Many institutions of learning now promote instructional methods involving
‘active’ learning that present opportunities for students to formulate their own questions, discuss issues, explain their viewpoints, and engage in cooperative learning by working in teams on problems and projects.
‘Peer learning’ is a form of
cooperative learning that enhances the value of student-student interaction and results in various
advantageous learning outcomes.
Peer Learning Strategies:
Buzz Groups: large group of students is subdivided into smaller groups of 4-5 students to consider the issues surrounding a problem. After 20 minutes of discussion, one member of each sub-group presents their findings to the group.
Affinity Groups: Groups of 4–5 students are each assigned particular tasks to work on outside of formal contact time. At the next formal meeting with the teacher, the sub-group, or a group representative, presents the sub-group’s findings to the whole tutorial group.
Solution and Critic Groups: One sub-group is assigned a discussion topic for a tutorial and the other groups constitute ‘critics’ who observe, offer comments and evaluate the sub-group’s presentation.
Teach-Write-Discuss: At the end of a unit of instruction, students have to answer short questions and justify their answers. After working on the questions individually, students compare their answers with each other’s. A whole-class discussion subsequently examines the array of answers that still seem justifiable and the reasons for their validity.
