Strategy that allows students to be active learners not passive participants.
Cooperative learning is a teaching approach that students to work together to complete a specific task. Cooperative learning allows the students to become active learners in the classroom. In a cooperative environment, students become members of a learning team, instead of solitary learners.
Cooperative learning is a better teaching approach as it makes students active in the learning process and not passive participants. Too often students sit at their desks bored and willing to participate if there was a venue for them.
Main Elements of Cooperative Learning
Positive Interdependence
Students must work together as a group for success to be achieved. Motto: No I in team. It includes team rewards, assigned roles and group presentations.
Teamwork
Students must work together for their task to be completed. Students learn how important it is for all members to do their shared work for them to be successful.
Face to Face Interaction
Students work together and must be willing to accept all members of the team. Face to face interaction gets students comfortable with talking in small groups and sharing their information.
Individual Accountability
A group does not mean that some students are allowed to slack off. Individual accountability is assessed during tests, and the teacher asking specific questions to each member of the group. As well, on a routine basis, the group should feel out a questionnaire on the strengths and weaknesses of the members to be reviewed by the teacher.
Social Skills
A group must have certain rules for success. Each member must be respectful, otherwise chaos will pervade. Students must learn how to be active listeners, conflict managers, decision makers, and other communication skills.
Group Processing
Teacher is able to work with each group and listen to what is working and not working in their group. It is important for teachers to give positive or corrective feedback to groups or individuals
A key component to make cooperative strategies successful is the building of groups. It is best to not allow students to create their own groups, rather students’ work together with the teacher to form groups.
Creating Groups
Give each student a cue card and to list 6 members they would like in their group. However, students must decide the members based on specific criteria.
Group Members
Friend: Students writes down two friends.
Opposite Sex: Students writes down two names of the opposite sex
Leader: Student writes down a leader for their group
Unknown: Students writes down a classmate they do not know well.
For each of the above categories, the student must give a reason of why they want the specific person in their group.
Teacher’s Role
Teacher’s role is to place a friend in each student’s group. Best way is to cut out names of each student and place them on the chalkboard when students are not present. The teacher will keep rotating the names until each student has at least one friend in the group and then will try and include the other names on their cue card.
As the teacher creates group, they are also trying to make balanced groups based on social and academic achievements. The groups should be together for a minimum of one month. Often trouble kids are less trouble if they have one friend who is able to keep them focused on the task.
