There are a ton of collaborative learning strategies out there, but the four included in this post are the best for teaching content! Each of these strategies drives home the learning process and allows students to work together towards their learning goals. Plus, they are fun!
All collaborative learning strategies operate on the assumption that students want to work with their peers, talk, and have fun. With these four strategies, you can capitalize on this to have students work on content.
All Write Round Robin
This strategy is easy-peasy, but has a big impact! Students work in teams of four to six students, each with their own piece of paper and writing utensil.
Together, they rotate turns to name an item or fact that fits the category and everyone writes it on their own list.
This collaborative learning strategy is best for group brainstorming or recalling facts learned.
Jigsaw Method
This strategy uses the “chunking method” to have students learn just part of the content. They then work in their expert groups to design a presentation to teach the rest of the class about their chunk.
For more details on this collaborative learning strategy, check out this post.
This strategy is best used when a large amount of content needs to be explored and you want students to dive in deep and teach their classmates what they have learned.
Any information chunks can be used with the jigsaw method, but if you are looking for some pre-created versions complete with notes sheets and assessments, check these out.
Heads Together
Heads Together is another team based strategy that allows students to work out their own responses before comparing them with their team to work out how they will answer the question.
For more details, hop on over to this post.
This collaborative learning strategy is best used for reviewing and practicing content vocabulary. The power here is in the conversations students have with one another when working out a response.
Placemat Consensus
Another easy-peasy strategy is placemat consensus. For this one, you will need a large piece of paper for each team of four to six students. I preferred to use the butcher paper from the workroom, but poster paper or anchor chart paper works just as well.
In the center of the paper, draw a big circle. Then, section off the rest of the paper so there is one section for each team member. Give a topic and think time. Each team member will then write down everything they can think of about that topic. After a period of time, teams will come together to discuss their responses and add the most important or pertinent information to the circle in the center.
This collaborative learning strategy is best used when working on summary or the big picture of a content unit. It’s power is in helping students determine the most important information to share.
What’s Your Favorite Collaborative Learning Strategy?
Did I hit upon your favorite strategy for content, or is there one I should know more about? Let me know!
Try Out a Jigsaw Today!
My absolute favorite collaborative learning strategy for content has to be the jigsaw method. Check out how easy the Jigsaw Method can be with a free jigsaw. Sign up below!
