Ian Zhi Wen CHAN
Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science (FOS)
Chan, I. Z. W. (2023). Does promoting diversity of opinion in collaborative learning in conservation enhance student learning? [Paper presentation]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/does-promoting-diversity-of-opinion-in-collaborative-learning-in-conservation-enhance-student-learning/
SUB-THEME
Communities and Education
KEYWORDS
Diversity, collaborative learning, learning outcomes, learning objectives, conservation
CATEGORY
Paper Presentation
ABSTRACT
The use of pedagogical techniques to promote collaborative learning has wide-ranging social, psychological, and academic benefits for students (Panitz, 1996; Laal & Ghodsi, 2012). Academically, the successful implementation of collaborative learning results in increased student motivation, improved learning, and generally enhanced classroom results. However, there exist many potential pitfalls along the process of forming and working in groups which can detrimentally affect learning (Bitzer, 1999), such as differing motivation levels amongst group members and potentially disruptive interpersonal conflict. It is important for educators to be aware of these hazards to manage them well.
One area that would benefit from further study is how diversity in groups affects learning outcomes. In the literature, diversity is often seen as a challenge to be overcome (Ashman & Gillies, 2013) or a problem to be solved through collaborative learning as a form of social intervention, e.g. see the Jigsaw method (Aronson, n.d.) and Loes et al. (2018). Anecdotally, educators typically try to achieve a balance—too little diversity may lead to less robust discussions and groupthink, whereas too much could cause excessive conflict (Barkley et al., 2014). Yet, how the presence (or absence) of diversity in groups affects eventual academic outcomes such as the achievement of learning outcomes is generally not well researched—as an exception, see Curşeu et al.’s (2018) study on the benefits of gender diversity. In this study, I ask whether assigning students to work in groups with diverse views on a divisive topic in Conservation Biology enhances their learning.
Today over 42,000 plant and animal species are threatened with extinction. Conservation action is crucial to protect them but many academics and practitioners disagree fundamentally on what kind of action should be taken. Together with the emotional and evocative nature of the problem, this has led to heated arguments, even in the literature. In an attempt to update Soulé’s (1985) original “Traditional Conservation”, Kareiva and Marvier (2012) put forth new ideas which became known as “New Conservation”. These ideas did not sit well with Soulé (2014) who said, “[…] it does not deserve to be labelled conservation” (p. 895), prompting replies from Marvier (2014) “New Conservation is True Conservation” and others. Over the past two years, I have observed a similar (if less vocal) divide amongst my students in the course LSM4262 “Tropical Conservation Biology”, and I ask whether assigning students with differing views on this divisive topic to the same group will enhance their learning over the course of a semester.
At the beginning of this semester (Semester 1, AY2023/24), I will use my students’ opinions on three issues to identify their preferred approach to conservation (Sandbrook et al., 2019; Figure 1). As far as possible, students will be distributed into groups of four students—each with a different preference—and these groups will go through the same learning activities (e.g. class discussions) and assessments (e.g. preparing and presenting a case study) as the cohort from the previous year which was randomly sorted into groups. I will compare these two cohorts based on: (i) their academic performance as assessed by me using rubrics designed to evaluate their improvement in the course’s learning outcomes, and (ii) student self-reported learning using pre- and post-surveys and reflection assignments. These results are intended to inform educators designing collaborative learning activities on whether intentionally introducing diversity to groups can enhance student learning.
REFERENCES
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