Affinity Diagram

I was just reading about cooperative learning strategies online and came across this one that I think would be kind of cool to use in the classroom. It is called Affinity Diagram. This tool is an interesting method for gathering and organizing huge quantities of information (especially written or verbal comments) and allows participants to naturally group ideas and show the relationships between items and groups. All you need it 3x5 cards and a big idea, something that cannot be easily answered. Then put your students into groups of 2-3 and put up a massive question that they have to analyze writing on these 3x5 cards. I think that this would be a good at the end of a unit on the Civil War, World War I & II etc. I might try and use this when I cover WWII. Check out what I read at: http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/cooperate_with_others.html