More or Less Homework?? Discussion Activity
Designed to allow me to evaluate the group work skills of a group of four grade 3 students and to see if they are demonstrating 'cooperative learning behaviours'.
I hope that it has been designed to encourage the exchange of ideas (exploratory and cumulative talk) and not just work out the logistics of completion (presentational and or argumentative talk).
[However, it will require explaining and modelling]
It is, (I think) a 'meaningful open-ended task' and has been worded so that students can interpret each reason as a pro or a con(:so that they can 'create their own meaning')
Furthermore, it is difficult enough for there to be a potential of failure if they don't work collaboratively.
Based on research articles and designed specifically for grade 3 international (inc. some high level ESL) students to complete in 20-25 minutes.