Cooperation, the Student Athlete Anthem
Being a student athlete since middle school, I became familiar with teamwork and in believing that there is no "I" in "TEAM". Meaning, you can't accomplish winning by yourself. When the work is split up amongst a team, it becomes easier to accomplish a win. Being a student athlete, and having interest in sports (specifically basketball). Group work in high school made classes and learning easier, and now in college I prefer it over working individually. In my rhetoric and composition class my teacher used cooperative learning for our class. I really liked how she taught it and her concept of teaching, and I believe more teachers should consider using cooperative learning more. Thus, I thought involving a cooperative sport mentality into a classroom setting with fellow peers would be an interesting subject. College basketball is a cooperative sport. It involves every player working together to achieve a goal. Which is either offensively scoring or making sure the team does not score, defensively. So, when this strategy or skill is put in a classroom setting, these athletes prefer working in groups (team) to successfully complete the task at hand. Why do college basketball athletes prefer learning in groups instead of individually?
The student athletes preferred sport has a correlation with whether they work well in groups or individually. Athletes involved in team sports prefer group learning while on the other hand, athletes in individual sports prefer working alone. A popular team sport such as, basketball was a perfect example to use in my research. In "Self-regulated learning predicts skill group differences in athletes" by Dora Bartulovic, Bradley Young, Joseph Baker. Bartulovic states that self-regulating learning is obtain through self-practice and they studied this practice with three different types of athletes; competitive, less elite, and elite. They got males and females, ages 18-35, and that all fell into the 3 categories. They gave all these athlete's surveys to observe their self-monitoring, effort, planning, group learning, and evaluations. Overall the elite athletes that had the most practice and quicker to learn were the most self-monitored and consistent. The self-regulated learning athletes are able to expand info that is given to them and their abilities to make goals are increased. This article is based on the athlete's performance. The research informs on how the athletes performance relates with how they self-regulate themselves academically.
In the reading "Using Cooperative Learning to enhance the Academic and Social Experiences of Freshman Student Athletes" by Bruce Dudley, David Johnson, Roger Johnson. Dudley's research was a program evaluation that studied 50 random student athletes in different sports. They were assigned to meet at certain times to be evaluated on their academic performance that consisted of questionnaires and surveys. Cooperative learning helps build student athletes academically, socially, and physically.
The last reading "Cooperative learning and dyadic interactions: Two modes of knowledge construction in socio-constructivist settings for team-sport teaching" by Florence Darnis, Lucile Lafont. Cooperative learning in France, with physical education classrooms emphasize on social practices between peers and teaching cooperatively. Darnis filmed and interacted with students during their PE (Physical Education) classes. Students ages ranged around 9yrs old. They were researched and observed on their ability to obtain information. Teaching the students with physical activities made it easier for them to learn. After practice they began to learn the processes and what not to do and what to do. Cooperative learning also helped them with building relationship and social skills.
Together with all the research from my sources I gained knowledge that there is no downside to working in groups. Not only did group learning build student athletes academically, socially, and physically. For example, student athletes who learn in groups will often meet to work on their school work together and develop lasting and beneficial friendships through this study groups that will benefit them in other classes. As Bruce Dudley, David Johnson, and Roger Johnson research showed. Group learning also helped with social and relationship skills, as shown in Florence Darnis and Lucile Lafont research. Student athletes who engage in group learning also develop the ability to communicate and engage in healthy relationships building. I have found this to be true as well, as a student athlete who actively engages in study groups. I've found myself better able to handle difficult or stressful emotional situations and communication better with my peers. This comes from engaging with teammates and study groups daily and, communicating our learning problems. As for Dora Bartulovic, Bradley Young, and Joseph Baker's research which resulted in self-regulated learning athletes were able to expand info that is given to them leading to their abilities to make goals increased.
Ultimately all three of my secondary sources failed to talk about freshman basketball athletes. I am focusing on basketball because that is the most popular team sport we have on our campus. Therefore, it is also the most funded athletic program on school. All though one article did study some basketball athlete. They had done their research on students from other sports as well. So, I would not get the same results. All sports are different and cooperate differently.
My reason is that I love sports, so I asked myself what most student athletes have trouble with. I didn’t get straight to how well they work in groups. I had to do a little thinking, and I wondered if since athletes in sports always have their teammates and coaches on their side to help then maybe they will work very well in groups instead of learning content individually. College athletes have two lives one academically and another on the field/court. They learn to work together, I am wondering how they use that ability academically. They also have more standards, they are not only getting an education, but they have a team that is counting on them. Looking at my secondary sources and the same gap they all had I will be more specific on the sport I will be conducting my research on as well as the students I will be asking. I gave my survey to a male and female freshmen basketball player. Which my sources didn’t focus on, they were very vague on what kind of student and what physical activity.
To start of my research, I went with the qualitative method, and did an interview. The interview allowed me to ask the student specific question to get a detailed and honest answer on how they felt and their opinions. Not every athlete is the same and the qualitative method made me have an understanding and the views of these athlete with more detail. Rather than the quantitative method which focused more on quantity research and giving you data in numbers.
Interview Questions:
Do you study alone or in groups for exams? If so, who do you study with?
Do you have a good relationship with your teammates? How do you describe this relationship?
How does the connection with your teammates relate to how well you play on the court and understand plays?
How do you learn on the court compared to how you learn in class? What environment do you learn better on?
How does basketball interfere with academics? (Please be detailed.)
Do you believe you have time for studying and basketball?
When faced with a problem do you solve it yourself or ask for help? Give an example.
Do you work cooperatively when given an assignment? Give an example.
Do you prefer working on your own or in a group? Why?
Do you have a good relationship with your teammates? How do you describe this relationship?
Do you think playing cooperatively is better than playing solo? Why?
Do your teammates give you good support? Explain? Give an example.
Do you believe your performance in a game depends on how well you communicate with your teammates? If so, how?
In class, do you learn when put into a group with other students? Give an example.
Do you learn better working by yourself in class, or when you are grouped with other students? Give an example.
When given a play does everyone make sure that all teammates fully understand the paly? If someone does not know the play well. Do you and your teammates help the player?
In class, do you make sure everyone in the group does their part? Give an example.
My collected data consisted of one interview. I interviewed a female, basketball athlete. The interview criteria were based on the athlete's opinions and experiences. Her opinion on what way they preferred learning and, their experiences with cooperative learning in class and on the court. Looking and dissecting her interview made me understand that basketball plays a big role in her life. It's daily just like her academics. These two topics correlate with each other and they must be balanced in order for the student to be happy and succeed. College athletes are students first, and athletes second. In the more academic relation, she agreed to being able to work better in a group rather than by herself. Since basketball is a team sport and this student has a long history with the sport. It is easier for her to work in groups of more than three people. This leads to the understanding that if students split up the work they are given equally, and everyone pulls their part, they’ll succeed in their group academically. Just like players in a game split their roles strategically in their game.
When analyzing the research/interview I believe that college basketball athletes prefer working in groups because that sports have taught them how to function with a team and how to handle a certain task with all different minds and perspectives. Not only one person can get all the work done. After a certain point you do need help figuring a problem out. This is important because not only can teachers use cooperative learning to better teach their students and student athletes. Coaches as well can help their teams work together better which will result in a well-supported and functional team.
With this information I want students to use cooperative learning more and daily, to see how better they can learn and understand the material they are given. In my rhetoric and composition
class, my teacher right off the bat, grouped us by our majors. We are stuck to these groups the whole semester. We as a group were able to communicate and learn from each other. The work was easier and we all had to put in our parts to ultimately get a good grade. The bigger picture is that most of the funds given to a University is given to it Athletic department that is just how it funded, so if these students are failing and not making the team the state and the University is losing money and this all goes in to politics. Ultimately, I want students to start working with each other. Even if your teacher teaches different you can always find a way to cooperate with other students. This kind of learning doesn’t only benefit student's athletes, but as well as academically driven students. This gives us students a different perspective, better understanding, and makes learning easier on us. Coming from a fellow student athlete.
Cited:
Bartulovic, Dora, et al. "Self-Regulated Learning Predicts Skill Group Differences in Developing Athletes." Psychology of Sport & Exercise, vol. 31, July 2017, pp. 61-69. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=123374249&site=ehost-live.
Dudley, Bruce S., et al. "Using Cooperative Learning to Enhance the Academic and Social Experiences of Freshman Student Athletes." Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 137, no. 4, Aug. 1997, pp. 449-459. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=9708083048&site=ehost-live.
Darnis, Florence and Lucile Lafont. "Cooperative Learning and Dyadic Interactions: Two Modes of Knowledge Construction in Socio-Constructivist Settings for Team-Sport Teaching." Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy, vol. 20, no. 5, Sept. 2015, pp. 459-473. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=108610349&site=ehost-live.
