Team Learning:
Cooperative Learning in the Science Classroom
Team learning is a special method of cooperative learning devised by Larry Michaelsen
at the University of Oklahoma’s School of Management. It has been used by a host of
different disciplines with great success, but I think it is ideally suited for the sciences.
The reason? Science teachers are always harping about the fact that they have to cover so
much material that they can’t afford to spend time on things like case studies and
cooperative learning. Well, team learning is the answer to the coverage problem. (Of
course, this still begs the question, “Why do we have to cover so much especially when
we know full well that no one will really remember much of it beyond the end of the
semester?”)
Team learning uses no lectures. Students learn on their own. This is hard for most of
them because they really haven’t done it before. They always have had teachers lecturing
them, just like their parents. Should we be surprised then that they don’t remember much
or care very much?