Page 101 - International Journal of Process Educaiton (Special Issue)

Research-Based Best Practices (1990-2015)
Learning and teaching practices continue to evolve through action research by educational
innovators who test and share their best practices.
High quality learning and teaching practices are advanced
through the sharing of research-based best practices.
While “research” may sometimes imply expensive high-
level studies that assiduously follow strict scientific
principles, as often as not, research-based best practices
tend to come as a result of action research, where a single
individual or a small group of practitioners “analyze data
available to them in order to improve their own practice”
(Rigsby, 2005). While many other practices are presented
elsewhere in this article, a few examples of research-based
best practices in Process Education are presented in this
section.
• Cooperative Learning (see also the Learning
Communities section)
• Active Learning (see also Learning to Learn)
• Relevance of Learning Activities
• Elevating Learning to Problem Solving (see also
Problem Solving)
• Validation of Learning
• Triggering of Prior Knowledge (see also the Learning
Process Methodology)
• Concept Maps as a Learning Tool and Activity
Cooperative Learning
(also see the Learning Communities section)
The jury has long been in: cooperative learning works.
According to Prince in Does Active Learning Work? A
Review of the Research (2004),
…there is broad empirical support for the
central premise of cooperative learning, that
cooperation is more effective than competition
for promoting a range of positive learning
outcomes. These results include enhanced
academic achievement and a number of
attitudinal outcomes. In addition, cooperative
learning provides a natural environment in
which to enhance interpersonal skills and
there are rational arguments and evidence to
show the effectiveness of cooperation in this
regard.
Though the professionals at Pacific Crest did not invent
cooperative learning, they were quick to adapt and apply
the practice when they noticed its efficacy. Dan Apple
recalls,
International Journal of Process Education (February 2016, Volume 8 Issue 1)
E A
In 1985 when we were running POINT FIVE
workshops, there were often a limited number
of computers, so the workshop facilitators often
paired two faculty members on a single computer.
We observed that faculty moved more quickly and
effectively through the workshop content when
they worked in pairs than when they worked
alone because in pairs, they taught each other. In
student demonstrations, the results were much
more positive when students worked in teams
of three or four than in pairs. (See the Learning
Communities section.)
Pacific Crest published a paper on cooperative learning
(Duncan-Hewitt, Mount & Apple, 1994) and shortly
thereafter published, the Handbook on Cooperative
Learning (Duncan-Hewitt, Mount & Apple, 1996). Sinclair
Community College contributed the design of Team Role
Markers (1998) which are now used in Professional
Development Institutes and Learning to Learn Camps.
The scholarship on cooperative learning was extended
with the publication of modules in the Faculty Guidebook:
Cooperative Learning (Van Der Karr & Burke, 2007),
Designing Teams and Assigning Roles (Smith, 2007a), and
Team Reflection (Hare, 2007).
Beyond the Faculty Guidebook, the Transformation of
Education (Hintze, Beyerlein, Apple, & Holmes, 2011)
aspect, “social orientation” contrasts the “individual”
orientation with the “community” orientation, offering tips
for moving toward more cooperative practice:
• Have students assess one another’s individual work.
The boost of having another student identify strengths
and assist in improvement makes collaboration more
attractive.
• The use of formal team roles can help bridge the gap
between individual efforts and team results.
• Allowing teams to compete shifts competition/
identity from an individual to the group. Shared win
= celebration; shared loss = commiseration.
As noted in the Learning Communities section,
cooperative learning is integrated into both Foundations
of Learning (4th ed.) (Redfield & Hurley-Lawrence, 2009)
and Learning to Learn: Becoming a Self-Grower (Apple,
Morgan & Hintze, 2013). Additionally, team roles are
used in Foundations of Biochemistry (4th ed.) (Loertscher,
Minderhout, & Frato, 2015). The introduction to the
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