Collaboration in Education
By Gabriella Lembo
What is collaboration?
Collaboration is coming together with one person ( or many) to express opinions, elaborate, and combine ideas.
People use collaboration in their everyday life’s. In my opinion, some things are easier when you have someone to assist you and navigate in helping you. Collaboration can be anything from helping you in a group project to even someone helping you with in groceries. As humans, we work together to help each other out. Along the way a simple gesture can lead a friendship.
In my education experience, I have enjoyed collaborating with others for projects, home works, and assignments when allowed. Dividing up certain tasks/ jobs makes the assignment more enjoyable as well has having company around you. I have created a lot of friendships and even have talked to people I would have never talked to before when teachers assigned partners. Although this seems comfortable or awkward, it actually isn’t.
On the other hand…
However, as much as collaboration is extremely beneficial, there CAN be negative aspects. I have had a couple experiences where I have gotten stuck doing a lot more work and picking up others slack. This can be extremely frustrating when in a work environment because working together is suppose to make it less detrimental! This can happen sometimes, so people chose to work with people that have the same work ethic as them. I enjoy working with others when I feel like we have a lot of different ideas to explore and bounce off of each other. There have been a couple of times where I can even improve work with others rather than by myself. I have noticed that I can create really good projects and presentations when I am surrounded with others that can expand my thinking process. I think teachers should use collaboration in classrooms more often and even try pairing students up with others they think would work well together!
Collaborating in other ways:
Collaborating can in all different kinds of ways. Putting students in centers, groups, and taking them out of their comfort zone.
Below is a picture I found on X from TCEA , it shows creative ways to get the students the students involved.
Elementary Education AI Dicussion
By Gabriella Lembo
Introduction to Article:
Getting Started:
When working in an elementary-level environment it is important to explain what the concept of this lesson will be. Being aware that you need to explain everything to a child is important to keep in mind. Explaining what Artificial intelligence is to a younger student will be the start. Although most people are aware of what AI is, you must explain it to all students to have a basic understanding. This article gives you advice on how to introduce this to the students. You can make connections to how they use AI without knowing it. This can be objects like …
- Alexa
- Google Assistant
- Netflix
- Spotify
This can make it easier for the students to make the connection.
Video Comprehension:
To further make sure of understanding for students the article suggests using videos like
“ What is artificial intelligence”. If the teacher is having a hard time explaining AI in a way a child in the grade level of 3-5 will understand, then the video is a fun and easy way to ensure comprehension. I’ve seen this technique used a lot throughout my years at school from elementary level to even high school level.
You can explain that AI can be used as a “Google” kind of resource. It is there to help you, you can research subjects and also ask questions about math, reading, science, etc. Having these students be aware that AI is an additional way to improve understanding of a topic rather than using it to cheat is very important. You can demonstrate how to properly use AI to its full extent and all features.
Definition:
“ AI is the science and engineering of creating computer programs that can imitate human intelligence. AI cannot become human, but it can perform tasks in a human-like way”( Page 15).
This image shows a representation of AI
Ending It off…
I personally think having class discussions is a great way to see where all students fall in understanding the topic. It is not just a lecture but rather everybody can contribute different opinions, ideas, and work off of each other. This teaches students how to participate in a group discussion and understand the material being presented. Having a class discussion on how they already use AI will be a less “intense” way of introducing the subject with simple understanding. I think with a topic like this a group discussion is the best way to start off!