The Art of Collaboration

After reading Group Genius, I have become more aware of collaborative learning in action. During the snow day, my roommate and I decided to go build a snowman. We both rolled large snowballs and realized we couldn't lift one on top of the other. Our next move was to make a snowman that was lying down. We began to place one snowball in front of another. Then after completing this, we realized we could design anything, not just a snowman. So we decided to create a cat.

The cat we created was in a crouching/pouncing position. We gave him four legs, a tail, and a face. Some would describe it as tiger face, cougar body. The next day, we woke up to check on our cat and found that there had been some additions made. 

Someone etched lines on his tail. 

He was given eyes and fangs

Individual toes were added. 

In reality, we had expected to walk out and see that someone had destroyed or peed on our cat. It was pleasant to see the improvements that someone had made. While this example is nothing like the creation of a new marketable shopping cart, it was a fun experience to be able to relate the conception of an idea and the final production to the process of collaboration. And we created a cat, which is much better than a snowman, so I guess it is lucky that we are too weak to lift large snowballs.

We are conditioned to observe learning and teaching methods solely within the context our a school system. As future educators, we are encouraged to examine educational policies, standardized testing, group work, etc. Yet rarely are we given the tools to be able to explore these concepts in the context of social interactions, family interactions, and community interactions outside of the classroom.

When Group Genius identified the Wright brothers as a collaborative pair, the fact that this collaboration was organic and as a result of the two brothers living together was strongly explained. I am not sure why I myself have been viewing things that I learn in the classroom as solely things that I learn in the classroom. In the days after reading Group Genius, I began to pay attention to interactions I have with the people that I live with, the interactions that I have with my co-workers and interactions other people have with each other.

The concept of collaboration seemed so structured in my mind before. Group projects have a specific framework with guidelines. However, as a result of Group Genius and the making of a snow-cat, I am realizing that all of our interactions and the way we learn how to interact are part of our educational experiences. Further, I am coming to understand how organic so many of these interactions are.