Cooperative Learning

1. Cooperative Learning • A number of strategies whereby students help one another acquire course content

2. Cooperation in Context • Learning may be competitive, individualistic, or cooperative • Competitive goals encourage students to work against one another; evaluation is norm-referenced and grades are distributed along a bell-curve with good, average and poor performers

3. Cooperation in Context • Individualistic goals encourage students to disregard their classmates; evaluation is criterion-referenced and students looked after their self-interests or personal mastery or specified objectives • Cooperative goals emphasize collaboration and shared understanding on any task; evaluation is interdependence – a group must succeed for an individual to succeed.

4. Tenets of Cooperative Learning • Individual and group accountability: each student is accountable for a specific task or topic as well as topics assigned to other group members • Positive interdependence: each team benefits when all embers perform well, and is held accountable when one or more members do not

5. Tenets of Cooperative Learning • Group processing: students coached on group process skills – supporting differences, listening, providing feedback, gate keeping to ensure all participate, coaching others, reaching consensus

6. Tenets of Cooperative Learning • Promote group process by assigning roles • Leaders keep groups on task, ensure everyone participates and understands • Recorders manage group files and folders, tracking each team member’s contributions • Reporters give responses to the class about as group’s activities or conclusions • Monitors act as timekeepers for activities

7. Setting Up • Use small groups • Heterogeneous groups suggested by research (e.g., mixed gender, race, and ability levels) • Low ability student typically improves performance when grouped with higher ability student; higher ability student sometimes decreases in performance

8. Strategies: Think-Pair-Share • Think-pair-share is one of dozens of cooperative learning strategies described on the Internet • Students are prompted to think about a topic or problem, record their ideas, pair with a neighbour and share their ideas

9. Strategies: Affinity • Students jot issues, concerns, or olutions on a card • Cards collected and compared by group • “like” cards are sorted together to create categorized and focus on issues, concerns, or solutions students have in common

10. Strategies: Find the Fib • Students learn different parts of a topic • Each student teaches their piece of the topic to their group, including a fib or non-truthful element in their instruction • After each student’s instruction, groups discuss the content and try to find the fib

11. Cooperative Learning Outcomes • Critical thinking, reasoning about course content (active learning) • Students acquire better understanding of course content as they are required to explain topics to others in team • Better attitudes towards courses

12. Cooperative Learning Outcomes • Increased social skills, respect for multiple opinions and perspectives • Higher achievement • Higher productivity