Cooperative learning
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[edit] Descriptons, definitions, synonyms, organizer terms, types of
Without the cooperation of its members society cannot survive, and the society of man has survived because the cooperativeness of its members made survival possible.... It was not an advantageous individual here and there who did so, but the group. In human societies the individuals who are most likely to survive are those who are best enabled to do so by their group.
(Ashley Montagu, 1965)
What children can do together today, they can do alone tomorrow.
(Let Vygotsky, 1962)
Description:
- Cooperative Learning is one way in which Apprenticeships can be applied to the classroom. For example, "In cooperative learning, small groups of up to six students who differ in ability work together as a group on an academic task" (Mayer, 2003, p. 445). The shows how apprenticeship principles work in a classroom environment.
Definition:
- “Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement.�? Mayer
- Cooperative Learning is "working together to accomplish shared goals" (Johnson & Johnson, 1989, p.2).
Example:
- mural as a group working together trying to create a positive learning environment for their school-cooperative learning;Working together to develop rules and procedures
[edit] The Five Basic Elements of Cooperative Learning
The essential components of cooperation are positive interdependence, face-to-face promotive interaction, individual and group accountability, interpersonal and small group skills, and group processing (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1993). Systematically structuring those basic elements into group learning situations helps ensure cooperative efforts and enables the disciplined implementation of cooperative learning for long-term success.
[edit] Evidence of effectiveness
When used, research has shown that it helps to improve academic achievement, behavior, attendance, self-confidence, and motivations. It will also help with: the developing and using of critical thinking skills and teamwork; the promoting of positive relations among different ethnic groups; the implementing of peer coaching; and the establishing of environments where academic accomplishments are valued.
Cooperative Learning has several benefits for the students involved on several different levels:
Global benefits: Typically results in (1) higher achievement, (2) committed relationships, and (3) greater self-esttem for the students involved.
Academic benefits: (1) Involves students actively in the learning process, (2) promotes critical thinking skills, (3) models appropriate problem solving techniques, (4) motivates students in specific curriculums, and (5) improves classroom achievement.
Social benefits: (1) Develops a social support system for students, (2) builds diversity understanding among all, (3) establishes a positive atmosphere for cooperation, and (4) develops learning communities.
Psychological benefits: (1) Increases student's self-esteem, (2) reduces student anxiety, and (3) develops positive attitudes towards curriculum and teacher.
Assessment benefits: (1) Utilizes a variety of assessment techniques and procedures, (2) provides a basis for alternative forms, and (3) provides instantaneous feedback for students and tachers.
[edit] Signed life experiences, testimonies, and stories
I can see Cooperative Learning from both a teacher perspective and a student perspective. As a student, I want to be in a group where everyone strives for success and everyone cares about the finished product. I don't want to have to be the only member in the group who cares and the one who has to do the whole project alone. Therefore, I think grouping students who want to do well and care about learning is a good idea. However, from the teacher perspective, I can see that cooperative learning needs different levels of ability. The issue lies in how we motivate those who don't care to cooperate and contribute, as opposed to letting the "over-achiever" students do all the work and everyone gets equal credit. ~Linda Woods
I have differing opinions of cooperative learning. As a student myself, in graduate courses, I appreciate cooperative learning as long as all parties involved participate. We are mature enough to be responsible and end up learning a lot from each other. For my students, however, they are not mature enough, nor do many of them care enough about adequately becoming involved in a cooperative situation. Students do have a lot to offer each other and I wish I could figure out a way to effectively facilitate that in my classroom. J. Cappa
My students work together in groups all the time but I am convinced that both they and I could use training on cooperative learning. When I first started teaching it became obvious that we had to work in groups to accomplish certain tasks in a timly way, but no one ever trained me for what was going to happen next. I quickly realized that the mix of students is very important. Making sure everyone in the group had a task to carry out, as well as rotating the jobs was important. Then trying to get the students to respect and value other students work and contributions and not take over became an issue. I have learned over the years how to approach the cooperative learning situation but it has been by trial and error. Training would have been extremely helpful.
I agree! When deciding how to pair students into groups, I like to make sure that each group has students who are at different skill levels. The problem is that sometimes high achieving students take a more active role in the group, while the other simply let their peers do all the work. I'd like to see all the students take a leadership role. Perhaps assigning roles and outlining responsibilities would be helpful. -JD
I also feel that assigning roles and outlining responsibilities is essential to co-operative learning. I was introduced to Co-operative learning in French Second Language Teacher Training courses. The professor for that course explained the different assigned roles in a co-operative learning group: the mediator, the secretary, the summarizer and the presenter. Once students are assigned these roles, you must teach them how to fulfill them in the group setting, so that everyone has the opportunity to contribute as a group member. It's like learning how to use a computer program-- if you do the tutorial you will completely understand the program, whereas if you just jump in and try to use the program, you won't get the full benefit. -G. Vigneron
My students are involved in a lot of cooperative group activities. I think it is very important for students to learn to work with other people that are at different ability levels and also have different interests. These kinds of projects prepare students for their futures. Unless you are running a company, you cannot choose the people that you work with, and it is important for two very different people to be able to work side by side. I think that learning to work cooperatively is a very important skill that, like many things, can only be mastered by practicing. -NMF
This past year I tried to do something many of you call Literature Circles, but in my social studies class. We read the novel Homeless Bird, the story of a young girl's life in India. Including students of various ability levels in each group was imperitive. What was even more important, was changing the daily role of each student. Students participated in the following roles on a rotating basis: director, vocabularian, cultural connector, questioner, and artist. This was a great way to allow strengths to shine for all students and to create challenges for many as well. Students had to work cooperatively to successfully comprehend the novel, and I felt this was accomplished quite well. -C.Cheifetz
I teach chemistry and group work is an integral part of my teaching style. Students have to do things in order to understand them. If they figure out problems by themselves or with some help they are more able to apply their knowledge on problems which have not been explicitly discussed. Felix Autenrieth
I can't take credit for this idea; it was something my good friend, a chemistry teacher in my school came up with, but I really liked it. It is a way to group students. She was a very artsy crafty sort of person, so at the beginning of every school year she would buy a ton of different stickers from Michael's. Then she would make name tags for each student, and in each class make about 6 different sets of groups. One by ability, one alphabetically, some gender segregated, some co-ed, etc. Each type of sticker would represent a different type of group. So she would come into class one day and say "Today you are going to work in your animal groups" or "Today get into your weather groups". She would know that the animal stickers, say, grouped by gender, but she didn't tell the kids that. And so all the ducks would be together, all the cows, etc. But because there were six different possible groups, students didn't get cranky always working together. And I think this is a good way to do it as well, so you can use ability grouping if it's really important once in awhile, but it's not every day so that students don't feel like they're "in the stupid group". -- Emily Cox
As a high school band and choir director much of what we do is cooperative learning. They learn many things from eachother than they do from me. I have section leaders who are typically senior or upperclassmen that do a lot of the teaching of basic to the younger students so that they have a common ground that perhaps me, the adult, has troubles understanding. I allow the students to work together in other aspects. I also teach a theater tech class in which we create sets for plays and musicals and we work on the lighting and sound aspects of the performances. I allow the students to work together to decide what type of set to build and how many pieces there should be. In technology, I have students that have much more experience working with specific programs like Acid 4.0, Music Sequencing, so I let them do some of the teaching of the material. Students usually react very well with their peers and are more willing to experiment on activities with them rather than with a teacher standing over their shoulder. -Jeremiah Kramper-
I was first formally introduced to cooperative learning when I was beginning my elementary education courses for my bachelor's degree. Nearly every class required students to complete projects in cooperative groups. These experiences taught me first hand the positive and negative aspects of cooperative learning. First, I learned cooperative grouping could help ensure a better product since more brains worked together to achieve a goal. Each person came to the group with their own ideas and own strengths. When each member of the group was equally motivated to put forth their best work, these ideas and strengths combined to make an outstanding product. However, when disagreements occurred on the amount of work that each person should do or on what the final outcome would be, the group interaction did not achieve the best model of cooperative learning. This taught me to be careful in my own classroom with the amount of weight I put on cooperative learning and how it would factor into my student's grades. After all, not all people have equally strong interpersonal skills. Some people are stronger in intrapersonal skills, and should not be penalized because they learn and work differently. On the other hand, I did also recognize the value of learning how to work in a group because most work environments require at least a minimum level of cooperativeness. Therefore, due to my past with cooperative grouping, I make sure that my students have the opportunities to participate in cooperative learning as well as have individual learning experiences. - Tricia Pearl
I think that coooperative learning is very beneficial for the students because it encourages them to have everyone involved. It is also necessary to have equal groups for cooperative learning, because if you have a group of students who are at the top of the class and another group of students who are at the bottom, there will be problems. By having different levels within a group, the learning experience will be enhanced. I will probably use this style in my classroom because it is an incentive for the students. Holly
I remember enjoying working with others when I was a student, but I also remember being upset when I got stuck doing most of the work and others got a good grade because of it. It is important to take into account how each student participated when assessing cooperative learning projects. With the students I teach, I allow them some time in cooperative learning, but I find that they often think of this as a time to socialize. So before cooperative groups get together I set out expectations for what needs to happen in the group. The more practice they get, the better they are, but they still need to mature some to be able to work together effectively. E. Kilroy
I use cooperative learing in one of the developmental math classes I teach. It seems to work well. I place students in groups and give them a set of problems to work on. Each person takes turns being the "writer". Each person must give input into the solution of the problem. I always try to place a variety of students in each group. This helps those who do well in math learn to explain their thoughts to others and it helps those who are not so good see things in another students eyes instead of just mine as the teacher. My students seem to learn alot and enjoy the process.--M. Smith
My Eighth grade science class is an inquiry based Life Science class in which I use cooperative learning. I choose the groups that students work in. This attempt at cooperative learning has proven to be very successful. I like to observe the dynamics of the group. I believe that most of life is cooperative learning with everyone learning from one another. If students are trained form an early age cooperative learning becomes a way of life. -Ann Harty
I love cooperative learning. It is not only great for students, but it is great for adults as well. I do however, believe that the grade should be based on the individual and not necessarily the group like collaborative learning. It is very difficult to track how much work each student does and doesn't do. When teachers teach through cooperative learning, it is important to consider this principle. When teachers are held accountable for all of their students, there are always going to be those students that the teacher has no control over how well they do based on outside influences such as poverty, abuse, etc. The students in your classes also have no control over what the other group members do, so if it is a grade changing assignment, reconsider making the group grade thought. It should be more based on the indviduals within the group rather than the group itself. Cooperative learning is a great way for students to learn from each other, but they shouldn't be marked down because of something another student in the group decides to do or not do.
My curriculum is a cooperative learning curriculum and it is great. I love how the students are given the opportunities to share and learn from each other. If cooperative learning is done correctly, it makes the teachers job way less stressful and a lot more fun. ~ R. Hayes
Cooperative learning is a powerful tool when used properly. Unfortunately, some teachers equate "group work" with cooperative learning. In effective cooperative teams, each student has a role and responsibility to the team. Many teachers and administrators in my building thought I was crazy when I asked to trade in my desks for tables so the students could work together more effectively. It is stressful to have 20-some students in need of my attention at once. In teams, they teach each other. This builds their confidence, deepens their own understanding, and frees me to help more needy students. T. Stilts
[edit] Reference and other links of interest:
Group Grades in Cooperative Learning Classes
Education Research Consumer Guide
International Association for the Study of Cooperation in Education
The Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota
The Cooperative Learning Network
Technology and Cooperative Learning
The International Association for the Study of Cooperation in Education
[http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/archive/cl1/CL/default.asp Collaborative Learning - Sponsored by the National Institute for Science Education}
Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Holubec, E. J. (1993). Cooperation in the Classroom (6th ed.). Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.
Mayer, R.(2003) Learning and Instruction. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc
McInnerney J., & Roberts, T. S. (2005). Collaborative and Cooperative Learning. In The Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, Volume 1: Online Learning and Technologies, Information Science Publishing, Hershey, Pennsylvania, 269-276, ISBN 1-59140-555-6.
Montagu, Ashley (1965) (http://www.co-operation.org/pages/overviewpaper.html)
Vygotsky, Let (1962) (http://www.co-operation.org/pages/overviewpaper.html)
