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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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