Cooperative Learning

Hi everyone!       

                                                                              I hope you are fine and taking care of your health!☺

What is cooperative learning?

Cooperative learning is a teaching approach with small mixed groups, with the aim that all participants benefit from the interaction. There is a substantial amount of literature methods and techniques which consider such factors as group ability, success and the awarding of this success. Salvin (1988): cooperative learning covers learning methods in which students work in small groups (generally 4-6 students) and group success is awarded in different ways. Both group rewards and individual accountability means that each individual is rewarded only when others in his or her group also succeed, which prevents high achievers from dominating the work. Thus, cooperative group work that incorporates both group rewards and individual accountability not only forces students to take responsibility for their own mastery of the material, but also makes the students responsible for their classmates’ mastery. However, according to (Christian 1990) cooperative learning is a classroom learning approach which is used to increase motivation and retention, to help students to develop positive thoughts about themselves and their friends, to develop students’ ability to solve problems and think critically and to help the student develop cooperative skills.

 

The main aim of cooperative learning is to install the mentality that the groups is working together to increase their own and their friends learning to the top level and not to encourage competition. Competition adopts a win- lose situation where superior students win all the rewards and recognition while low- achieving students are left demotivated with nothing to show for the lesson. In contrast everyone benefits from a cooperative learning environment. Students help each other and in doing so , build a supportive community which raises the performance level of each member (Kagan 1986) and this in turn leads to higher self-esteem in all students (Webb 1982). Each member of the group should help all the other members to learn. (Reeve, 1996_ believes these are psychological benefits to be gain when students work together. According to Reeves students can be increasing engaged and find significant enjoyment when social interaction is integrated into their learning experience. In order to carry out cooperative learning successfully, the group must have a purpose, and all the students in the group should undertake responsibility to achieve the aim of the group. In this approach, students should combine their own efforts with those of their friends in the group because the essence of this approach is “either we swim together or we sink together”. No matter what his/her success level is, every student should believe that he does what he can to contribute to the success of the group. Every group member should be aware of the concept of commitment of aim and commitment of success. “In this method, the group members should be in face to face interaction. This interaction is obtaining by helping each

other, giving feedback, relying on each other, discussing and encouraging each other” (Johnson and Johnson ,1989). For communication and social skills, students should be taught the required small group skills and interpersonal skills. Such as leadership, decision making, trustworthiness, communicating and resolving conflict skills. If these skills are not present in the student, cooperative study cannot be achieved. Also, no matter what level the students’ ability and competence levels are, their contributions to the group should be appreciated. Students should be given the opportunity to show themselves at the subject they are good at. Slavin (1992) emphasizes that:
“Students will learn from one another because in the in discussions of the content, cognitive conflicts will arise, inadequate reasoning will be exposed, disequilibrium will occur, and higher quality understandings will emerge”

Please find attached the link to my Padlet presentation about Cooperative learning in Education!

Padlet

                                                                                   Thank you for you cooperation guys!☺