-
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
Why use
Cooperative Learning?
Research has shown that cooperative
learning techniques:
?
promote student
learning and academic achievement
?
?
?
?
?
?
increase student retention
enhance student satisfaction with their
learning experience
help
students develop skills in oral
communication
develop
students' social skills
promote student self-esteem
help to promote positive race
relations
5 Elements of
Cooperative Learning
It is
only under certain conditions that cooperative
efforts may be expected to be
more
productive than competitive and individualistic
efforts. Those conditions are:
1. Positive Interdependence
(sink or swim
together)
?
Each group member's efforts are
required and indispensable for group
success
?
Each group
member has a unique
contribution to
make to the joint effort
because of his or her resources and/or
role and task
responsibilities
2. Face-to-Face Interaction
(promote each other's
success)
?
?
?
?
?
Orally explaining how to solve
problems
Teaching one's knowledge to
other
Checking for
understanding
Discussing
concepts being learned
Connecting present with past
learning
3. Individual
&
Group Accountability
( no hitchhiking! no social
loafing)
?
Keeping the size of the group small.
The smaller the size of the group, the
greater the individual accountability
may be.
?
?
Giving an individual test to each
student.
Randomly examining students orally
by calling on one student to present
his or her group's work to the teacher
(in the presence of the group) or to
the entire class.
?
Observing each
group and recording
the frequency with
which each
member-contributes to the
group's
work.
?
Assigning one
student in each group
the role of
checker. The checker asks
other group
members to explain the
reasoning and
rationale underlying
group
answers.
?
Having students teach what they
learned to someone else.
4.
Interpersonal &
Small-Group
Skills
?
Social skills must be
taught:
o
Leadership
o
Decision-
making
o
Trust-building
o
Communication
o
Conflict-
management skills
5. Group
Processing
?
Group members discuss how well they
are achieving their goals and
maintaining effective working
relationships
?
?
Describe what member actions are
helpful and not helpful
Make decisions about what behaviors
to continue or change
Class Activities that use Cooperative
Learning
Most of these
structures are developed by Dr. Spencer Kagan and
his associates at
Kagan Publishing and
Professional Development. For resources and
professional
development information on
Kagan Structures, please visit:
1.
Jigsaw
-
Groups with five students are set up. Each group
member
is assigned some unique material
to learn and then to teach to his
group
members. To help in the learning students across
the class
working on the same sub-
section get together to decide what is
important and how to teach it. After
practice in these
the original groups
reform and students teach each other. (Wood, p.
17) Tests or assessment
follows.
2.
Think-Pair-Share
- Involves a three
step cooperative structure.
During the
first step individuals think silently about a
question posed
by the instructor.
Individuals pair up during the second step and
exchange thoughts. In the third step,
the pairs share their responses
with
other pairs, other teams, or the entire group.
3. Three-Step
Interview
(Kagan)
-
Each member of a team chooses
another member to be a partner. During
the first step individuals
interview
their partners by asking clarifying questions.
During the
second step partners reverse
the roles. For the final step, members
share their partner's response with the
team.
4.
RoundRobin
Brainstorming
(
Kagan)- Class is divided
into small groups
(4 to 6) with one
person appointed as the recorder. A question is
posed with many answers and students
are given time to think about
answers.
After the
responses with one another
round robin style. The recorder writes
down the answers of the group members.
The person next to the
recorder starts
and each person in the group in order gives an
answer
until time is called.
5.
Three-minute review
-
Teachers stop any time during a lecture or
discussion and give teams three minutes
to review what has been
said, ask
clarifying questions or answer
questions.
6.
Numbered
Heads
Together
(Kagan) - A team of
four is established. Each member
is
given numbers of 1, 2, 3, 4. Questions are asked
of the group. Groups work
together to
answer the question so that all can verbally
answer the question.
Teacher calls out
a number (two) and each two is asked to give the
answer.
7.
Team
Pair
Solo
(Kagan)- Students do
problems first as a team, then
with a
partner, and finally on their own. It is designed
to motivate
students to tackle and
succeed at problems which initially are beyond
their ability. It is based on a simple
notion of mediated learning.
Students
can do more things with help (mediation) than they
can do
alone. By allowing them to work
on problems they could not do alone,
first as a team and then with a
partner, they progress to a point they
can do alone that which at first they
could do only with help.
8.
Circle the
Sage
(Kagan)- First the teacher polls
the class to see
which students have a
special knowledge to share. For example the
teacher may ask who in the class was
able to solve a difficult math
homework
question, who had visited Mexico, who knows the
chemical
reactions involved in how
salting the streets help dissipate snow.
Those students (the sages) stand and
spread out in the room. The
teacher
then has the rest of the classmates each surround
a sage,
with no two members of the same
team going to the same sage. The
sage
explains what they know while the classmates
listen, ask
questions, and take notes.
All students then return to their teams.
Each in turn, explains what they
learned. Because each one has gone
to a
different sage, they compare notes. If there is
disagreement,
they stand up as a team.
Finally, the disagreements are aired and
resolved.
9.
Partners
(Kagan) - The class
is divided into teams of four. Partners
move to one side of the room. Half of
each team is given an
assignment to
master to be able to teach the other half.
Partners work
to learn and can consult
with other partners working on the same
material. Teams go back together with
each set of partners teaching
the other
set. Partners quiz and tutor teammates. Team
reviews how
well they learned and
taught and how they might improve the
process.
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