COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING

REPORT OF A LEARNING ACTIVITY USING COOPERATIVE GRAFFITI

Abstract

This communication is part of a doctoral project whose main objective is to understand the effects of cooperative learning on the development of Critical and Creative Thinking in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) students, with the aim of providing evidence to support pedagogical approaches in line with the Profile of Students Leaving Compulsory Schooling. The aim is to report on one of the cooperative activities implemented as part of this project.

The activity involved 70 students from three classes in a secondary school in the north of Portugal and was implemented using the Cooperative Graffiti method.

The students worked in the classroom in small cooperative groups to develop and explore a problem question within the STEAM curriculum. They carried out detailed research, organized their ideas using mind maps and presented their work in an innovative way, using different digital and AI tools.

The results obtained, although provisional, seem to indicate that the methodology used not only stimulated involvement and cooperation, but also developed students' abilities and dispositions to think critically and creatively about real-life problems.