Children are the priority. Change is the reality. Collaboration is the strategy – Judith A Billings

Collaborative learning is an educational approach of using group tasks to enhance learning through working together. The approach has enabled our students to engage actively and take ownership of their learning. As a year group, it has been our continuous endeavour to understand the educational research and best practices available worldwide. We used this knowledge to plan and implement effective online collaborative activities to provide the best learning experience to our students.

What is virtual collaboration?

In an ideal physical classroom, we have experienced that the collaborative tasks were successful in fostering positive social interactions and making learning fun and impactful.

During this unprecedented time when the virtual world turned into the new normal, we were determined to provide our students similar opportunities to work in collaboration. We explored various online learning apps, digital tools, breakout rooms and methodologies to incorporate collaborative learning tasks into our lessons.

This blog is our attempt to share a few success stories of Year 3 students engaging efficiently in collaborative learning and demonstrating the ATL skills category called Social skills.

Success Story 1

In Science, students watched a Sun Safety video as a Flipped classroom activity. During the lesson, they listed the benefits and dangers of the sun on a shared Google doc. As a result, students were able to organise and communicate their thoughts clearly and effectively.

They applied this learning while attempting an independent task and reflected on the ATL skills developed during the activity.

Success Story 2

In Humanities, while learning about climate zones, students built their knowledge by reading together in their respective groups. Further, they interacted in their groups to discuss and record important information to be shared with the rest of their classmates.

The exercise gave students a context to engage constructively in creating and sharing their learning through Google slide presentations. This was followed by a live presentation by each group wherein each member shared information about the climate zone they researched about.

Success Story 3

In Maths, students created their own word problems and improved upon them based on peer feedback. Through this collaborative task, students got an opportunity to develop their mathematical language and reasoning.

Success Story 4

Ramayana in Lockdown has been a successful virtual event this session where the students of Year 3 presented the story of Ramayana through dance, drama, music and news reporting skills.

Success Story 5

In English, during Novel Study, students worked in small groups to brainstorm the adjectives describing the given nouns. Each group recorded its responses on a shared Padlet.

In another activity, students worked in groups to predict the ending of the novel. They shared their group planning on the Padlet and wrote their own endings

Success Story 6

At the beginning of the academic session, students collaborated with their parents and family to research for their autobiographical project. This helped students to bond better with their parents and connect with other family members to understand their family history and beliefs. Later, they shared the presentation with their peers, developing and promoting international mindedness.

At The British School, it is our continuous endeavour to deliver high quality teaching and learning to our students. Firmly believing that collaboration is an essential life skill, we are determined to provide more opportunities for collaborative learning to develop the social, emotional and cognitive abilities of our students.