Cooperative Learning

Cooperative Learning

Cooperative Learning involves structuring classes around small groups that work together in such a way that each group member's success is dependent on the group's success. There are different kinds of groups for different situations, but they all balance some key elements that distinguish cooperative learning from competitive or individualistic learning.

Cooperative learning can also be contrasted with what it is not. Cooperation is not having students sit side-by-side at the same table to talk with each other as they do their individual assignments. Cooperation is not assigning a report to a group of students where one student does all the work and the others put their names on the product as well. Cooperation involves much more than being physically near other students, discussing material, helping, or sharing material with other students. There is a crucial difference between simply putting students into groups to learn and in structuring cooperative interdependence among students.

Why Use Cooperative Learning?

Extensive research has compared cooperative learning with traditional classroom instruction using the same teachers, curriculum, and assessments. On the average:

• Students who engage in cooperative learning learn significantly more, remember it longer, and develop better critical-thinking skills than their counterparts in traditional lecture classes.
• Students enjoy cooperative learning more than traditional lecture classes, so they are more likely to attend classes and finish the course.
• Students are going to go on to jobs that require teamwork. Cooperative learning helps students develop the skills necessary to work on projects too difficult and complex for any one person to do in a reasonable amount of time. 
• Cooperative learning processes prepare students to assess outcomes linked to accreditation.

How to Use Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning exercises can be as simple as a five minute in class exercise or as complex as a project which crosses class periods. These can be described more generally in terms of low, medium, and high faculty/student time investment.

Cooperative learning can be used across a wide range of classroom settings ranging from small to large lecture, as well as in online classes.

No matter what the setting is, properly designing and implementing cooperative learning involves five key steps. Following these steps is critical to ensuring that the five key elements that differentiate cooperative learning from simply putting students into groups are met.

Cooperative Learning Techniques

Cooperative learning techniques can be loosely categorized by the skill that each enhances (Barkley, Cross and Major, 2005), although it is important to recognize that many cooperative learning exercises can be developed to fit within multiple categories. Categories include: discussion, reciprocal teaching, graphic organizers, writingand problem solving. Each category includes a number of potential structures to guide the development of a cooperative learning exercise. For example, the category of problem-solving helps to develop strategic and analytical skills and includes exercises such as the send-a-problem, three-stay one-stray, structured problem solving, and analytical teams.

Cooperative Learning

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. Students work through the assignment until all group members successfully understand and complete it. 

Cooperative efforts result in participants striving for mutual benefit so that all group members:

• gain from each other's efforts. (Your success benefits me and my success benefits you.)
• recognize that all group members share a common fate. (We all sink or swim together here.)
• know that one's performance is mutually caused by oneself and one's team members. (We can not do it without you.)
• feel proud and jointly celebrate when a group member is recognized for achievement. (We all congratulate you on your accomplishment!).

Why use Cooperative Learning?

Elements of Cooperative Learning

Class Activities that use Cooperative Learning

The main challenge behind cooperative learning is that it needs to be planned in such a way that it fits perfectly and the students gain positively from it. For example, it can happen sometime that the students in a group are noisy and all the workload is shifted onto one student, in such a case you can either change the activity or reconsider your seating plan in order to neutralize the class dynamics.

Cooperative Learning Instruction Strategies

For a teacher who is trying to teach through cooperative learning from the teacher's resources or lesson plans, he or she might face problems of discipline or noisy lessons as after all it's just a class full of students. Hence, there are some cooperative learning instruction strategies, which can be followed for effective teaching.

The first strategy is to make that the task you are given is not only increasing the study skills of the student but is also interesting and open enough for the group of students. The main reason for such activity is that the students must utilize the skills the teacher has taught them. For example, if the group of students is told to analyze rap songs and find out the issues related to the songs, they will read the songs and then write up their ideas about it, the main two points noted here is that the students get familiar with listening to each other as well as sharing information, which is a necessary step in learning.

Another important aspect in cooperative learning is that of motivation. When the students get into some task, motivation is a great necessity in order for them to proceed successfully. If they are motivated, they get new ideas which they are eager to share with their group members and as this continues each student gets more into the topic. In cases when students are allowed to pick up their own topic, they are opened to more opportunities for learning as they get to benefit from finding out more about their chosen topic.

One of the most important aspects of cooperative learning is to teach those students how to work in groups who aren't familiar with this type of learning. You can start off with small tasks in the classroom to warm up the air for cooperative learning. For example, you can make two groups in which one group asks questions about the topic the teacher has just taught and the second group provides answers, it is a great way of the students to learn to work in a group as they need to a reason to learn and tasks like these provide them a great opportunity.

Remember to not to start with big tasks. Start with smaller tasks when you think they are ready to work in groups and illustrate the task in a slow step by step way. You should keep in mind that while explaining the task you students know that you're the boss and listening to the steps you are telling is necessary because if it doesn't happen like this then your classroom management can go out of hand. You should not continue until you have each student's attention. In the end, assign them a deadline of the group work and tell them which work has to be done in the class and which one has to be completed at home.

10 Tips for Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is a method where teachers place students in small teams with students of different learning levels. The object is for the higher-level students to help lower-level students improve their understanding of concepts being taught. In essence, each member is responsible for learning, as well as helping teammates learn, too. Students are to keep practicing concepts until the entire team understands and completes the assignment given. Here are some tips for utilizing cooperative learning in your classroom. Playing teacher. Divide students into even groups of five or less. Give each student in a group a unique concept to learn. Then bring the group back together and let students teach each other what they have learned. Make sure that the entire group is learning about the same subject, just a different aspect of the subject. Test each group when the teaching session is completed within each group. The Interview. Divide students into groups with an even number of students in each group. Each member of a group chooses a partner. Have individuals interview their partner by asking them clarifying questions. Now let the partners switch roles. Lastly, let members of the entire group share their responses as a team. Catch a brainstorm. Divide students into teams of 4 to 6, and appoint one student on each team to be the "secretary." Give each team a different question that can have many answers. Now give each team a chance to brainstorm answers to the question, with the "secretary" writing down the team's responses. Have the students work in a circle, each taking turns to give a response, instead of having all of the students shout out answers to the "secretary" at once. Number Frenzy. Divide students in groups of four. Label each student in a group as number 1, 2, 3, or 4. Ask the groups a common question. The group then works together to come up with the correct answer. Now you call out a number (between 1 and 4), and the person in a group that is assigned that number is to give you the answer to the question. Group Grading. After taking a test, divide your students into groups with an even number of people in each group. Let students trade their test papers, so they will be grading each other. Now give each group a few minutes to discuss the answers that group members got wrong, so that those members can see why their answer was wrong and what the correct answer should have been. Wrap up the groups and answer any dangling questions not addressed in the individual groups. The great debate. Cooperative learning can be used in any situation where you want children to debate over a concept being taught. For instance, when learning about the elections process, you can divide students into groups and have them hold a debate over what they would change about the elections process, what is working and not working with the current process, etc. Listing activity. Divide students into groups of five or less. Ask each group to list words and/or phrases that describe what they are being taught, i.e., farm animals that are most useful. Be sure that every response is written down that each individual gives. Have each group discuss their list and then come up with the words and/or phrases the entire group agrees on. Later each group can get up before the class and discuss why they chose the responses they did. The One Minute Game. Divide the class into teams of five or less. Have each group contemplate answers to these questions, giving them one minute to answer them: What was the main thing you learned today? Tell me two questions that you have remaining about this lesson. What else would you like to know about this topic? This is a great cooperative learning activity that helps students give you feedback about the lessons they learned. Assigning group roles. Consider assigning each member of a group a role, so each member feels they are contributing to the group in a positive way. Roles could consist of: Leader - The individual that makes sure everyone in the group has mastered the concepts being learned through the exercises. Secretary - The person who records responses for the entire group. Reporter - The person that speaks for the group when standing in front of the class. Monitor - The person who keeps time for the group with timed assignments. Manager - The person who fills in for any member of the group who is absent, and assists the leader of the group. Roles can be switched within a group from time-to-time. Ranking order. Determine whom you will put into groups by using the following exercise. 1. Present your students with an issue that is pertinent to a lesson. Have the students rank this issue by how they feel about it with 1 being in strong agreement and 10 being in strong disagreement. 2. Place a rank-order line on your whiteboard and record the students' responses on the line. 3. Now form your groups by pulling out one person from each end of the ranking order, and then two people from the center of the line.