Sunday, June 27, 2010

5 Elements of Cooperative Learning

Positive Interdependence
(sink or swim together)
  • Each group member's efforts are required and indispensable for group success
  • Each group member has a unique contribution to make to the joint effort because of his or her resources and/or role and task responsibilities
Face-to-Face Interaction
(promote each other's success)
  • Orally explaining how to solve problems
  • Teaching one's knowledge to other
  • Checking for understanding
  • Discussing concepts being learned
  • Connecting present with past learning 
Individual & Group Accountability
( no hitchhiking! no social loafing)

  • Keeping the size of the group small. The smaller the size of the group, the greater the individual accountability may be.
  • Giving an individual test to each student.
  • Randomly examining students orally by calling on one student to present his or her group's work to the teacher (in the presence of the group) or to the entire class.
  • Observing each group and recording the frequency with which each member-contributes to the group's work.
  • Assigning one student in each group the role of checker. The checker asks other group members to explain the reasoning and rationale underlying group answers.
  • Having students teach what they learned to someone else.
Interpersonal & Small-Group Skills
Social skills must be taught:
  • Leadership
  • Decision-making
  • Trust-building
  • Communication
  • Conflict-management skills  
Group Processing

  • Group members discuss how well they are achieving their goals and maintaining effective working relationships
  • Describe what member actions are helpful and not helpful
  • Make decisions about what behaviors to continue or change

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