Chapter 2 Response to: Theories Applied Towards Classrooms

by April

I want to expand a little on both our thoughts about the zone of proximal development and the possibilities of cooperative learning with that idea in mind. I think we both mentioned the learning groups we've seen in elementary classrooms. I don't feel like I have enough knowledge or understanding of these groups to say that students shouldn't be grouped in ability-level groups, but it seems from some of the things we've been learning that there could be a more effective way.

I'm thinking about some previous experiences I've had with a slightly similar idea. Back in my "Children's Pastor" days I used to run an annual Vacation Bible School for a week in the summer. I absolutely loved the concept I used for those programs. The way it worked was we'd have 50-100 kids and we'd break them down into groups of 4-5. Most people wanted to break kids up by ages because the kids ranged from 1st grade to 5th grade (we ran a separate program for 3-5 year olds). However, I set them up like families. The goal was to get a child from each grade into each group. That didn't always work out perfectly but we were close. The groups would then rotate through classes throughout the day that included art, games, drama and more. The activities were the same for all kids regardless of their ages. Most people thought their older kids would be bored being stuck with the younger and the parents of younger kids worried they'd get trampled by the big kids. What happened instead was a wonderful environment where the older kids became helpers to the younger. The younger learned from the older and the older deepened their learning by explaining things to and helping the younger. And behavioral problems were at a minimum.

So I have to wonder if something like this would work in a regular classroom. Obviously not by ages, but by level of understanding. Put students in a group with other students operating inside their own zone of proximal development. The students who are struggling more can learn by interacting with those who have a better grasp on it and the students who have understand can deepen their understanding by helping those who are struggling.

You mentioned the challenges of adapting your lessons for every level of child represented in your classroom. I wonder if this approach would alleviate some of that?