Underlying Purpose of Cooperative Learning
to make each group member a stronger individual in his or her own right
Rationale for Cooperative Learning
The next layers of value creation whether in technology, marketing, biomedicine, or manufacturing, are becoming so complex that no single firm or department is going to be able to master them alone.
positive interdependence
emphasizes that everyone is in the effort together and that one person's success does not come at the expense of another's success.
fostering interdependence
ensure that the workload of other team members by clearly defining roles and responsibilities during the activity
individual accountability
the need for each member of the team to receive feedback on how his or her personal efforts contribute to achievement of the overall goal.
ensuring individual accountability
use formative and summative assessments to determine students' contributions to the group goal
structure for student conversations
Two of the studies reviewed for the 2010 analysis emphasize the importance of providing ______ ___ ______ _____________ that involve young students in cooperative learning such as question stems
Examples of structure for student conversations
question stems, graphic organizers, dialogue placemats
the cooperative learning tasks should be
interesting and present some cognitive conflict (so students will need to talk about hte task, sharing ideas and reasoning to resolve the conflict)
three recommendations for cooperative learning
include positive interdependence and individual accountability, keep group size small, use cooperative learning consistently and systematically
cooperative learning can improve cognitive and social aspects such as:
increased academic engagement, self-esteem, attitudes toward school and opposition to social segregation and loneliness
Two of the studies on cooperative learning emphasize the importance of:
providing structure for student conversations that involve young students in cooperative learning
Teachers will need to model for students
1. how explain their reasoning2.
ask questions that encourage elaboration2. provide opportunities for practice
Engaging students in cooperative learning is more than simply organizing them into groups. It requires:
1. Careful planning before2. Intentional facilitation during
five
Limit the group size
Studies show that as groups get larger
external and internal motivation tend to decrease
David Johnson and Frank Johnson promote cooperative learning as the
dominant approach in the classroom
They also suggest that as teachers develop expertise in using cooperative learning, teachers should integrate cooperative learning with
1.
competition2. individual work
Teachers need to balance the use of cooperative learning with opportunities for students
to practices skills and processes independently
ability
Teachers should limit the number of times they group students based on this
self-efficacy
If student perceive that they are in a group for which the teacher has low expectations it can affect this.
informal, formal, and base groups
Johnson and Johnson describe three types of cooperative learning groups
informal groups
ad-hoc groups
informal groups can be used to
clarify expectations for tasks, focus students' attention, allow time for students to more deeply process information, or provide time for closure
formal groups
are designed to ensure that students have time to thoroughly complete an academic assignment
base groups
are long term groups created to provide students with support over an extended period. These groups can be used to organize students and help them to complete routine tasks, plan activities, have fun, and establish a general sense of belonging to the class.
collaborating and creating
Almost every model and iteration of what constitutes 21st century learning includes two concepts that have become keystones of preparing students for future endeavors:
blogs
allow students to share their thinking with a much broader audience than by simply handing assignments to teachers
wikis
serve as working documents and final showcases for cooperative learning projects
social bookmarking
helps students share and access resources as they work through a task together
