Assistant Principal - Learning and Teaching

The Power of Collaborative Learning

Learning with other students can be a very powerful way to improve your learning outcomes. You might be sitting next to each other discussing what you are learning, or working together in a group online and sharing your screens, or giving a friend feedback about an assignment. There are many benefits to learning to work with other students.

MOTIVATION:
Studying together can be much more motivating than studying on your own. Setting targets and working towards them together can help keep you focused on completing assignments. Often study done together is more active and engaging than studying on your own and this is much better for retention.

DEEPEN UNDERSTANDING:
Discussing with a friend, being able to bounce ideas off each other, ask each other questions – all of these activities will help strength your neural networks and deepen your understanding of what you are learning. This can help to develop our higher order thinking skills.

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES:
Sometimes we don’t realise that we are only looking at things in one particular way and there are different and diverse viewpoints to ours. Learning with a friend can help you see things in a different light and broaden your perspective. This can help develop our critical thinking skills. 

BUILD TEAMWORK SKILLS:
Learning to cooperate, negotiate and problem solve with other people is a great skill to have in later life. By learning with other students you will have opportunities to learn to be a more active participant in group work and also develop communication and leadership skills.

Study Skills:

Visit www.studyskillshandbook.com.au to learn more about how you can make your life easier by being a more effective and efficient learner:

Username: stjohnpaul

Password: 89success

In addition, our subscription to Elevate Education may assist in this area.

This online platform contains resources and useful study tips that all SJPC students will find effective. We encourage them to access this Student Portal and try some of the strategies. Students have the password to this site. The password can also be found on the Curriculum Noticeboard.

James Furey
Assistant Principal
Learning and Teaching