Getting Started with Cooperative Learning   - by Karl A. Smith An Exercise in Academic Controversy   Best Disposable Cup: Paper or Plastic? Tasks Your tasks are to write a group report on the issue of whether paper or plastic makes the best disposable coffee cup, and individually pass a test on the chemistry involved in the decision. Disposable cups are commonly used to dispense coffee. The two most common types of disposable cups are paper and plastic. Arguments have raged for some time as to which is best. "Best" can have a variety of meanings: least costly least waste from manufacture fewest environmental effects from disposal keeps coffee hottest the longest easiest to recycle, and so forth. Apply the principles and strategies you have learned in your chemistry course to address this environmental issue. Develop a list of advantages and disadvantages for each type of cup, and summarize the trade-offs for each type of cup. The report should present both positions and provide details of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of cup. Cooperative Write one report for the group of four. All members have to agree. Everyone has to be able to explain the choice made and the reasons why the choice is a good one. To help you write the best report possible, your group of four has been divided into two pairs. One pair has been assigned the position that paper cups are best, the other that plastic cups are. Procedure Research and prepare your position. Your group of four has been divided into two pairs. Each pair is to make a list of reasons supporting its position and plan how to present the best case for its position to the other pair. Present and advocate your position. Forcefully and persuasively present the best case for your list to the opposing pair. Be as convincing as possible. Take notes and clarify anything you do not understand when the opposing pair presents its position. Open discussion (advocate, refute, rebut). Argue forcefully and persuasively for your position. Critically evaluate and challenge the opposing pair’s list and reasoning and defend your reasoning from attack. Reverse perspectives. Reverse perspectives and present the best case for the opposing position. The opposing pair will do the same. Strive to see the issue from both perspectives simultaneously. Synthesize. Drop all advocacy. Synthesize and integrate the best advice and reasoning from both sides into a joint position that all members can agree to. Then finalize the group report, present your conclusions to the class, ensure that all group members are prepared to take the test, and process how well you worked together as a group and how you could be even more effective next time. Excerpted from: Academic Controversy: Enriching College Instruction through Intellectual Conflict, David W. Johnson, Roger T. Johnson, Karl A. Smith. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report Volume 25, No. 3. Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University, Graduate School of Education and Human Development. 1996. Used with permission. Tell me more: A reality check Cooperative learning: Advice for starting out "The finer points of working with groups" An exercise in academic controversy Sample lesson: Dangling by a wire? More about Karl A. Smith

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