Cooperative Learning

1. Cooperative Learning Kristin Long MAT 733 April 4, 2013

2. Area of Focus • Cooperative learning is a teaching strategy I thought I used in my classroom fairly well. I used group learning situationsa couple of times a month. After reading the text and beginning to look at research, I became aware that proper cooperative learning was much more than having students work in pairs or small groups on a task. • David and Roger Johnson, two brothers who are professors of education and co-directors of the Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota, are pioneers in this field. They have broken down cooperative learning into five basic yet essential elements.

3. Basic Elements of Cooperation • Positive Interdependence • Individual Accountability • Face-to-face Promotive Interaction • Social Skills • Group Processing • Johnson & Johnson (1999) believe that understanding these five basic elements and developing skills in structuring them allows teachers to “adapt cooperative learning to their situations, fine tune its use, and prevent and solve problems students have in working together”.

4. Methodology • Lev Vygotsky, the founding father of social constructivism, believed in social interaction and that it was an integral part of learning. • I knew that I wanted to try cooperative learning from a different angle, that I believe in Vygotsky’s theory, and that if I wanted this to work, I would need to employ the basic elements of cooperation wholeheartedly. • Johnson & Johnson (1999) provide numerous types of cooperative learning but the one that most fit my situation was cooperative base groups. These are “long term, heterogeneous cooperative learning groups with 3-4 members with stable membership”.

5. Artifacts • The first set of artifacts shows the first step in this research project: creating base groups. The classroom had been set up in a series of three rows since the beginning of the school year. The groups were then broken down into three groups of three and two groups of four. The make-up of these groups was purposeful in that each group consisted of a high, mid-range, and low student. The groups of four have two mid-range students.

6. Classroom Map--Pre-project Front of Room Key: = student desk = teacher desk/work table

7. Classroom Map—Project Implementation Front of Room Key: = student desk = teacher desk/work table

8. Artifacts • The next step was to administer a pre-project survey to my students. This initial survey consisted of eight questions, the first seven all using the same Likert type scale and the last a slightly different scale. • The project was followed by a post-project survey using the same format with the exception of an added question at the end.

9. Pre-Project Survey

10. Pre-Project Survey

11. Post-Project Survey

12. Post Project Survey

13. Artifact Reflection • The results of the survey were interesting but not necessarily telling of any great changes that cooperative learning had produced in my classroom. • Is it possible that students viewed cooperative learning as a social opportunity in the beginning yet found it to be altogether different when the foundation was laid for true group work? This may explain the very positive results of the pre-survey and the marginal, at times negative, changes.

14. Conclusions • Cooperative learning based on the research done by Johnson & Johnson (1999) has earned a solid place on my list of instructional strategies. By allowing students to interact, draw from one another’s knowledge, assist each other in completing tasks, and work together cooperatively, I am providing solid learning opportunities academically and socially.

15. References • Biancarosa, G. (2005). After third grade. Educational Leadership,63(2),16-22. • Coke, P. (2005). Practicing what we preach: An argument for cooperative learning opportunities for elementary and secondary educators. Education, 126(2), 392-398. • Dean, C. B., Hubbell, E. R., Pitler, H., & Stone, B. (2012). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD. • Johnson, D., Johnson, R., & Smith, K. (2007). The state of cooperative learning in post- secondary and professional settings. Educational Psychology Review, 19(1), 15-29. doi: 10.1007/s10648-006-9038-8 • Marzano, R.J., Norford, J.S., Paynter, D.E., Pickering, D.J., & Gaddy, B.B. (2005). A Handbook for Classroom Instruction that Works. Upper Saddle River, J: Pearson. • Powell, K.C. & Kalina, C.J. (2009). Cognitive and social constructivism: effective classroom. Education, 130(2), 241-250. • Schul, J. (2011). Revisiting an old friend: The practice and promise of cooperative learning for the twenty-first century. The Social Studies, 102, 88-93. • Slavin, R. (1999). Comprehensive approaches to cooperative learning. Theory into Practice, 38(2), 74-79.