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University
of North Carolina School of Public Health
Department
of Epidemiology
EPID
160, Principles
of Epidemiology for Public Health
Cooperative
learning model
Lecture
courses risk relegating students to the role of passive listeners not
actively engaged in the learning process. Higher level learning requires
the student to become actively involved in applying concepts and methods
to problems, and to exercise critical judgment by attempting to reach
a solution or draw conclusions when faced with a complex set of findings.
These higher level thinking skills will be continuously called upon in
the classroom method, Cooperative Learning, used throughout this course.
Cooperative learning is an
instructional technique that brings students together in small, fixed
groups to work on structured learning tasks. It enables all students to
become more involved with the course material and to articulate their
understanding of this material through problem-solving exercises with
other members of their group. Students "who become involved in active
discussion of their ideas with other students are more likely to have
less irrelevant or distracting thoughts and spend more time synthesizing
and integrating concepts than students who listen to lectures" (Bligh
DA. What's the Use of Lectures. Penguin Press, 1992). Student-to-student
interaction is positively related to critical thinking outcomes and to
study habits characterized by more active thinking and less rote memorization
(Smith DG. College classroom interactions and critical thinking. J
Educ Psych 1977;69:180-190.)
Based on these pedagogical
principles, Drs. Carl Shy and Lorraine Alexander redesigned EPID
160 along the lines of a cooperative learning model:
- Students are assigned to
small learning teams, typically 8-10 students per team. Teams work on
case studies during the scheduled lab time (which you select when you
register for the course).
- A graduate student teaching
assistant (TA) serves as consultant for 2-4 student teams
- There is no final exam.
In most real life situations,
there may not be a "right" answer but several different ways
to address problems. Some of these ways are more efficient, more constructive,
and/or more durable. An important lesson to learn from the experience
of cooperative learning is that most solutions to community problems are
more effective when the solution is reached by a team effort that actively
engages all members of the team in addressing the problem and encourages
creative thinking of the team in proposing a solution. This process converts
learning from an individual to a social
activity and draws upon the collective wisdom of those attempting to reach
a solution.
EPID
160 home page
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[EPID
160 history]
Updated
11/25/2003vs
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