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What is Cooperative Learning?
Collaborative learning requires
working together toward a common goal. This type of learning has been called by
various names: cooperative learning, collaborative learning, collective
learning, learning communities, peer teaching, peer learning, or team learning.
What they have in common is that they all incorporate group work. However, collaboration
is more than co-operation. Collaboration entails the whole process of learning.
This may include students teaching one another, students teaching the teacher,
and of course the teacher teaching the students, too. More importantly, it
means that students are responsible for one another's learning as well as their
own and that reaching the goal implies that students have helped each other to
understand and learn.
On the other hand, cooperative
learning is a process meant to facilitate the accomplishment of a specific end
product or goal through people working together in groups. Inevitably,
cooperation and collaboration seem to overlap, but in the cooperative model of
learning, the teacher still controls most of what is going on in the class,
even if the students are working in groups. Collaborative learning, on the
other hand, is aimed at getting the students to take almost full responsibility
for working together, building knowledge together, changing and evolving
together and of course, improving together. The basis of both collaborative and
cooperative learning is constructivism: knowledge is constructed, and
transformed by students. The learning process must be understood as something a
learner does by activating already existent cognitive structures or by
constructing new cognitive structures that accommodate new input.
Cooperative Learning is part of a
group of teaching/learning techniques where students interact with each other
to acquire and practice the elements of a subject matter and to meet common
learning goals. It is much more than just putting students into groups and
hoping for the best. Cooperative Learning is a very formal way of structuring
activities in a learning environment that includes specific elements intended
to increase the potential for rich and deep learning by the participants.
Cooperative Learning models include the following basic principles: • Group
tasks are designed to be suitable for group work. • Positive interdependence is
built in – cooperation is necessary for students to succeed. • Attention and
class time are given to interpersonal/cooperative skill building. •
Participants learn together in small (2-5 members) groups. • Students are
individually accountable for learning and participation. • The instructor’s role
changes from being the "sage on the stage" to the "guide on the
side." Cooperative Learning is about moving from rote learning to learning
how to think critically and in changing circumstances. The consistent use of
these principles in an organized way is at the heart of Cooperative Learning.
Cooperation:
We sink or Swim Together Lessons are
structured so that learners work together to maximize their own and each
other’s learning. Learners work together to achieve shared goals. All members
of the group strive for all group members’ success. Work in small groups.
Groups are heterogeneous. Joint success is celebrated, Evaluated by matching
performance with clear criteria, set in advance.
Competition:
I Swim, You sink; I Sink, You Swim
Instructors structure lessons so that learners compete with each other to
achieve a goal only a few can attain. Learners work alone. They strive to be
better than the rest of the group. What benefits self, deprives others. Own
success and others’ failure is celebrated. Rewards are limited. Graded on a
curve or ranked from “best” to “worst”. Individualistic: We are each in this
Alone Learners work by them to accomplish learning goals unrelated to those of
other learners. Learners work alone. Strive for their own success. What
benefits self does not affect others. Own success is celebrated. Rewards are
viewed as unlimited Evaluated by comparing performance to pre-set criteria.
Basic Elements of Cooperative
Learning
Positive Interdependence
Interaction through Activity: Learners help, assist, encourage, and
support each other’s’ efforts to learn.
Individual Accountability: The performance of each individual
learner is assessed and the results given back to the group and the individual.
Group Processing
Interaction through Reflection: At the end of their working period
the groups process their functioning by answering two questions: what did each
member do that was helpful for the group? and what can each member do to make
the group work better?
Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Skilled communication is necessary
for effective group functioning. Learners must have, and use, the needed
leadership, decision making, trust-building, effective communication, and
conflict-management skills.
Interdependence through Structure: Learners believe that they are
linked together; they cannot succeed unless the other members of the group
succeed (and vice versa). They “sink or swim together.”
Difference between Small Groups and Cooperative
Learning
Traditional Small Groups:
In traditional small groups, the instructor
merely tells class participants to form groups to complete a class assignment.
There is no structured interdependence, no individual accountability, and
communication skills are either assumed or ignored. Sometimes the group or the
instructor may appoint a single leader. The emphasis is on the task to be
performed and there is no process for group processing. In the end, each person
is responsible only for themselves. Often the instructor sets the groups and
then leaves them to work on their own until the time allotted to the task is
completed.
Cooperative Learning:
Teams In cooperative learning teams positive
interdependence is structured into the group task activities and members are
responsible for each other’s success. Individual accountability is an expected
outcome. Communication skills are identified, directly taught, and expected to
be used by all group members. There are designated roles with shared leadership
assigned and monitored by the group and the instructor. The group regularly
processes how they are working together and adjusts their personal and group
behaviors accordingly. Both task and maintenance roles and outcomes are
emphasized. The instructor observes and intervenes if necessary to ensure that
the process is followed.
Why Use Cooperative Learning?
As instructors of adults prepare
their curriculum materials they must make plans and decisions about which
teaching strategies they will apply in what circumstances. Instructors may
structure lessons so that:
1. Learners are in a win-lose
struggle to see who is best. Learners are competing with each other.
2. Learners learn on their own,
individually, without interacting with other learners.
3. Learners work in pairs or small
groups to help each other master the assigned material. Essential instructional
skills all instructors need to know are when and how to structure learners’
learning goals competitively, individualistically and cooperatively.
Reasons to Use Cooperative Learning
1. Adults often manage conflicts
destructively. We tend to behave as we have been taught. A highly
individualistic and competitive environment may lead to an inability to get
along or manage conflicts constructively.
2. Industry requires people who can
work cooperatively in teams. The Conference Board of Canada has said that
learners need academic skills, personal skills and cooperative or teamwork
skills. Schools and colleges generally do a good job of the academic skills but
often neglect the personal and teamwork skills because they see them as the
responsibility of the home. With family life changing, many learners do not
develop these skills at home.
3. Researchers have found that 90 to
95% of the people who lose their jobs do so because they cannot get along with
other people on the job. Only 5 or 10 percent (depending on which studies you
read) of people lose their jobs because they cannot do the work. Cooperative
learning helps people learn social skills and therefore increases the chances
that they will be able to keep the jobs for which we are training them.
4. Learners bring with them their own
negative attitudes and prejudices. Population diversity is becoming more the
norm than the exception in many places. When there is a mix of learners in the
same class there is the potential to diminish negative attitudes and to develop
positive ones depending how interaction is structured. Cooperative learning
structures can be used to develop constructive and supportive peer
relationships.
How do Cooperative Teams Work?
A team can occur anytime there are
two or more people working towards a common goal or objective. After a team
gets bigger than four there is a tendency to form sub-teams who may all be
working towards the same goal but not necessarily in communication with the
other sub-team. An ideal size for a cooperative team is four members per group.
When you have four in a group, you can have pairs working together at times and
four working together at other times. There is a possibility of six pair
combinations. Various constraints will affect the size of the group. For a team
to work effectively it is important to recognize that there are steps that will
happen and that the team task and interpersonal behaviors will change over
time. A team or group develops a culture of traits and patterns as they
progress. Dr. Bruce Tuckman developed a model of how teams progress and exhibit
behaviors around both the task being done and the interpersonal interactions.
Stage 1: Forming-
This is the time of organization and
orientation to tasks. The task(s) and information about them will be
identified. The question to be answered is “What is the task of this group and
how will I be able to contribute to that task?” In the behavior area, the
members will develop group guidelines, either by consensus or by informal
testing of behaviors. Some members will look to others to either lead or
follow. The question to be answered is “What kind of behavior is acceptable in
this group and how am I to behave?”
Stage 2: Storming
Here there are individual emotional
responses to the group. The demands of the task will trigger part of this
response and the more difficult the task appears in relation to individual’s
self-perceived abilities, the greater the potential for a “storm”. The question
to be answered is “Am I emotionally ready to deal with this task?” Varied
understandings of task and roles are expressed or become apparent. Differences
between members may be expressed in a hostile manner and members may wonder if
they want to be part of the group. They think, “Do I really want to work with
these people?”
Stage 3: Norming
Now communication is opening up and
developing. Information is being exchanged and ideas and opinions are shared.
The focus is on the task and members are answering the question, “What do I
have that will help us accomplish this task?” Workable guidelines are
established. On the behavioral side, the individuals are becoming a group.
There is a sense of harmony and people are looking at “How can I help
contribute to group unity?”
Stage 4: Performing
Everyone is focused on constructive
action directed towards successful completion of the task. The interpersonal
and task behaviors with shared understandings start to merge and functionality
is the main idea. Problem solving will be primarily directed to the work and
the product.
Last Stage: Adjourning
When teams have completed their
tasks, they wrap up, and then go on to other teams in other places. It is
important for the team to take the time to look at its process one last time.
“What went well?” “What could we do better in another situation?” so that the
loose ends are wrapped up on the task. The conclusion of the interpersonal behaviors
includes a chance to say thank you and good-bye to the team members. This can
range from an imaginary gift to each person all the way to various celebrations
and even plans to meet again at a later date. Closure is a final essential part
of the team process.
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