The Handbook for the New Art and Science of Teaching. Robert J. Marzano
question.
1. Identify your own position on a controversial topic: What do I believe about this?
2. Determine the reasoning behind your position: Why do I believe that?
3. Identify an opposing position: What is another way of looking at this?
4. Describe the reasoning behind the opposing position: Why might someone else hold a different opinion?
5. When you are finished, summarize what you have learned: What have I learned?
Students then consider a different position on the topic and the reasoning behind it.
Thinking Hats
Edward de Bono (1999) originally developed this strategy in Six Thinking Hats. The teacher asks students to process new information by imagining themselves wearing any one of six different-colored thinking hats. Students should use multiple hats when examining one chunk of new content as a way of developing a more thorough understanding of the information. Depending on the hat they wear, students look at new knowledge in a slightly different way, as follows.
1. White hat (neutral and objective perspectives): When wearing the white hat, students examine facts and figures related to the new information without drawing conclusions or interpreting them.
2. Red hat (emotional perspectives): When wearing the red hat, students express how they feel about the new information but should still refrain from judging either the topic or their feelings.
3. Black hat (cautious or careful perspectives): When wearing the black hat, students look for weaknesses or risks that stem from the new information. (Some teachers have expressed concern about using the color black for this hat. If students might be offended, the teacher should use a different color hat for these perspectives.)
4. Yellow hat (optimistic perspectives): When wearing the yellow hat, students look for positive and valuable aspects of the new information.
5. Green hat (creative perspectives): When wearing the green hat, students generate new ideas or create novel solutions to problems using the new information.
6. Blue hat (organizational perspectives): When wearing the blue hat, students reflect on their thinking processes and decide what perspectives they would like to take (in other words, what hats they would like to put on) as they interact with new information.
Figure 3.2 outlines the six thinking hat perspectives.
Collaborative Processing
The teacher asks students to meet in small groups to summarize the information just presented, ask clarifying questions, and make predictions about upcoming information. After allowing the students to interact in small groups, the teacher can lead the whole class in a discussion of their summaries, questions, and predictions.
Since collaborative processing requires students to interact with peers, accurately summarize content, predict content, and clarify challenging information, students’ ability to comfortably use all elements of the collaborative processing strategy may need to develop over time. Use figure 3.3 to track students’ use of the collaborative processing strategy. If students seem stuck at the beginning or developing stages, evaluate which behaviors need to be strengthened through modeling, coaching, or instruction.
Jigsaw Cooperative Learning
The teacher organizes students in teams of equal size (for example, five members) and the content into as many categories as there are team members (for example, five categories). Once students are in their groups, the teacher assigns each student a topic about which he or she will become an “expert.” Once students each have their expert topic, groups disband and students with the same expert topic meet together in expert groups to investigate the topic, share their findings, ask questions of each other and the teacher, and discuss their ideas. After each student has become an expert on his or her topic, the original groups re-form and students each present their expert knowledge to the other members of the group. Other group members can ask questions of the expert or the teacher as they learn the new information.
Source: Marzano Research, 2016.
Figure 3.2: Thinking hats.
Figure 3.3: Recognizing students’ use of the collaborative processing strategy.
Consider the following tips when implementing jigsaw cooperative learning activities.
• Plan in advance which topics each group will be responsible for and which students will be grouped together.
• Before students begin researching their topics, ask them to consider what they already know about their topic. As they gather information, they should make connections between what they are learning and what they already know.
• Provide students with sources where they can get more information on their topic. These resources could be a chapter in a class textbook, a website, or a short article.
• Ask students to take notes or use a graphic organizer to record the important details they learn about their topic. Students should consider which information is important to share with their groups as they are researching.
• Provide multiple opportunities for students to discuss what they have learned with their classmates. Students can discuss new information with their expert groups, their primary groups, and the class as a whole at the end of the jigsaw cooperative learning activity.
• When students begin sharing information with their groups, ask them to consider if what they are saying is contributing to the group’s knowledge. Are they framing what they have learned in a way that other students can understand? Remind students that their classmates may not have the same background knowledge on the topic, so it is important that they provide sufficient details.
• As each group discusses new information, encourage students to make linkages between the different areas they explored. Students can describe how each topic relates to the other topics and how their new knowledge about each aspect contributes to their understanding of the unit as a whole.
Reciprocal Teaching
Small groups of students, with one student designated as the discussion leader, use this strategy to interact with new information. Before the teacher presents a chunk of new information, members of the group generate predictions about the content. After the teacher presents the chunk of content, the discussion leader asks the group questions about the information presented, and the members of the group discuss each question. After the questions have been discussed, someone from the group (not the discussion leader) summarizes the content presented so far, and the members of the group make predictions about the upcoming chunk of content, beginning the cycle again. The role of discussion leader should rotate from student to student so each student has the opportunity to generate questions about the content and practice facilitating the group’s discussion.
Figure 3.4 can help guide their discussions.
Concept Attainment
The teacher asks students to identify, compare, and contrast examples and nonexamples of a concept. Examples of a concept should clearly display the attributes of the concept, and nonexamples should clearly not have attributes of the concept. Concept attainment is ideal to use when examining a complex topic that may be difficult to explain or define. It also works well when examining categories of objects or concepts. For example, teachers can use this strategy to examine different animal classes,