Nathan Brandsma

EDUC 693B
11/17/14
Instructional Methods Quick Plans #2
Nathan Brandsma Social Studies "Political Economies"
Cooperative Learning
Section I - Description
1. Instructional Method: Cooperative learning is a method of teaching that is appropriate for a
wide variety of situations. The key is to tailor the cooperative learning to the situation. Jigsaws
work well when there a number of subtopic within a given theme, and these can be dispensed to
different students within a group. The method is useful whenever you want different perspectives
to be shared and confronted by students.
Cooperative learning should be used for several reasons. The first is that it is good preparation
for the real world in our democracy, in which people must work together to achieve their goals.
The second is that it is good practice for the types of group projects that are prevalent in
business. Third, it provides practice for social interaction and the creation of social connections,
which are crucial for an effective and satisfying life. Fourth, it helps students to learn about other
students, and realize that everyone has something to contribute. In the often insular world that
people live in, this is a crucial experience. Fifth, it can differentiate material, with students of
more advanced zones of proximal development able to help students in other zones.
2. Topic and rationale: The topic is Government and competition affect markets in the context of
food supplies and population increases. Specifically, how do different government systems affect
markets. Cooperative learning works well for this topic because groups can easily be formed
with each student in the group researching and sharing on a specific goverment type, such as
communism or command socialism, regulated capitalism and laissez faire capitalism. The groups
can share what they have learned and speculate about how each government structure would
address food scarcity. Other topics that could be addressed this way are any historical subject in
which there are different perspectives represented by primary sources. Also, in geography, this
can be done with specific countries in a region, and students will compare and contrast.
3. Features and purposes: It can be utilized for all subjects, but to be fully effective requires
individual accountability, positive interdependence (group success requires contributions from
each member), and promotive face to face interaction (groups must actually interact to be
successful). This makes creating cooperative learning projects much harder than just giving a

group an assignment. The purposes are elucidated above as the reasons why this method should
be used.
4. Advantages and disadvantages: There are several advantages of cooperative learning. The first
is that it is generally more engaging than lecture, which improves learning for students. The
second is that students can teach each other, which helps them to understand the content better as
well as help their classmates understand better than perhaps the teacher could. The disadvantages
are that it is very difficult to create an activity that effectively includes positive interdependence,
face to face interaction, and individual accountability. Another disadvantage is that it can be
difficult to get all students to show the level of motivation that maximizes the effectiveness of
the strategy.
Section II - Implementation of the Method
1. Objectives: Economics standard 3.1.c. SWBAT Compare and contrast economic systems in
terms of their ability to achieve economic goals by doing a jigsaw activity in which different
government economic types are researched. Each group will then write a paper describing how
each type would deal with food shortages and the pros and cons of those policies.
2. Materials: This lesson will require articles or text that describe how each government type
(Communism, Command Socialism, Regulated Capitalism and Laissez Faire Capitalism)
operates, specifically in regards to food production and distribution. If possible, having students
work together on a shared file to write up their conclusions.
3. Model: The teaching model is cooperative learning. This model was chosen as the different
types of government work well as areas of expertise, and summarizing the findings about each
government type deepens knowledge. The groups can then compare the government types to find
the pros and cons of each system.
4. Key Terms: Communism, Command Socialism, Capitalism, Regulated Capitalism, Laissez
Faire Capitalism, Policy, law.
5. Background Knowledge: Knowledge of the different government types and their historical
manifestations will help students in this lesson. Knowing what government is and what policies
are and how they work is also important.
6. Assessment: The assessment will be the write up of the pros and cons of each system in
regards to food and population.