The Responsive Classroom
Teachers’ Voices Matter: Cooperative Learning across Multigraded Classes
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Micheal M Van Wyk
Scholars conceptualize multigrade teaching (MG) as an approach used by a single teacher teaching learners from different curriculum grades (for example grades 4 to 6) within the same class period. An integrated social constructivist theoretical frame underpins the multi-graded teaching for optimal learning. This article explores MG teachers’ views on cooperative learning as a pedagogical approach and examines how they implemented the different cooperative learning approaches in the MG class. A qualitative research approach was employed with telephonic interviews and open-ended e-mail responses as data collection instruments. Findings revealed that participants were trained in and knew how to use cooperative learning approaches to teaching. They were confident, positive, and eager to plan cooperative learning approaches for MG classes. Some drawbacks emerged because of a lack of sufficient resources. Further research is needed to explore teaching multigrade and planning multigrade lessons quarterly, as stipulated in the new curriculum policy.
Project Based Learning: A Case Study on Campus Engagement through the Lens of Diffusion of Innovations Theory
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Dr. Kelly Mc Bride
Project based learning (PBL) is more than a methodology, it is an opportunity for college students to foster intellectual and emotional maturation through direct interaction with a real-world client, utilizing strategic cogitating and interpersonal competencies. Students can represent the PBL project on resumes, and display collateral materials within portfolios that reveal to both the client, as well as future employers, the scope of scholarship. This mixed-methodology case study investigates the benefits of PBL utilizing cognitive, social, and motivational strategies in a junior public relation’s class at a private college in the northeast. Meaningful learning in conjunction with active involvement is key to PBL. The experienced utilized one of three general models stated by Morgan (1983) known as the project component, whereby, the “project is interdisciplinary in nature, and often related to 'real world' issues." (p. 289) PBL is crucial in the field of public relations so that students may develop field-based knowledge and skills so that teaching-learning is effective in understanding the issue or opportunity. This study additionally utilizes the Diffusion of Innovation theory by Roger (1962), whereby adoption of a new behavior or idea develops overtime through five adopter categories that are detailed herein (Behavioral Change Models, 2018).
A Cooperative Learning Approach in a Teaching English Classroom
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Samuel Amponsah
The paradigmatic shift from teacher-centred to learner-centred approaches to teaching has been appreciated over the past decades. To effectively ensure this change, teachers need to be trained to understand and apply approaches that enforce learner-centeredness in their classrooms. To explore the training high school English teachers in South Africa and Ghana received in the use of the cooperative learning approach and establish how they apply it, this qualitative study was necessitated. The study findings indicated that teachers from both countries had received training either formally or through self-study. Based on their orientation the Ghanaian teachers mostly referred to the approach as group learning while their South African counterparts referred to it as the cooperative learning approach. It was also clear that some teachers applied the approach though they did not make deliberate plans and preparations for it. In spite of that, it was evident that teachers from both countries were not applying the approach based on its five principles. It is in this light that the researchers aimed at a proposed constructive alignment framework for the use of cooperative learning in the English classroom. The proposed framework will be used as a futuristic empowerment initiative for teacher education training in both countries.
Removing Barriers: Using Photovoice to Explore Social Change in Schools
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Keya Mukherjee
This paper will discuss the premise and use of Photovoice, a community-based participatory research methodology, which was used with graduate students to engage them in action research to establish meaningful connections between course curriculum and experiential learning. Photovoice methodology according to Wang and Burris (1997), provides a process by which people can “identify, represent, and enhance their community through a specific photographic technique” (p. 369). The methodology draws from the fields of feminist theory, the works of Paulo Freire’s problem-posing education teachings, documentary photography, and from practical photographic traditions. Finding unique ways to engage students in their education through a deeper level of critical thinking is a continual challenge. In this project the premise was about engaging students in a doctoral course in Educational Leadership on Diversity and Leadership to use Photovoice methodology to engage with critical consciousness about diverse students in their school and understand the forces that shape decisions related to these students. The objective was to use photography to engage with critical reflection about places where they saw social injustice in their school context and to discuss these experiences and share their feelings to bring about social action to remove barriers for diverse learners. The paper will describe how the methodology provided students with opportunities to examine, reflect, and identify opportunities for social change in their schools. Additionally, student testimonials on the power of using visual images, associated meanings, and the ensuing narratives that helped raise social awareness to bring about social action will also be shared.
