Promoting Cooperative/Collaborative Learning in a Second-Year History Course Dr. Tracy Penny Light, Department of History In History 253, students were expected to work collaboratively on a short research project. At the beginning of the term, students were randomly divided into groups of 3-5 students and were given a workshop on team-building (this included initial icebreakers and a team-building activity). Students were also provided resources on how to work effectively in groups. Then, building on an earlier individual assignment which introduced them to library searching, students worked together to facilitate a tutorial on a particular research topic and then to write a short research paper. Below is the full description of the assignment.

HISTORY 253 - Tutorial Presentation (Fall 2003) Group Presentation and Paper - 20% of Final Grade Two Part Assignment: Leading a tutorial and writing a short paper (6-8 double spaced, typed pages) Due: Part One - in the tutorial you have been assigned to* Part Two - one week after your tutorial facilitation This is a two part assignment. The first part requires your group to sign up to be the facilitators for a tutorial. The tutorials have been divided up thematically (race, gender, rural/urban, and class). As a group, you should choose two of the articles you each found in your first assignment using the History Research Project as well as the assigned readings for that tutorial. Your group will prepare questions and other material to help you make a short presentation to the class on the chosen theme. After your presentation you are responsible for mediating a class discussion on the topic. One week after you have run the tutorial you will submit a short paper on the theme and the articles. We hope that preparing the tutorial and getting feedback from your classmates will help you to write the paper. Each section of this assignment is described in greater detail below. Part One: The group will lead one 50 minute tutorial. Your initial presentation of the articles should be about 15 minutes. After your presentation, your group will lead a discussion on the readings and the issues that are raised by them. In order to facilitate your discussion you should have questions prepared. Be creative! Here are some questions to help you prepare for the presentation and discussion: What is the main argument of each of the articles? What types of evidence does the writer use? What do the article and theme tell us about the history of the period? How does this theme relate to religion and another theme of your choice? Do the articles complement or contradict each other? How do we resolve contradictions between sources? *If you want to use Power Point or other technologies you must speak to the instructors at least two weeks prior to your presentation. Part Two: As a group you will prepare and submit one short paper that outlines the arguments of each article and describes how they fit together to give us a sense of the past. Try to integrate and compare and contrast the articles. Discuss the theme, as it is used in the articles, in order to describe how historians use it to better understand the past. Here are some questions to help you prepare the paper: What is the main argument of each of the articles? What types of evidence does the author use? Do the articles complement or contradict each other? How do the articles "fit" together? How do we resolve contradictions between sources in order to get a sense of the past? What does this theme and the articles reveal about pre-Confederation

Student Reflections on Working Collaboratively "Experience in working as a group in this class has helped me in learning to cooperate as a group. When everyone cooperates in the group, such as handing in all the completed work that was assigned on time, going to the group meetings, a lot of work can be accomplished. When you feel like a lot of work has been done, you feel like you have achieved something, which makes one feel great about themselves. This will help in other classes that require group work." "Regarding group work specifically, I attempted to assist myself and teammates by challenging their statements, and inviting them to challenge mine. This is not so much a skill as a personal philosophy that I felt could be beneficial. Politely pointing out fallacies, flaws, or other approaches to an idea aid that person in refining and enveloping that idea. In essence, this strategy relies upon both preparation and participation, thus contributing to the reasons I find those two "strategies" so important. If a teammate challenges me...he/she can help me pinpoint weaknesses I may have overseen, and allows me to integrate more perspectives into that statement." "I have also brought many important skills that I learned...to my part-time job. An example of this is teamwork. I thought I knew everything about teamwork, but I learned so much more...I learned that organizing my time by writing down and making a schedule to give myself extra time has really helped me immensely!" "Although I do not believe that I personally have contributed as much to the overall learning of this course as a few other particular students may have this year, I do believe that being in our assigned groups did help me to learn the history of Canada a lot better than if I were to probably go at it alone."