Publication details
Collaborative learning in a science-based language course
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Promoting active learning through student collaboration, communication, and engagement in the learning process is a predominant theme in today’s education. The paper discusses a collaborative learning course developed within the Impact project at the Masaryk University Language Centre. The main objective of the course was to bring together students of science, specific-subjects tutors, and language teachers in order to address one scientific problem from different angles and perspectives We employed collaborative techniques based on the constructivist view of learning that encourage students to be active, create more knowledge, and then reflect on and discuss what they have learnt and how their perceptions of the problem have changed. During the course we concentrated mainly on the following activities: communication in intra- and inter-disciplinary scientific teams, understanding interdisciplinary relations in science, using English as a communication tool, presenting results of individual and team work, writing and editing abstracts using a corpus query system, preparing and running a conference, and using advanced presentation skills. We have discovered that both students and teachers benefited enormously from the course: social and communication skills were greatly enhanced by creating a classroom environment that emphasizes collaboration and exchange of ideas. |