Collaboration in Education-Is it necessary?

“Collaboration, as it turns out, is not a gift from the Gods but a skill that requires effort and practice.”

The internet etiquettes have increased but social interaction has decreased. With children, youngsters and adults spending more and more time on the internet, there is very less space for interaction and collaboration. Hence collaboration in education has become the need of the hour.

Collaboration is emerging as one of the most important skills for 21^st century learners.

More than 80% of the employers look for good collaboration skills among the new hires, according to a survey conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. But sadly, as per their call, less than 40% of the new hires are geared up with this skill before they enter the workforce.

Teaching collaboration in schools and especially in Primary education has many benefits. Giving group work to the children and making them find a solution to the ultimate is the ultimate hack that we look forward to.

Some of the benefits of collaboration in education are-

1 

        1.      Confidence Building-

One of the popular confidence quotes for children is-

‘Put all excuses aside and remember this: You are capable’-Zig Ziglar

When a task is given to a team of students, they take it up for discussion among the group. Then the tasks are divided into micro tasks and goals are set which they plan to achieve. When a major task is divided into micro manageable tasks, the children feel at ease and believe that they can be achieved with a certain amount of success. This builds up confidence among them.

2     2.  Resilience among children-  All the characteristics of a resilient child can be seen in the children when they are working in a group. Their ideas might be liked by the others in the group or they might be rejected. The children learn to bounce back into form even if they are ridiculed for their idea or criticized for not completing the task as per the set standards of the group. If they do well, the group showers praise, and if they fall behind, the group offers support. So they learn in both cases.

3    3.  Gains for the Introverts- There are majorly two types of people-the introverts and the extroverts. The extroverts are dominant and at times impose their views upon others. The introverts might not be allowed to speak but they learn even by listening during the group discussion.

4. Conflict resolution- Negotiation and communication are embedded in the term collaboration. There might be mistrust or arguments and non-agreement on the way the tasks are to be done. The children learn to negotiate and communicate. If their idea is worth it, it gets accepted. Otherwise, the child learns to accept failure as a learning lesson when the task does not meet the set aim of the group.

       5.  Division of work and multiplied benefits-  

“Collaboration divides tasks and multiplies success.”

While collaborating in a group, the tasks get divided but when the set task is accomplished the success is manifolds. There is a sense of achievement and positivity among each member of the group. There might have been some tasks which would have been difficult for some of the members. These tasks are either taken over by those members who are well equipped to do it or help and advice is easily available in the group. Hence no task seems daunting to any member.

Teaching collaboration to children in a classroom is not easy. The teacher should create a small group and assign roles or tasks to the students. Mostly the students tend to take the task and work independently not realizing that they are actually contributing to a group. Each participant must feel and know that the task is very important and it will eventually contribute to the success of the group. Take care that no one is just waiting to enjoy a free ride when others are slogging hard.

Just motivate them to understand that-“No matter how minimal the task is, the success will be mammoth for everyone.”

Hence it is important that the educators take to teaching collaborative skills in their classroom to the students.

Playing with a Tangram Square 
 

The Chinese  wonderfully invented the Tangram Square and it has fascinated people ever since.Let's know all about Tangrams.

Something about Shapes:

Shapes fascinate one and all. Everything around us has a shape. The most important form i.e. humans have a shape. All objects around us have a particular shape. Humans connect well to the shapes they remember or to those shapes which appeal to them.

Children also tend to recognize shapes from early on in their lives.

Shapes in our daily lives:

“Geometry is the art of correct reasoning from incorrectly drawn figures.”

Geometry which basically means the measurement of the earth basically deals with space and figures. It is used to measure length, area, volume, etc.

Geometry exists in every walk of our lives. Hence it is important to teach geometry to the students at an early age. The more affinity and likeness that they have to shapes, the better they become in understanding and solving geometry.

The children come to learn about the different kinds of shapes when they are in kindergarten. Here they are also taught about some spatial concepts like ‘above’, ‘below’, ‘over’, etc.

Both these important concepts are well combined in a Chinese Mathematical puzzle called the Tangrams.

What are Tangrams?

Tangrams are a set of seven geometrical shapes. There are two large triangles, one medium-sized triangle, two small triangles, one square and one parallelogram. If you arrange these shapes properly, they make a square.

This puzzle was invented by the Chinese around 200 years ago. The tangram travelled to Britain from China and it started gaining popularity. From the UK it went to Europe and then across the Atlantic to the United States of America.

In ancient times itself, people had arranged tangrams into more than 6500 shapes. Today these pieces of shapes are still being reinvented into different shapes by people who love to solve these puzzles. A tangram can be made by cutting a square into its seven geometrical shapes. Nowadays one can play with tangrams online also.

Each part is called a tan. The best way to play is to give a picture to the children who have a shape. Let them place the tans in a manner that they resemble the design given. The seams of the tans should be invisible in the picture which is provided to the students.

While arranging tans, one must take care that the seams should be touching were; they should not overlap and there should not be any gap between the seams.

Advantages in Education:

When the students experiment with the tans while trying to assert them according to the picture, they analyse the shapes. They look at it from different perspectives. They have to visualize the pattern in their minds. They juggle with different arrangements. Since the outlines in the given picture are not visible the child has to envision the placement of different shapes in his mind. This helps to develop the visual spatial skills among the children.

It was found that if the kids played with tangrams or puzzles similar to them for 40 minutes and then appeared for an arithmetic pen and paper test, they scored much better than their regular class test. Also, the results after playing with tangrams was much better rather than games like a crossword.

Educational benefits of Tangrams:

1.      The children learn new vocabulary like flip, rotate, etc.

2.      They gain a familiarity with the shapes and hence a better understanding of geometry.

3.      They have a better understanding of spatial relationships.

4.      They understand the formation and decomposition of the geometric shapes.

Schools should introduce Tangrams and let the students experiment invigoratingly. They are a sign of healthy growth in Mathematics.

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