Cooperative Learning: Practical Advice
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In preparation for its 1994 teaching conference, the Institute surveyed law teachers regarding teaching topics that they wanted to learn more about. Cooperative learning was the topic most often mentioned. Four of the conference participants shared these teaching tips involving cooperative learning:

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Cooperative learning is a form of instruction in which small groups of students work together on an academic task. Cooperative learning focuses on structures designed to ensure student-student interdependence. I teach first-year Torts, and my sections have varied in size from forty-five to ninety students. I have successfully used cooperative learning as a teaching method in large classes.

Here's how I implement cooperative learning in a large class:

Define objectives. I make course objectives, unit objectives, and lesson objectives. The cooperative learning technique that I decide to use is based on the objective I'm trying to achieve.

Decide on how to structure positive interdependence. To create goal interdependence, I allow only one answer or work product from the group. To create resource interdependence, I sometimes assign group members responsibilities for reading different resources and for teaching the other members in the group about that resource. To create task interdependence, I sometimes assign each student a task that contributes to the group effectiveness. To create role interdependence, I often assign roles in the group; the most common roles are summarizer, recorder, and checker for understanding.

Decide on size. Cooperative learning literature suggests that groups of three to six are best, with four recommended as the ideal number. I form the basic group around four for classroom work, since smaller groups require more individual interaction. However, sometimes I use groups of two for in-class activities. I use groups of six for written work, so I have fewer responses to read.

Assign students to groups. I assign seats to provide for heterogeneous groups based on Myers-Briggs type, gender, race, age, and prior academic performance. I try to assure that in any group of four there are at least two women, two persons of color (preferably of the same ethnic/racial background), and two Myers-Briggs "feeling" types. After the first semester, I reassign seats to provide opportunity for students to work with different individuals and to provide diversity in performance.

Arrange the room. Since furniture cannot be moved and time is limited, an important step is structuring the large class so students do not have to move to be in their cooperative learning groups. It is important that members of a learning group sit closely enough that they can share materials, maintain eye contact with each other, talk quietly, and exchange ideas in a comfortable atmosphere. While the room does get fairly noisy with twelve to twenty or more groups working, groups have never complained about that aspect of the process.

Choose materials. I usually use materials that are part of the assigned reading for that day.

Choose the cooperative learning technique. There are many cooperative learning strategies. I have tended to utilize the following three less complex strategies:

1. Think-write-pair-share. A question is posed to students before class. Students think about the question and a response before class. In class, students pair with a member of their group to discuss their responses and write a pair response. Students then share their pair response with the other pair in their group and refine a response for the group. The group shares its response with the whole class. The class critiques, analyzes, and discusses the group responses. I have used this technique in helping students analyze cases and for analyzing hypotheticals. I find that the caliber of the discussion is enhanced by this technique, and all students have an opportunity to learn by both reflection and verbalization.

2. Three-step interview. Students interview one another in pairs, alternating roles. They then share in their four-member learning team the information or insights gleaned from the paired interviews. While I have used this as a team-builder, I have also used it to allow students to share ideas, hypotheses, or reactions to the assigned materials.

3. Numbered heads together. Members of the learning team count off 1, 2, 3, and 4. I pose a question that involves some higher-order thinking skills. The students discuss the question, making certain that everyone knows the answer or the arguments. I call a specific number and the designated team members respond as group spokespersons.

Do any necessary teaching. I package the cooperative learning strategies between other teaching methods. Consequently, I usually do a mini-lecture to explain concepts important to the exercise.

Explain to the class the academic task and the criteria for success. My criteria for success are that everyone comes prepared to the group and that everyone participates in the group.

Start the groups. I place my objectives, instructions, and time limits on the blackboard. If the activity is a short assignment - three to five minutes - I stay at the podium. If the activity is a longer one - fifteen to twenty minutes - I leave the room for four to five minutes to give the groups the opportunity to get started. When I return, I circulate among the groups to monitor group effectiveness, provide task assistance, or cooperative skills assistance.

Provide closure to the task. I have the class reunite. I have some of the groups report. I start a discussion and get reactions to the reports.

Provide closure to small group activity. The first several times that I use a cooperative learning technique, I ask the students to write down one or two things their group did well and one thing their group could improve on next time.

Submitted by Vernellia R. Randall, University of Dayton School of Law

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The most challenging pedagogical task in teaching classes with enrollment in excess of seventy-five is getting everyone motivated to participate in the discussions.

I have found that only about ten or fifteen students normally participate in the discussions in large classes. The rest of the students sit back and let the small cadre of students do the work for them. The problem is that most of the class remains passive, while only a small handful of students joins me in the discussions.

I wanted to turn this around; I wanted to be more passive and I wanted the entire class (not just the usual discussion leaders) to be more active. Here is my idea:

On the first day of class, I break the class into groups of three (e.g., in a class of ninety students, there will be thirty small groups). I tell these groups they are to work together throughout the semester. Each time the class meets, a different person in the small group acts as a reporter or spokesperson for the group.

From time to time, I will ask the groups to work on problems, hypotheticals, and doctrinal issues that come up in our large class discussions. For example, I ask the groups to work on problems like the following: "The defendant in this case is arguing that Case X applies to the instant case. Give me three arguments the plaintiff would likely make in distinguishing Case X from the instant case. You have three minutes to come up with the three arguments. The spokesperson will report the results of your group output to the class. Okay, start!"

There will then be thirty small group discussions taking place. The entire classroom is buzzing with discussion. At this point, I am watching the time, taking a break, and collecting my thoughts for the next topic of discussion. At the end of the three minutes (I am very strict about the time), I call the class back to attention and ask for hands of spokespersons. Everyone seems interested in learning what the various groups have come up with.

I have used small group exercises in both upper-level and first-year classes in this way.

Submitted by Gary Minda, Brooklyn Law School

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The cooperative learning technique I have used for the past few years is to divide a large class into groups with five or six students in each group. We break into groups as needed to examine concepts that have created difficulties for students and to consider problems and hypotheticals.

The members of each group are chosen at random. I try to designate the groups by the second class meeting. The group members must sit in designated seats, clustered around the other group members.

Through this method, I hope to help achieve several goals. I believe that this technique will aid students' understanding of the material for several reasons: the opportunity to listen to their colleagues' discussion of the material (sometimes a student's explanation of a difficult issue is more comprehensible than mine); the opportunity to ask what a student might perceive as a "dumb question" (no matter how often I stress that questions are desirable, some students will be more comfortable asking them to a small group rather than the teacher); and the opportunity to advocate one's viewpoint and test it in the group.

This method also gives each student a chance to be part of the discussion. I hope that grouping students will help them listen more closely to the opinions of their classmates. Some students believe that the only important thoughts come out of the teacher's mouth. With the group, they are given the opportunity to consider the views of each member in a setting where I do not contribute to the discussion. Since the groups are diverse, I believe that the members will at least hear, and optimally consider, viewpoints that they may not have considered previously.

Submitted by Rick Nowka, University of Louisville School of Law

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The Bluebook can be boring. Discovering that my legal writing class had not a clue about Bluebook form and fearing the tedium of a conventional approach, I used the following one-hour lesson to teach the basics. It worked. Students were engaged throughout the lesson and (to my surprise) complimented me on it afterwards.

I asked each student to bring a copy of the Bluebook to class and passed out a problem set (eight problems) at the beginning of class. I allowed students thirty minutes to work individually on the problem set. I then divided the class into eight groups of three and asked the members of each group to spend twenty minutes coming to consensus on their answers. Finally, I asked each group to report one answer to the class as a whole for discussion. I allowed ten minutes for this portion of the lesson.

In the discussion, I asked whether the reported answer was correct and why, requiring the participant to cite to the appropriate provision in the Bluebook and inviting disagreement from other students. In all cases, someone had the correct answer with an appropriate citation supporting that answer.

Result: The class members taught each other the Bluebook and enjoyed doing so.

Submitted by Theodore Seto, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles

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