One of the issues related to the school environment that concerns me the most is bullying, I think that if the educational agents (school, family, society) do not act decisively, the students who are victims can find themselves very helpless.
Definitely prevention is key to addressing this problem, although large-scale social dynamics are also not very favorable as soon as it tends to normalize low tolerable doses of violence.
Speaking of prevention, we want to remember the Super Mediators, which is a game that can help develop conflict resolution skills, an aspect that was also addressed in this post.
And because I am interested in working with students who provide them with tools to resolve conflicts, I really liked a recent investigation from the University of Extremadura, which relates the application of cooperative learning techniques to the decrease in the frequency of bullying channels in the last courses of Primary Education. The conclusions of the study published in the journal Infancia y Aprendizaje indicate that cooperative learning is a useful methodology to reduce bullying behaviors in the classroom in three of the factors analyzed: physical, verbal and social exclusion aggressions.
The intervention in cooperative learning influences more the aggressions of social exclusion and verbal aggressions that on the physical aggressions. Thus, for example, according to the study data, the frequency of behaviors such as 'leaving others alone' and 'not allowing participation in activities and games' was reduced
This research is part of the UEx research project entitled "Analysis of school life in schools in the Community of Extremadura" initiated in 2009 within the framework of the III Regional Plan for Research, Technological Development and Innovation of Extremadura.
Bullying among peers or "bullying" generates great social concern. Most of the investigations of the different countries focus on the school environment and aim firstly to carry out an epidemiological investigation of the seriousness of the phenomenon in each environment through surveys and, secondly, an intervention work directed towards all people involved aggressor, visit, family and school children)
Mª Isabel Polo is a professor at the Faculty Training School of the UEx and author of the thesis on cooperative learning and bullying in primary school. This teacher says that cooperative learning 'favors positive attitudes among peers because they relate more to each other'.
The techniques not only propose group work, but also promote knowledge among students, positive intergroup relationships, personal and direct contact on equal terms.
Use of the 'puzzle' technique
According to the mentioned research when the first manifestations of bullying occur is in the fifth and sixth grade courses, which in turn is the least studied period to date, concentrating mainly in secondary studies.
I would like to clarify that I have observed episodes of harassment in lower courses, it may change the intensity, or it may not be so noticeable, but it is occurring
The UEx researchers they use a “puzzle” technique, that is, before a topic, the work is distributed as pieces of a puzzle. Each student has a piece of the subject and needs the partner to complete the task, creating an interdependence on equal terms.
The study emphasizes that the fact of dividing the task into parts, assigning each student one of them and having a common goal, causes the students to depend closely on each other if they want to learn and master the whole topic, thus ensuring an individual responsibility that increases the number of opportunities to match the status of students in the classroom.
To achieve this type of learning it is necessary to group the students in teams as heterogeneous as possible in social status, sex and academic performance, among other characteristics to take into account. The conjunction of children with different traits favors attitudes of acceptance of the other
The research group in Evolutionary, Social and Personality Psychology (GIPES) is currently developing other more effective cooperative learning techniques and a thorough analysis of aggression modalities. In turn, they intend to work in the role of observers or witnesses who do not act and propose ways of intervention and prevention for these cases.
We really liked this initiative, and we hope to tell you during this course that is about to begin, many other projects aimed at preventing bullying.
