“To Group or Not to Group” (Tippins)

Reading Assignment
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Case A. “To Group or Not to Group” (Tippins)
Question 1
One of the advantages of using cooperative work groups to promote science learning is that it allows students to construct deeper and more powerful understandings than they could individually construct alone. It also enhances creativity and innovation because children can generate more science ideas through collaboration. Cooperative work groups can foster a collaborative classroom environment whereby each student is given the opportunity to participate in the science learning. When collaborative learning is used, the traditional roles of teachers and students are altered through participation in classroom activities.
Question 2
One of the disadvantages of using cooperative work groups to promote science learning is that it is time consuming. The teacher has to spend most of her time repeating the same thing over and over as each group needs more attention. Another disadvantage is gender bias. Some male members of the group can marginalize the contribution of female members. Another disadvantage is that the group decisions may be highly dominated by students with strong personalities or higher perceived status, thus silencing shier students who fear humiliation. Other problems include the following: - (1) it makes introverts to struggle (2) it takes longer because students learn at different speeds. Such problems can be minimized or eliminated by assigning each student a role to play during the study and dividing the children based on academic strengths and personality traits.
Question 3
I think potential advantages of cooperative learning outweigh the potential disadvantages because the collaborative learning more benefits in student learning ranging from increased level of thinking to development of oral communication to promotion of student interaction to increased self-esteem. How...