DESCRIPTION AND PROPONENT (Robert Slavin)
Cooperative/collaborative/team learning is an active learning technique in which students work and learn together in pairs or small groups to accomplish shared goals. The sites in this section offer information about getting started with instructional groups, designing group assignments, and using groups successfully. The final site focuses on team-based learning.
Collaborative learning is a method of teaching and learning in which students team together to explore a significant question or create a meaningful project. A group of students discussing a lecture or students from different schools working together over the Internet on a shared assignment are both examples of collaborative learning.
Cooperative learning, which will be the primary focus of this workshop, is a specific kind of collaborative learning. In cooperative learning, students work together in small groups on a structured activity. They are individually accountable for their work, and the work of the group as a whole is also assessed. Cooperative groups work face-to-face and learn to work as a team.
In small groups, students can share strengths and also develop their weaker skills. They develop their interpersonal skills. They learn to deal with conflict. When cooperative groups are guided by clear objectives, students engage in numerous activities that improve their understanding of subjects explored.
In order to create an environment in which cooperative learning can take place, three things are necessary. First, students need to feel safe, but also challenged. Second, groups need to be small enough that everyone can contribute. Third, the task students work together on must be clearly defined. The cooperative and collaborative learning techniques presented here should help make this possible for teachers.
Also, in cooperative learning small groups provide a place where:
 learners actively participate;
 teachers become learners at times, and learners sometimes teach;
 respect is given to every member;
 projects and questions interest and challenge students;
 diversity is celebrated, and all contributions are valued;
 students learn skills for resolving conflicts when they arise;
 members draw upon their past experience and knowledge;
 goals are clearly identified and used as a guide;
 research tools such as Internet access are made available;
 students are invested in their own learning.

There are three commonly recognized types of cooperative learning groups. Each type of group has its own purpose and application.
Informal Cooperative Learning Groups
These ad-hoc groups may be organized "on-the-fly" as an aid in direct teaching. Informal groups are particularly useful in breaking up a lecture into shorter segments interspersed with group activity. While this method leads to less time for lecture, it will increase the amount of material retained by students as well as their comfort working with each other. (Johnson, et al., 2006, p.3:10)
Formal Cooperative Learning Groups
This type of group forms the basis for most routine uses of cooperative learning. Groups are assembled for at least one class period and may stay together for several weeks working on

extended projects. These groups are where students learn and become comfortable applying the different techniques of working together cooperatively. (Johnson, et al., 2006, p.2:2)
Cooperative Base Groups
Cooperative base groups are long-term, stable groups that last for at least a year made up of individuals with different aptitudes and perspectives. They provide a context in which students can support each other in academics as well as in other aspects of their lives. The group members make sure everyone is completing their work and hold each other accountable for their contributions. Implementing cooperative base groups in such a way that students meet regularly for the duration of a course completing cooperative learning tasks can provide the permanent support and caring that students need "to make academic progress and develop cognitively and socially in healthy ways." (Johnson et al., 1998 , p.10:7)
*JIGSAW Model
 a form of cooperative learning in which individual students become experts on subjections of a topic teach the subsection to others
Plans for Jigsaw II
1.
Specifying objectives
2.
Design learning materials
3.
Form student teams
4.
Design evaluation instruments
Implementing lessons using Jigsaw II Model
Phase I: Information Gathering
Phase II: Expert meetings
Phase III: Team Reports
Phase IV: Test
Phase V: Recognition
Steps:
1.
Formation of home base
2.
Distribution of tasks/ roles
3.
Go to the expert group
4.
Showing of ideas in the expert group
5.
Go back to the home base for showing
6.
Evaluation

ADVANTAGES
Celebration of diversity. Students learn to work with all types of people. During small-group interactions, they find many opportunities to reflect upon and reply to the diverse responses fellow learners bring to the questions raised. Small groups also allow students to add their perspectives to an issue based on their cultural differences. This exchange inevitably helps students to better understand other cultures and points of view.
Acknowledgment of individual differences. When questions are raised, different students will have a variety of responses. Each of these can help the group create a product that reflects a wide range of perspectives and is thus more complete and comprehensive.
Interpersonal development. Students learn to relate to their peers and other learners as they work together in group enterprises. This can be especially helpful for students who have difficulty with social skills. They can benefit from structured interactions with others.
Actively involving students in learning. Each member has opportunities to contribute in small groups. Students are apt to take more ownership of their material and to think critically about related issues when they work as a team.
More opportunities for personal feedback. Because there are more exchanges among students in small groups, your students receive more personal feedback about their ideas and responses. This feedback is often not possible in large-group instruction, in which one or two students exchange ideas and the rest of the class listens.
DISADVANTAGES
Critics of small-group learning often point to problems related to vague objectives and poor expectations for accountability. Small-group work, some claim, is an avoidance of teaching.
According to these critics, dividing the class into small groups allows the teacher to escape responsibility.
Vicki Randall (1999), who has taught elementary, high-school, and college-level students, cautions against abuse and overuse of group work. According to Randall, the many benefits of cooperative learning sometimes blind us to its drawbacks. She identifies the following practices as common weaknesses:


Making members of the group responsible for each other's learning. This can place too great a burden on some students. In mixed-ability groups, the result is often that stronger students are left to teach weaker students and do most of the work.
Encouraging only lower-level thinking and ignoring the strategies necessary for the inclusion of critical or higher-level thought. In small groups, there is sometimes only enough time to focus on the task at its most basic level.

Some critics cite the mix of students as a source of potential difficulties, although they disagree on which types of groups are problematic. Other dissenters highlight the overuse of cooperative groups to the detriment of students who benefit more from learning alone. Yet others recommend that we negotiate more with students to determine how they learn best and apply these ideas to the way we structure classes.
SOME ACTIVITIES FOR THIS APPROACH
Jigsaw
Although I HAVE used jigsawing, think pair sharing, and group brainstorming, I have
NOT used the rest of them that are listed here. However, they DO sound intriguing.
Groups with five students are set up.
Each group member is assigned some unique material to learn and then to teach to his group members.
To help in the learning, students across the class working on the same sub-section get together to decide what is important and how to teach it.
After practice in these "expert" groups the original groups reform and students teach each other.
Think-Pair-Share
This involves a three step cooperative structure.
During the first step, individuals think silently about a question posed by the instructor.
Individuals pair up during the second step and exchange thoughts.
In the third step, the pairs share their responses with other pairs, other teams, or the entire group.
Three-Step Interview
Each member of a team chooses another member to be a partner.
During the first step, individuals interview their partners by asking clarifying questions.
During the second step, partners reverse the roles.
For the final step, members share their partner's response with the team.
Round Robin Brainstorming

Divide your class into small groups (4 to 6), with one person appointed as the recorder.
Pose a question with many possible answers and give students time to think about their answers. After the "think time," members of the team share responses with one another round robin style.
The recorder writes down the answers of the group members. The person next to the recorder starts, and each person in the group in order gives an answer until time is called.
Three-Minute Review
Stop any given time during your lecture or class discussion and give teams three minutes to review what has been said.
Then, ask clarifying questions or answer questions.
Numbered Heads Together
Establish a team of four, and give each member a number of 1, 2, 3, 4.
Ask questions to the members of each group. Then, the groups work together to answer the question so that all can verbally answer the question. Finally, you call out a number (two) and ask each "two" to give the answer.
Team Pair Solo
Assign your students do problems first as a team, then with a partner, and finally on their own.
This cooperative learning approach is designed to motivate students to tackle and succeed at problems which initially are beyond their ability.
It's based on a simple notion of helping one another. Students can do more things with help than they can do alone.
By allowing them to work on problems they could NOT do alone, first as a team and then with a partner, they progress to a point they can do alone that which at first they could do only with help.
Circle the Sage
First, poll the class to see which students have a special knowledge to share.

For example, you might ask who in your class was able to solve a difficult math homework question, who had visited Mexico, or who knows the chemical reactions involved in how salting the streets help dissipate snow.
Those students (the sages) stand and spread out in the room. Then you direct the rest of the classmates to each surround a sage, with no two members of the same team going to the same sage.
The sage explains what they know while the classmates listen, ask questions, and take notes.
All students then return to their teams, and each in turn, explains what they learned.
Because each student has gone to a different sage, they are able to compare notes.
If there is disagreement, students stand up as a team.
Finally, the disagreements are aired and resolved.
SOURCE: http://www.dailyteachingtools.com/cooperative-learning.html#6
APPROPRIATENESS OF THE APPROACH
This approach can be used in different levels from primary to tertiary but has to be adjusted to suit the learning capabilities of the children like adjusting the level of the content to be learned and its amount. However, this is best suited to be used with the more mature and with the higher level students (secondary and tertiary) since this involves a lot of critical thinking and cooperation.