Cooperative Learning Lesson Morgan Campbell
The Lesson “Slip or Trip?� Murder Mystery Students will work in investigative teams to learn how constructing written arguments is much like what CSI investigators do when working crime scenes. Students will read a narrative of a crime, observe a photo of the scene, and work together to develop evidence and warrants to support their claim that the wife is either guilty or not guilty of killing her husband. Each student will write his or her own investigative report to conclude.
The Lesson’s Objectives Students will… learn how evidence and warrants provide logical support to claims in argumentative writing. Students will… work in an investigative team to develop claims, warrants, and evidence.
Social Skill Objective Students will… Share ideas and opinions. This looks like… Eye contact, nodding, leaning toward speaker, smiling. This sounds like… “great idea!” “thanks for sharing!” “what do you think?” “could you explain that a bit more?”
Group Size/Roles Pairs
Heterogeneous 1)
Reader (investigator) 2) Recorder (reporter) Students
will sit with desks facing each other, sharing all materials.
The Task
The INVESTIGATOR:
The REPORTER:
Read “Slip or Trip?” murder mystery narrative out loud to partner. Record any important facts from the narrative as the investigator is reading.
BOTH:
Observe the crime scene photograph Establish a list of evidence Determine the logical warrants to support the evidence
Elements of Cooperative Learning
Positive Interdependence: must work together to solve the mystery; practice sharing ideas. Individual Accountability: each student in the pair writes his or her own report at the end. Promotive Interaction: students share work space; practice social skill (sharing ideas) Small group skills: practice sharing ideas with each other Group Processing: students share their work with the class and allow the class to vote on the most well-structured argument; group members report on each other’s progress (evaluation).
Reflection -- Positives ď‚› ď‚›
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Working in pairs facilitated opportunities for students to practice listening to each other . The nature of the assignment required students to come to consensus about the outcome of the murder mystery, requiring that they listen to and share ideas. Students enjoyed the activity and said it helped them understand argument a little bit better!
Next time… I
would use larger groups to encourage students to work even harder at listening to each other’s ideas (especially on an activity that could spark disagreement). I would find a better way to monitor behavior – with several students (35 total), pairs made it difficult to observe and offer help to students.