Milwaukee, Wisconsin
June 15, 1997
June 15, 1997
June 18, 1997
2153-5965
5
2.163.1 - 2.163.5
10.18260/1-2--6531
https://peer.asee.org/6531
586
Session 1239
Employing the “Partnering” Concept With Students Teams
Robert Martinazzi University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
ABSTRACT
In industry, team performance significantly impacts both the internal and external stakeholders. Consequently, teams must develop the ability to communicate effectively especially with other “partnering” teams working on the same project.
The purpose of this paper is to offer a model of a “partnership” or “partnering” experience for student teams in an academic setting. The model involves two teams becoming functionally interdependent upon each other in order to learn new course material. Each “partner” team receives separate instruction on different segments of course material. After the individual team instruction occurs each “partner” team is required to prepare and present, as a team, an instructional period on the material they learned to their other “partner” team.
The responsibility and accountability of each team for both learning and teaching culminates when testing occurs on the new course material. “Partner” teams are tested on what was taught to them by their other “partner” team and not on what they learned firsthand from the course instructor. Both “partner” teams receive the identical test score earned by each “partner” from their portion of the examination.
INTRODUCTION
One of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of teaching involves developing a learning environment which stimulates and motivates students to learn. Research indicates learning is greatly enhanced when students play an active part in the learning process. Employing student learning teams and having them experience a “partnering” model greatly expands the active participation of students on teams.
The model has student teams accepting direct responsibility for learning and teaching specific sections of a course. Shifting the team’s role to “partner” and “teacher” creates a paradigm shift which heightens both individual and team awareness and opens them up to new levels of understanding and comprehension of course material. The interdependent nature of the model provides student teams with a unique experience similar to industry .
BACKGROUND
Teaching and lecturing are not necessarily synonymous. While it can be effective for certain kinds of learning, research shows that lecturing is not the best method for meeting higher (1) cognitive objectives of education. New methods of increasing the effectiveness of the classroom experience usually focus on some form of interactive learning. A recent paper surveying current teaching practices in Engineering Economics revealed that 57.1% of those
Martinazzi, R. (1997, June), Employing The "Partnering" Concept With Students Teams Paper presented at 1997 Annual Conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 10.18260/1-2--6531
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 1997 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015