in "bite size chunks," students should only work with five cards at a time. The student holding the cards holds up the first card, reads the front of the card (the question), and then shows and reads the back of the card (the answer). Then the first student shows the front of the card again, and asks the second student for the answer from short term memory. If the answer is correct, the card is "won back" by the second student. The first student gives an exaggerated praise for a correct answer. "Super fantastic answer! You are a fabulous learner!" If the second student does not answer correctly, the first student gives a hint or helps figure out a way to remember the answer. If a student needs a hint to answer correctly, the card is put in the back of the stack to be repeated. When the second student wins back all of the cards, the students switch roles.
Round 2: Few Cues. In round 2, the same basic procedure is followed, but this time fewer cues are given, and students move from short term to long term memory. This time, the first student shows the second student the front of the card and asks for the back from memory. The student wins the card back and receives an exaggerated praise for a correct answer. Cards with incorrect answers are put back in the stack and the student receives a hint. When the second student wins back all of the cards, the students switch roles.
Round 3: No Cues. On the third round, no cues are allowed. As in the other rounds, a correct answer receives an exaggerated praise. An incorrect answer goes back in the stack.
Students stand in two circles. The inside circle faces out, and the outside circle faces in. Each student has a partner. The teacher poses a question. Partners make sure they both know the answer. The teacher can choose one student to answer. The outside circle rotates one student to the right to make new partners for the next question.
Each student on a team makes up a review problem and writes it on a flashcard. The author of the question checks with teammates to make sure the answer is correct. The team sends their questions to another team. Student 1 reads the first question. The team answers and turns the card over to see if they agreed with the sending team. If not, they write their answer on the back as an alternative answer. Student 2 reads the next question, and the procedure is repeated. The stacks of cards can be sent to a third and fourth team. When the team gets their original questions back, they can discuss and clarify any disagreement about the correct answers.
The teacher asks a question with many possible answers. Students make a list on one piece of paper. Each student writes one answer and then passes the paper to the person on the left. Roundtable can be used in a race-like format with recognition given to the team with the most answers.
Students have a review worksheet. They find someone in the class who knows an answer to a question on the worksheet. After talking to that person, they write the answer in their own words. The person who gave the answer must sign off on the worksheet that the answer is correct. Each person may sign only one answer on each person's paper.
Topics are written on the top of chart paper and posted around the room. There are as many topics as their are teams. Teams each stand by one chart. They have one minute to write as many facts as they can on the topic. When time is up, they rotate to the next chart. They have two minutes to read and discuss what the previous team has written. They can put a question mark by any item which they disagree. Then they have one minute to write additional information. Continue until the teams have been to all of the charts.