What Is Cooperative Learning?
Often, you'll want your students to complete class work individually, because the annual standardized tests that every state administers require individual — not group — performance. However, you'll also want your students to work in groups from time to time, because students need to cultivate teamwork skills if they expect to eventually function cooperatively in the adult world as businesspersons, teachers, scientists, lawyers, engineers, etc.
Cooperative learning can be quite simple, with pairs or small groups encouraging each other's educational growth by asking intelligent questions about the assignment at hand in order to elicit intelligent answers. In this way, students can be nudged in a nonthreatening manner to think efficiently, creatively, and supportively — just like real team players in the adult world.
On the other hand, cooperative learning can be somewhat more complex, with certain team members being assigned specific duties such as completing certain portions of a research report by a due date. Some team members can even be responsible for organizational duties such as coordinating meetings and reminding other team members of deadlines.
Regardless of the degree of difficulty, a cooperative-learning assignment should be taught by you and completed by students in accordance with the following general guidelines:
Help students understand that they need each other and should complete their assignment in an atmosphere of reassurance, support, and collegiality.
Students should understand that team members rely on each other and therefore, each member absolutely must complete his share of the work, on time and in full.
Students need to be present when the team reasonably requests it, whether to furnish new input or to assist in completing requisite tasks.
Each team member should utilize his strengths and give freely of his unique, personal skills — whether academic, artistic, or managerial — for the good of the team.
The team should engage in ongoing assessments of the consistency and quality of the work being produced, constantly keeping an eye on the end result.
Cooperative learning is a wonderful tool for teaching kids how to get along with each other and how to work interdependently with each other to produce high-quality work. Such skills will prove invaluable later in any professional work setting.
