Cooperative Starters

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Are your students stranded on the highway to knowledge? Read on and find out how to jump-start your students' enthusiasm for learning with COOPERATIVE STARTERS.

Tips

Cooperative starters are short cooperative learning sessions (seven minutes or less) in which students interact in groups to complete a specific task. You can use cooperative starters as a catalyst for students' thinking, discussions, or actions.

They are called "starters" because they start students' thinking and exchanging of ideas. You can use cooperative starters before, during, or after a lesson. Below, find the specific advantages of using each of these time periods, and read sample starters.

BEFORE

Using a cooperative starter before a lesson:

• Focuses students' attention on the material.
• Piques students' interest in what is to come.
• Allows students to access their prior knowledge.

Sample Cooperative Starter:

Before beginning a lesson on classification: Divide the class into triads, giving each group plastic models of a butterfly and a moth. Instruct the groups to make a list of all the body parts they can find on each model. Every group member must agree that everything on each list is a body part.

DURING

Using a cooperative starter during a lesson:

• Creates a change of pace.
• Wakes students up and helps them stay alert. It is an opportunity to get students on their feet and moving around, filling their lungs with oxygen and helping their blood flow.
• Gives students a reason to pay attention to the lesson. Students realize they will probably be asked to respond to the material being presented somewhere along the way.
• Provides an opportunity to emphasize a key point or check for understanding.

Sample Cooperative Starter:

While analyzing the main characters in a book: Divide students into groups of four. Give each group one six-foot length of white butcher paper and several colored markers. Have one student lie down on the paper while other students trace around him or her, creating a large outline. Ask students to choose a character in the story and write down inside the figure any words that describe the character. Then have students write down around the outside of the figure all the events of the story that involve their character. When they're finished, have each group share their poster with the rest of the class.

AFTER

Using a cooperative starter after a lesson:

• Allows for a review, thus helping to fix new information into students' long-term memory. As they review, you have the opportunity to observe how well material was learned, giving you an idea of what needs to be re-taught at a future date.
• Gives students an opportunity to apply knowledge or skills gained in the lesson.
• Brings closure to a lesson. It can be the bow that ties the material all together and says to students, "We're done."

Sample Cooperative Starter:

To review addition: Divide students into pairs. Give each pair two sets of cards, one set consisting of addition problems (3 + 7, 4 + 2, etc.) and the other consisting of answers (10, 6, etc.). Instruct students to pair up the problem cards with the answer cards. Then have each pair join another pair (to form a group of four) and have the pairs check each other's answers. This same activity may also be used with subtraction, multiplication, and division problems.

Designing clear, purposeful cooperative starters and placing them at appropriate times can strengthen the effectiveness of your lessons. Cooperative starters bring students together to reinforce knowledge and teamwork while awakening their enthusiasm for learning.

Source: The above concepts are based on the PLS graduate course Achieving Student Outcomes through Cooperative Learning™.

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