Gender Issues in Collaborative Learning

On o f i e dans cet artich des suggestions en vue de crkr desgroupes collaborat$ eficaces ainsi que des implications Girh oj2en expect to spPcifiques pour fail at tasks that are l 'app rentissage d'une kz colkzboraunfamiliar, d@cult, tion non sexiste. or perceived to require high ability. As an adolescent, I enjoyed both my science courses as well as laboratory experiments. T o continue my inquiry into scientific world, during my undergraduate program, I completed a Bachelor of Science then chose to do my Master's in Education, where again I majored in biological sciences. My early interest in science programs shows a positive attitude towards science, despite the fact that I am a female, and from India. This could be partially due to the fact that although my elementary school was coeducational, my secondary school years were spent in a single-sex school, an environment in which I felt safe. After my marriage, I lived for two years in Seychelles and another eight years in Jamaica. In these countries, I taught high school sciences (physics, chemistry, botany, and zoology). During my teaching career, I noticed that female students became marninalized in their choice of science subjects. Their numbers dropped drastically and their attitudes towards science changed dramatically. My experiences led me to probe into trends of adolescent girl's attitudes towards science in other countries. A similar trend has been observed in the United States during the past two decades (AAUW). There has been a documented lack of participation ofAmerican girls in science programs in general, as well as a subsequent deficit of females entering science professions (AAUW; Benbow and Minor; Weinburgh). As I experienced and as the literature confirmed, girls are particularly vulnerable. Somehow the previous strengths that girls possess seem to vanish into thin air. This situation is further compounded by the fact that thecontributions and experiences ofgirls and women are still largely ignored in both curricula and in standardized tests. As girls grow up, they tend to lose confidence in their academic abilities, and settle for less from life. Career aspirations areconsequently lowered (AAUW). Girls often expect to fail at tasks that are unfamiliar, difficult, or perceived to require high ability. When they fail, girls tend to internalize their failures, by attributing that failure to a lack of ability. Lowered self-esteem leads to taking fewer risks in math and science courses. Taking math and science courses does not in and itselflead to science career choices. However, without participation in both introductory and advanced courses, a career in science and math is no longer an option. Feminist writers like Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule highlight the need for building patterns of connection and collaboration into learning environments in order to facilitate girls' development. Collaborative learning that engages students in the construction ofshared tasks, helps to advance understanding, as well as the learning ofdisciplinary knowledge. To support girls in being competent in their academic endeavors is to provide them the opportunity to increase their self-esteem and academic competence, by creating an environment which is welcoming and supportive. In North America, collaborative learning has gained acceptance in elementary, as well as secondary classrooms, as an instructional design for increasing learning benefits, and developing complex problem-solving skills. Collaborative learning is a term which applies to a family of instructional techniques, all involving groups ranging from two to six students, working together to learn academic content and skills, with little or no direct leader supervision. These groups are heterogeneous by ability, and when ever possible, by ethnicity and gender. Most involve students in four-member mixed ability groups. However, some methods use dyads (two-member groups), and varied group sizes. Collaborative learning approaches vary widely in their structure, but all depend on students actively helping each other to learn. In this article, the term collaborative learningwill be utilized to refer to any of the above group learning approaches. Collaborative, as opposed to individual efforts, have been shown to affect higher achievement on complex problem-solving tasks. Collaborative learning has also been found to have a positive impact on many variables other than achievement. Some examples include: prosocial behaviour, positive attitudes towards class and school, inter-racial acceptance, increased self-esteem and a way to manage academic heterogeneity in classrooms, with a wide range of achievement in basic skills. Research on collaborative learning has assumed that if any method is successful in a controlled three-day workshop, it works equally well for girls and boys. But in real life situations, this is not necessarily the case. Therefore, this article will explore gender implications of collaborative learning. The successful functioning of each group depends on the individual members of that group. The perceived status of each member plays a significant role in member interac-