Te Kotahitanga Phase 4
Cooperative Learning
Introducing Cooperative Learning
There’s some things you can’t do
by yourself
Vocabulary
Positive interdependence
Individual accountability
Group and individual reflection
Small group skills
Face to face interaction
Cooperative Learning is a
widely researched teaching
methodology
(374 studies in 100 years)
Advantages of Cooperative Learning
• Caters for student preferences
• Increases academic learning and provides authentic
opportunities for the development of problem-solving and
higher thinking skills and sponsors creativity
• Promotes greater independence in students and increases
student involvement and motivation in learning tasks
• Improves attitudes to school and learning and reduces
disruptive behaviour
• Fosters the development of interpersonal skills
• Is shown to be student preference at all ages
3 Styles of
structuring
the learning
environment
Competitive
Individualistic
Cooperative
“I swim, you sink.”
“You swim, I sink”
“We are each in
this alone.”
“We sink or
swim together”
5 Fundamental Elements of
Cooperative Learning
• Positive Interdependence
• Individual accountability
• Group and individual reflection
• Small group skills
• Face to face interaction
Positive Interdependence
“This is the core of cooperative learning”
(Brown and Thomson, 2000)
The success of the individual depends on the
success of the group as a whole.
Each group member needs the others to complete
the assigned task
Positive Interdependence
• Shared materials where each group member has a different but
necessary resource.
• Group roles. Less skilled members must have an appropriate role or
task within the group.
• Groups have a common goal which all must achieve i.e. one
product.
• Members share in the group’s success e.g. individual mark + bonus
mark / praise for the group.
• Physical setting can enhance opportunities for cooperation e.g. one
table per group.
• Groups can be encouraged to develop a group identity.
Individual accountability
“to ensure that every individual will be able to perform on their
own.”
(Brown & Thomson, 2000)
Cooperative Learning does not allow 1 or 2
individuals to evade learning or participating in work.
Every member has to be clear about their own task /
role and every member is required to learn and
contribute to the work.
Individual accountability
“What you can do in a team today you can do on your own tomorrow”
Each student is responsible for:
• Their own learning
• Ensuring their group members learn as much as
possible
• Achieving the group goal
• The smooth functioning of the group
Fostering individual accountability
“The team builds our skills”
• Randomly choose one member of a group to answer
questions or report on the progress of the group
• Remind the group often that they are mutually
responsible for the work they complete
• Have each group member explain their group’s work to
another group
• Randomly choose a group to hand in work in progress
• Students sign their work to show they are ready to stand
by it
Group and Individual
Reflection
Reflection is a vital component of Cooperative
Learning which:
• Fosters higher order thinking skills in authentic
settings
• Develops student responsibility for their own
learning
• Allows for future growth
Reflection involves
• Evaluating how well they did the task and how
well they worked together
• Analysing what they did in order to identify
factors that helped or hindered the smooth
functioning of the group
• Setting goals that will help groups function
better in the future
To encourage reflection
teachers can
• Ask groups to complete short evaluations of their
work – both content and process
• Have students set goals for themselves and their
teams
• Encourage groups to reflect mid-task if they
encounter difficulties
• Provide feedback
Small Group Skills
“taught not caught”
THIS TAKES TIME
• We are not born cooperative
• The skills often need to be taught e.g.
encouraging, questioning, paraphrasing,
summarising etc.
Face to face interaction
“knee to knee and eye to eye”
• Encourages participation
• Stimulates communication, sharing of ideas /
resources/ answers
• Fosters a sense of involvement, belonging and
commitment
Factors that foster successful face
to face interactions
• Groups of no more than 4
• Requires setting up the physical environment so
it makes it easy for students to work
cooperatively in groups and makes it difficult for
any student not to be involved
• Teach appropriate skills when required
5 Fundamental Elements of
Cooperative Learning
• Positive Interdependence
• Individual accountability
• Group and individual reflection
• Small group skills
• Face to face interaction
Spencer Kagan adds -
Simultaneous Interaction
• Active learning is maintained as often as
possible
• Small, active teams work best
Final Message
GEPRISP
Te Kotahitanga has seven elements which work
interdependently – STRATEGIES is only one
Component.
Cooperative Learning provides a collection of
strategies that will help move classroom
interactions from traditional to discursive.