The Four Corners is one of many cooperative teaching and

learning Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, value (personal and cultural), values, Attitude (psychology), attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, non-human animals, and ...

strategies. This activity is used when a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

wants to show that not everyone in the class has the same viewpoint or that there are multiple solutions to some problems. This teaching method allows

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most The Commonwealth, commonwealth countries, a "student" attends ...

s who would not normally communicate in class to participate and communicate with their peers. This strategy encourages students to formulate their own opinions on a given topic and allows them to contribute their ideas to class discussion.

Process

First, the four corners of the class are labeled, either with a chart or a

vignette Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, i ...

. Each corner will have an opinion, written statements, etc. Second, the teacher poses a question or a problem to the class. The students reflect on the question without discussion. Third, the teacher invites the students to take a place at a corner that suits their opinion best by announcing "Corner". Then, the students at each corner share their views, either in pairs or with the whole group gathered at that corner. Lastly, the teacher asks the students to be ready to share their ideas, reflections, lessons, plans, and

opinion An opinion is a judgement, viewpoint, or statement that is not conclusive, as opposed to facts, which are true statements. Definition A given opinion may deal with subjective matters in which there is no conclusive finding, or it may deal ...

s with the whole class.

Critique

Four corners is a

collaborative Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. The f ...

method of teaching and learning that gives the students a platform for various cognitive and affective learnings. This strategy helps the students to think at a higher level, reflect on what they have learned in class, voice opinions safely, learn to

critique Critique is a method of disciplined, systematic study of a written or oral discourse. Although critique is frequently understood as fault finding and negative judgment, Rodolphe Gasché (2007''The honor of thinking: critique, theory, philosophy ...

on various issues, evaluate certain solutions, and communicate better. This strategy also enhances the responsibility of a student when making a conclusion or opinion. The overarching goal of the Four corners method is to foster active engagement and encourage students to consider diverse perspectives.

References

{{Reflist Educational practices Learning