Cooperative Exercises and Examples
There are lots of ways to use cooperative learning in your classroom. These links will take you to other areas of the Starting Point site with resources that can be adapted using the techniques of cooperative learning.
- Indoor Labs: especially if a written report is involved
- Outdoor Labs: again, especially if they do a written report
- Independent Research Projects: works well with jigsawing, can involve data or models
- Peer Review: works well with pairs
- Jigsaws: this structured format lets each team member prepare separate but related assignments, then share their work with peer teaching
- Interactive Cases: these open-ended investigations require cooperation
- Team Games: you'll want to add individual accountability
- Interactive Role-Playing: scenarios and roles can be written to ensure that all students are part of cooperative teams
- Reviewing journal articles: You may want to create interdependence by assigning several articles and give different ones to different group members.
- Studio Courses: Traditional courses can be reorganized into a more student-centered model (see also Williamson and Rowe, 2002 and Savarese, 1988 ).
Below, you can browse through examples of cooperative learning that have already been developed. You can use them "as is" or let them serve as models for you to develop your own.
Earth System Topics
- Atmosphere 7 matches
- Biosphere 6 matches
- Climate 7 matches
- Earth's Cycles 1 match rock cycle, hydrologic cycle, carbon cycle and nitrogen cycle
- Geography 1 match
- Human Dimensions 9 matches
- Hydrology 2 matches
- Oceans 4 matches
- Solar System and Astronomy 4 matches
- Solid Earth 11 matches
- Surface Processes 2 matches
- Time/Earth History 3 matches
Results 1 - 10 of 29 matches
Greenhouse Emissions Reduction Role-Play Exercise part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Role Playing:Examples
When the science is so clear, why is it so difficult to make agreements that will reduce our impact on climate change? This exercise is designed to help students explore that important question in an active and ...
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Geologic Puzzles: Morrison Formation part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Interactive Lectures:Examples
Images of faulted strata, tilted turbidites, and beach rocks bring the field into the classroom, giving students practice in doing what geoscientists do. These images are examples of geologic puzzles. -
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Mock Environmental Summit part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Role Playing:Examples
At the end of a six-week class or unit on global warming, students role-play representatives from various countries and organizations at an international summit on global warming. -
See the activity page for details.
2004 Asian Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Project part of Examples
Students are employees of a unit of the United Nations responsible for coordinating disaster relief after a major disaster (the 2004 Asian Earthquake and Tsunami) occurs. The agency needs to understand the ...
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Determining the Geologic History of Rocks from a Gravel Deposit part of Examples
Gravels deposited as a result of continental glaciation are used to teach introductory-level earth-science students the application of the scientific method in a cooperative learning mode which utilizes hands-on, ...
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An Activity to Introduce the Geoscience Perspective part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Role Playing:Examples
This role-playing exercise introduces students to geology by having them examine rocks from the perspective of a child, a sculptor, a geologist or someone from another walk of life. -
Runaway Greenhouse Effect Exercise part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Role Playing:Examples
This site has a collection of role-playing exercises that provide the students with equations and data to use in collaborative problem-solving. -
See the activity page for details.
What Should We Do About Global Warming? part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Role Playing:Examples
This module contains an 8-lesson curriculum to study greenhouse gases and global warming using data and visualizations. The students will summarize the issue in a mock debate or a presentation. -
See the activity page for details.
Reducing Volcanic Hazards to People and Property - An Assignment with Electronic Peer Review part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Peer Review:Examples
This electronic peer review exercise has students discuss the major volcanic hazards and risks to humans. -
Environmental Assessment Course part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Campus Living Laboratory:Examples
The classic campus-based project is an environmental or sustainability assessment, often referred to as an environmental audit. This course, taught at Carleton in 2001, describes how this type of project can be ...
