Enhancement of Students’ Learning in Class Using Formal Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is one of the effective educational approaches used in engineering teaching to develop students’ learning skills with outstanding teamwork abilities and creativity. A board game activity was conducted in engineering hydrology class based on the cooperative learning approach to improve creativity, profound learning and develop teamwork skills. The index of learning styles sur-vey was used to determine students learning styles such as active, reflective, verbal, visual learners etc. A personality test was conducted to recognize their char-acters such as introverts and extroverts. Based on the learning styles, different characteristics and personality test, heterogenous groups of students were formed. Proper instructions were given to the students for the development of a new board game in the form of a unified project. It was observed that the students are mostly reflective, sensing, visual and sequential learners which were exhibited from the board game activity as well through their excellent performance. The students reflected that the board game enhanced their time management, group work and communication skills and promoted their creativity. They highlighted that they learned beyond the classroom by playing this game which helped them to make better understanding about the course.