Cooperative learning is a teaching strategy where small teams of students work together on learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. It originated from philosophers like John Dewey who believed in progressive education to create responsible democratic citizens, and psychologists like Morton Deutsch who saw cooperation as building trust and relationships. Cooperative learning structures provide different roles for students and specialized expertise to promote positive interdependence and accountability. Implementing cooperative learning effectively involves forming heterogeneous teams, developing students' teamwork skills, and having groups reflect on their process.
2. A teaching strategy where small teams of students (or
adults), with differing abilities, work together, using a
variety of learning activities to improve their
understanding of a subject.
Students use and develop a variety of personal skills (
communication, listening, collaboration) to accomplish a
shared learning goal set by the teacher/facilitator.
(Jhonson and Jhonson 1999, Sutherland and Wehby 2000,
Sharan 2010)
3. WHERE DOES “CL” COME FROM?
Philosopher John Dewey believed in “ Progressive
education”. He wanted to ensure students would grow
up to be active and responsible democratic citizens.
Social Psychologist Morton Deustsch believed
cooperation established interpersonal trust and built
stable relationships.
In the 1960’s and 1970s CL research and practice
expanded around the world as a way to decrease conflict
among the cultural differences in schools.
(Sharan, 2010)
5. IMPLEMENTING COOPERATIVE LEARNING
1.Forming teams
2.Promoting positive interdependence
3.Providing actual accountability
4.Help students develop team work skills
5.Group processing
6. 1.) FORMING TEAMS
• Form teams of 3 -4 students for most tasks
• Make the teams heterogeneous in ability level
• If the assignments require work being done
outside class , form teams whose members have
common blocks of time to meet during the week
• When students in a particular demographic
category are historically at risk for dropping
out, don’t isolate members of that category in a
team
7. 2.) PROMOTING POSITIVE INTERDEPENDENCE
• Assign different roles to team members
• Use jigsaw to set up specialized expertise
within each team
• Give a bonus on test
• Team member should report on each part of
the subject
8. 3.) PROVIDING ACTUAL ACCOUNTABILITY
• Give individual test s that cover all of the material on the team
assignments and projects
• In lecture courses, include group homework grades in the
determination of the final course grade
• Make someone in the team responsible for ensuring that everyone
understands everything in the report
• Make teams responsible for seeing that non-contributors don’t get
credit
• Use peer ratings to make individual adjustments to team
assignment grade
• Provide last report options of firing and quitting
9. 4.)HELP STUDENTS DEVELOP TEAM WORK SKILL
• Establish team policies and expectations
• Keep groups intact for at least a month
• Provide for periodic self-assessment of team
functioning
• Give students tools for managing conflict
• Use crisis clinics to equip students to deal with
difficult team members
10. 5.) GROUP PROCESSING
• Start small and build
• At the start of the course , explain to students what you’re
doing, why you’re doing, and what’s in it for them
• Make team assignments more challenging than traditional
individual assignments
• Don’t curve course grades
• Conduct an assessment to find out how students feel about team
work
• Expect initial resistance from students
11. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING
Advantages Disadvantages
It has been shown to have positive - A burden is making the student
responsible for
Effect on student learning other’s learning apart from themselves
It has the potential to produce a level - One studies shows that in group of
mixed ability,
of engagement that other forms of learning low achieving students become
passive and do
cannot focus on the task
Students may explain better than to - Depending on an individual motivation
and another student than a teacher to class interest on a particular
subject that will determine
well they learn
Positive interdepency is achieved as - Increase chances of conflict and
therefore need
Individual feel that they cannot succeed conflict resolution skills
12. Unless everyone in their group succeed.
Interpersonal and collaboration skills - It is very difficult for teacher
to be
can be learned in cooperative learning sure that the group are
discussing
Activity. academic content rather than
something else.
Higher ability students are in position - Lower ability students
may feel
to be experts, leaders, models, and teachers; perpetually in need of help
rather than
lower ability students get the benefits of having experiencing the role of
leader or expert
higher ability in their group. relative to the others in their
group.
13. REFERENCES
Cohen, E. G. (1998). Making cooperative learning equitable. Educational
Leadership, 56, 18-22.
Goodwin, M. W. (1999). Cooperative learning and social skills: What skills to
teach and how to teach them. Interventions in School & Clinic, 35, 29-34.
Johnson, D. W. & Johnson R. T. (1999). Learning Together and Alone:
Cooperative, Competitive, and Individualistic Learning (5th ed.). Boston:
Allyn and Bacon.
Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Stanne, M. B. (2000). Cooperative learning
methods: A meta-analysis. Retrieved July, 2000 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.clcrc.com/pages/cl-methods.html
Johnson, G. M. (1998). Principles of instruction for at-risk learners.
Preventing School Failure, 42, 167-181.
Joyce, W. B. (1999). On the free-rider problem in cooperative learning.
Journal of Education for Business, 74, 271-274.