Case Study - Lack of Cooperation

Introduction

The case study approach of this module has been designed to create an awareness of the general classroom behavioral problems that may be encountered on a day to day basis. The examples here are generalised and may be applied to situations other than the ones given here.

Description of the problem

Mrs Albim's students are, generally speaking, well behaved. They usually work hard and complete their assignments. However, Mrs Albim is concerned because there is little cooperation between the students. Students rarely help each other. They often argue, and cannot seem to work together. Mrs Albim has tried to encourage students to work together on various projects, but this has usually been more trouble that it was worth. Mrs Albim would really like her students to learn to cooperate and to benefit from joint efforts.

Causes

Lack of cooperation between students is often due to their never having learned the social skills to work together successfully. Students may never have seen, much less been involved in, a cooperative relationship. Therefore, they do not realize that cooperative relationships require politeness, consideration, and the willingness to take turns on the part of those involved. Nor do they realize that several people working together may at times be more efficient than one person working alone.

Poor cooperation may also be the result of the classroom's general atmosphere. If the teacher's behavior is more negative than positive, there will be a negative atmosphere in the classroom. Students will tend to be negative and uncooperative with each other. Finally, the teacher may actually be reinforcing poor student cooperation by giving it his or her attention. If the teacher intervenes anytime two or more students are having trouble getting along, this attention may be reinforcing their misbehavior.

Goal

Students will learn to cooperate with each other.

The Plan:

Step 1:
Plan to ignore all arguments and to punish all fighting. If arguing and fighting are the major problems, see the teaching tip that deals with those problems specifically.

Step 2:
Monitor your interactions with the students. If students receive more attention for negative behavior than for positive, they will not learn how to be supportive of each other.

Step 3:
Identify what cooperation is, and train the students to develop those behaviors. The following behaviors. might be identified as being part of cooperation: Being polite and considerate.

• Being supportive of each other's efforts.
• Praising the performance of others.
• Dividing the assigning of specific tasks.
• Taking turns.
• Helping others with their tasks.
• Sharing information.
• Putting forth an equal effort to everyone else's.

Start training students to develop each of the behaviors. listed. Discuss each behavior and conduct a training session for each one. After a characteristic has been introduced and discussed, provide the students with feedback whenever they try to exhibit that characteristic. For example, the class might spend twenty minutes discussing what 'polite behavior is. The discussion should focus on why polite behavior is a necessary part of cooperation. Have students develop a list of specific polite behaviors. An example would be taking turns talking. Once a list of behaviors. has been generated, have the students take turns exhibiting these behaviors. in short role-playing situations.

Throughout the training sessions, give students feedback on their polite behavior If a student has exhibited polite behavior, praise him or her. If a student has been rude, do not lecture or scold the student. Suggest how he or she might have behaved differently. If the impolite student exhibits a more polite response, praise him or her. Otherwise, ignore any further impolite responses.

When students are successful at exhibiting polite behavior, introduce the next skill you would like students to develop. Continue praising previously learned skills as you are working on new skills.

Step 4:
Structure situations that allow students to practice the skills you have introduced. Some examples of activities that require cooperation include:

• Peer tutoring.
• Group assignments.
• Relay races.
• A skit.
• Decorating a bulletin board.