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Chapter 12 Summary

Cooperative learning promotes higher-level thinking skills through social interactions. It helps students develop cooperative attitudes, prosocial behavior, consideration of multiple viewpoints, and a consistent identity. When implementing cooperative learning, teachers should consider: (1) the interaction between teachers and students and among students, (2) assigning specialized tasks and roles to students, and (3) establishing a structured task with a clear goal, appropriate group composition and time, and reinforcement. Teachers should teach collaborative skills, monitor groups, and debrief students on their cooperative work.

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114 views3 pages

Chapter 12 Summary

Cooperative learning promotes higher-level thinking skills through social interactions. It helps students develop cooperative attitudes, prosocial behavior, consideration of multiple viewpoints, and a consistent identity. When implementing cooperative learning, teachers should consider: (1) the interaction between teachers and students and among students, (2) assigning specialized tasks and roles to students, and (3) establishing a structured task with a clear goal, appropriate group composition and time, and reinforcement. Teachers should teach collaborative skills, monitor groups, and debrief students on their cooperative work.

Uploaded by

mualtuk
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Chapter 12 Cooperative Learning and the Collaborative Process

Outcomes of Cooperation

Cooperative learning and self-directed learning both engage students in the learning process
and promote higher, more complex, patterns of behavior. Cooperative learning can instill in
learners important behaviors that prepare them to both reason and perform in the adult
world. Some of these important behaviors include the following:

Attitudes and values are among the most important outcomes of learning.
Cooperative learning helps learners acquire cooperative attitudes and values needed
within and beyond the classroom.

Prosocial behavior is an acceptable form of social behavior. Cooperative learning


provides the teacher with the opportunity to promote and model positive social
interactions and relationships in the classroom.

Alternative perspectives and viewpoints are present in every group. Cooperative


learning provides opportunities for students to articulate them.

Integrated identity occurs when contradictions within the self are reduced and views
become singular and consistent. This can occur through repeated social interactions,
which are part of cooperative learning.

Higher thought processes result in cooperative learning because it actively


engages students in learning and improves critical thinking, reasoning, and problem-
solving skills through realistic and adult-like tasks, motivating them to think and
perform in more complex ways. Critical thinking cannot occur outside a context of
attitudes and values, prosocial behavior, alternative perspectives, and integrated
identity.

Components of a Cooperative Learning Activity

The remainder of this chapter focuses on how to organize the classroom for cooperative
learning. First, the teacher must make decisions related to the following:

Teacher–student interaction—In teacher–student interaction, the primary goal is to


promote independent thinking. The interaction is in groups, so instead of targeting
the zone of one student, teachers must target the zone of maximum response
opportunity common to most group members. The goal is to have the group become
more self-reflective and aware of their performance on the task at hand. Teachers
can intervene at critical junctures and then step back to allow students to think
critically about the new information.

Student–student interaction—Students gradually take the responsibility for one


another’s learning. Feedback, reinforcement, and support come from the student
peers in the group. The primary goal of student–student interaction during
cooperative learning is to promote active participation and interdependence of all the
members of the class.

Task specialization and materials—A component of cooperative learning is the


task to be learned and the materials that comprise the task. Tasks are preplanned,
timed, completed in stages, and placed within the context of the work of others to
promote the sharing of ideas, materials, and labor. The labor is divided or
specialized, and each group works on a part of the task in a timely and organized
manner. The primary goal of task specialization is to divide and to focus the efforts
of small groups of individuals across a larger task whose end product depends on the
sharing, cooperation, and collaboration of individuals within groups.

Role expectations and responsibilities—Not only are groups assigned specialized


tasks but individuals are assigned specialized roles in cooperative learning. These
roles can include researcher, runner, recorder, and summarizer. The teacher must
communicate the expectations of each role to the entire class, modeling when
necessary. The primary goal of assigning roles and responsibilities is to promote
communication and sharing among group members.

Establishing a Cooperative Task Structure in Your Classroom


The preceding components of cooperative learning are put to work when
establishing a task structure for cooperative learning. The task structure involves
the following five specific steps:

1. Specifying the goal—This can take many forms, including written group reports,
oral performances, higher individual achievement, an enumeration or listing, a
critique, or research. To ensure the desired outcome, the teacher must complete
the following:
o Identify the outcome. The teacher must clearly articulate the acceptable
form, style, format, and length of the end product or performance in advance.
The context of past and future learning enables students to attach meaning
and significance to the product or performance.
o Check for understanding. The teacher must check for understanding of the
goal and directions given to ensure that work proceeds toward the correct
goal.
o Set a cooperative tone. The teacher must set a cooperative, as opposed to a
competitive, tone. The results of the activity rest on the cooperation of the
group, not individual achievements; that individuals are there to help the
group.
2. Structuring the task—Structuring a cooperative learning task separates it from a
group activity. Structuring the task involves the following decisions:
o Group size—Groups are generally four to six members to reach the desired
goal in the least amount of time.
o Group composition—Groups should be formed heterogeneously, or with a
representative sample of all the learners in the class, unless the activity calls
for specialized abilities. Groups can be selected using the following methods:
1. Choose a few higher reforming students to provide encouragement and
support for others.
2. Randomly assign students to a group by having students count off.
3. Match diverse students, such as minority/majority, boy/girl, with/without
disabilities.
4. Allow students to share in the process of choosing group members.
It is critical to involve all group members in the task through its structure.
Active uninvolvement occurs when a group member talks about everything
but the assigned goal. Passive uninvolvement occurs when a student does
not care about the work of the group and becomes silent. Recommendations
are given to ensure active involvement of all group members.
o Time on task—Groups should meet to work on their individual tasks together,
with the teacher monitoring the groups to ensure discussion and work is on
task. The teacher should designate about 60 to 80% of the time to the
cooperative activity, with the remainder of the time devoted to whole-class
discussion and debriefing.
o Role assignment—Teachers should encourage the acceptance of individual
responsibility and idea sharing through role assignments. These roles should
be used to complete work and interconnect groups. Cooperative learning
role functions that teachers can assign are listed and described in this
section. In addition, all group members have responsibilities to perform. A
comprehensive list of possible assignments are listed.
o Providing reinforcement and rewards—A system of reinforcement and
rewards to keep learners on task and working toward the goal must be
established. Examples are given and include suggestions for the use of
grades as rewards. Individual grades in the context of cooperative learning
should stress the importance of individual effort in achieving the group goal.

3. Teaching and evaluating the collaborative process—Teachers have the


responsibility of teaching the collaborative process through the identification of
collaborative skills and behaviors through proper sequencing and modeling.
Important cooperative skills and suggestions for teaching them are given in this
section.

4. Monitoring group performance—During the cooperative activity, the teacher’s


role is to shift the responsibility to the students for the work. The teacher monitors
each group to ensure that it stays on track and assists and redirects the group(s),
as needed. The teacher must also make sure to provide emotional support and
encouragement to the group members.

5. Debriefing—Teacher feedback to groups on how well they are collaborating can


be accomplished through debriefing and evaluation at the end of the cooperative
activity in the following ways:
o Openly talk about how each group functioned in the cooperative activity.
o Solicit suggestions for how the process could be improved.
o Obtain the viewpoints of the predetermined observers.
o Establish a method for group members to rate each other’s collaborative
skills.

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