While the use of pre-designed A/CL structures is very useful, often, there really is no pre-designed cooperative learning strategy that fits well with particular content called for in the curriculum. For example, Think-Pair-Share would not be an appropriate strategy for having a team undertake a complex design project. When our faculty and experts talked about designing A/CL activities from scratch, they emphasized starting with goals and objectives (what students should know or be able to do at the end of the activity). The problems or questions assigned and the process for working through them should help all team members acquire this knowledge or these skills.

A number of practical suggestions for making A/CL activities more effective are offered below. A common theme throughout all our interviews was the importance of paying careful attention to the instructions given to students. The use of roles was also emphasized by most of our participants.

Click on the links below to get advice on planning your own cooperative learning activities.

   Darwyn Linder
         Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology
         Arizona State University

   Richard Felder
         Hoechst Celanese Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemical Engineering
         North Carolina State University

   Teri Rhoads
         Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering
         University of Oklahoma

   Ron Roedel
         Professor of Electrical Engineering
         Arizona State University

   Veronica Burrows
         Associate Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering
         Arizona State University

Click on the links below to find out more about using roles in the classroom.

   Karl Smith
         Professor of Electrical Engineering
         Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota

   Jim Morgan
         Associate Professor of Civil Engineering
         Texas A&M University

   Veronica Burrows
         Associate Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering
         Arizona State University

Articles

Roles and Gambits
By Susan Ledlow

This one page handout identifies and describes some possible roles to which different students might be assigned in order to enable the team to function more productively and effectively.