Developing a Classroom Playbook: The X's and O's of Collaborative Learning

• In Event: 43.063 - Crossing the Chalk Line: Perspectives on Sports Culture and K–12 Education

Abstract

This paper highlights the strengths of exceptional sports coaching and its relevance to improving student learning in K-12 classrooms. Successful coaches arguably use powerful educational theories of benefit to the classroom, with practices exemplifying elements of Vygotskian learning, differentiation, social cognitive, social interdependence, and team-based learning theories. In this paper, we blur the line bifurcating athletic coaching and K-12 teaching to illustrate how both coaches and teachers can learn from each other.

Successful sports teams, we contend, are built upon the constructs of social interdependence theory as they emphasize group members’ reliance on each other to achieve shared goals (Deutsch, 1949). Groups become a continuously shifting unit where a change in a single group member can affect the entire unit (Smith, Sheppard, Johnson, & Johnson, 2005). This theory is the backbone for pedagogies termed collaborative, cooperative, or problem-based, with a recent addition of team-based learning (Michaelsen & Sweet, 2008). Research around the use of cooperative learning has been shown to positively affect academic success, learning attitudes, and self-esteem (Dyson & Rubin, 2003). All these approaches stress the importance of student engagement. However, despite the documented benefits, questions still remain regarding how to effectively implement cooperative learning within the classroom (Smith et al., 2005).

A look at the instructional approaches uses in sports can help. For example, good athletic coaches incorporate elements of cooperative learning during skill instruction. The popular adage There is no “I” in team embodies the theory. Sports coaches stress the importance of athletes working together to achieve common goals throughout the season with the culminating goal often resting on team success. Team cohesion, the ability to work with others, and comprehension of teamwork are valuable assets recognized in sports literature that teachers can learn from (cf., Gammage, Carron, & Estbrooks, 2001; Vincer & Loughead, 2010). Both sports and classroom settings are arguably similar in how they create cognitive instability in a socially diverse environment that forces collaboration to reach a common goal (Johnson & Johnson, 2002). Although there are similarities with sports team dynamics and classroom instruction using pedagogies of engagement, there are subtle differences in how coaches and athletes approach successful team functioning versus how classroom educators approach the use of collaborative or team-based learning.

Drawing upon theory and our backgrounds as athletes, coaches, athletic administrators, and faculty, we compare and contrast the instructional dynamics of athletic teams and classrooms. We conclude our paper by offering practical recommendations for integrating athletic instruction techniques into the K-12 education context, including team-based teaching practices that foster healthy competition and facilitate group cohesion.

Authors

• Megan Buning, Augusta University

• Jamil Northcutt, Major League Soccer