Definitions and Nature of Cooperative Learning

1.  Definitions and Nature of Cooperative Learning
Three definitions of cooperative learning as given by the leading scholars in the area are given below, followed by the discussion of the specific nature of the approach:

1.1. Slavin’s Definition

“All cooperative learning methods share the idea that students work together to learn and are responsible for their teammates’ learning as well as their own. In addition to the idea of cooperative work, Student Team Learning methods [overall name used for those methods developed by Slavin and his colleagues] emphasize the use of team goals and team success, which can be achieved only if all members of the team learn the objectives being taught. That is, in Student Team Learning the students’ tasks are not to do something as a team, but to learn something as a team”  (Slavin as cited in Jacobs, et al, 1997:16).

Three concepts that are central to all Student Team Learning methods offered by Slavin are: team rewards, individual accountability, and equal opportunities for success. 

Several points in Slavin’s definition should be noted:
1.  There is an emphasis on rewards. This is not part of all cooperative learning methods. These rewards are a key means of encouraging mutual (positive) interdependence.
2.  The rewards which Slavin talks about are not grades. Grades are earned individually. Thus, while the whole team receives the same reward, e.g., a certificate for achievement, each member will often receive a different grade, e.g., one member of the team might receive a grade of A, while another might receive a grade of C.
3.  Collaborative skills are not explicitly taught.
4.  Groups are based on students’ past achievement record.
5.  Individual accountability is fostered by means such as individual quizzes.

1.2. Davidson’s Definition
Davidson’s definition of cooperative learning is reworded by Jacobs, et al (1997) for clarity and generalizabilit y. Davidson’s definition shows the diversity which exists among views of cooperative learning.
1.  A task for group completion, discussion, and (if possible) resolution;
2.  Face-to-face interaction in small groups;
3.  An atmosphere of cooperation and mutual helpfulness within each group; and,
4.  Individual accountability (everyone does their share). While most experts on cooperative learning would agree on these first four points, others would include some or all of the following points:
5. Heterogeneous grouping;
6.  Explicit teaching of collaborative skills;
7. Structured mutual interdependence.

1.3.  Kagan And Kagan’s Definition
Spencer and Miguel Kagan and their colleagues offer the “Structural Approach” to cooperative learning. Structures are devices for organizing classroom interaction. Three-Step Interview and Write-Pair-Share are examples of structures. Structures are content free; activities are created by fitting content into one or more structures.

Kagan and Kagan as cited in Jacobs, et al (1997) describe four principles which are key to the structural approach.
1. Simultaneous interaction; 
2. Equal participation;
3. Positive interdependence;
4. Individual accountability.

Structures are meant to promote equal participation. For example, in Three-Step Interview each person has a designated time to participate as interviewer, interviewee, and reporter.

In conclusion,  cooperative learning is a teaching strategy in which students are divided into different teams, each consists of students of  different levels of ability, using a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject.  Each member of a team is responsible for learning as well as for helping teammates learn.  Students work through the assignment until all team members understand and complete it. As cited from http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/intech/cooperativelearning.htm, research has shown some strengths of cooperative learning techniques as follows:    
•   promote student learning and academic achievement 
•   increase student retention 
•   enhance student satisfaction with their learning experience 
•   help students develop skills in oral communication 
•   develop students' social skills 
•   promote student self-esteem 
•   help to promote positive race relations 

2.  Components of Cooperative Learning
There are 4 components of cooperative learning that will be discussed briefly below (quoted directly from Jacobs et, al, 1997: p.8-12).
2.1. Positive Interdependence
Positive interdependence is the feeling among a group of students that what helps any member of the group helps everyone in the group, and what hurts any member of the group hurts everyone in the group. To put it another way, positive interdependence means that group members feel that they “sink or swim together.”

To achieve positive interdependence among students, just putting them in groups and telling them to work together may not be sufficient. Ways of promoting positive interdependence in groups include: goals, rewards, roles, resources, and identity. Each of these is briefly discussed below. Positive goal interdependence exists when the group shares a common goal or goals. For ex ample, the goal may be to write a joint composition, for everyone to know how to explain the answer to a set of mathematics problems, or to learn to encourage others when working in a group.

Positive reward interdependence exists when each group member’s reward is affected by the reward that the other members of their group receive. For example, each student can get bonus points if everyone in their group scores above 80% on a test. Or, everyone in a group can get extra recess time or stars if their group’s project is done satisfactorily. The reward used depends on what is motivating for a particular class and the teacher’s philosophy on rewards.

Positive role interdependence means that members are assigned complementary and interconnected roles that specify responsibilities which the group needs to meet in order to complete a task. These roles should rotate, either during an activity or for different activities. For example, in a group of three which is reading a unit in their textbook, one person can be the summarizer of each small section of the unit, another can be the checker who checks on the accuracy of the summary, and a third can be the elaborator who gives examples or connects the material to what group members already know.

Positive resource interdependence means that each member has only a portion of the information, materials, or tools needed to complete a task. The exercise you are doing now is an ex ample of resource interdependence, because in each home team no one has all the information; you each have different pieces. Thus, you need to share resources to succeed. Another ex ample would be a science experiment in which different group members have different pieces of equipment.

Positive identity interdependence means that the group shares a common identity. This can be encouraged by having students choose a group name, flag, motto, handshake, etc. Countries, clubs, sports teams, and schools use these and other ways to attempt to create a shared identity among their citizens, members, and students and staff.

2.2.   Collaborative Skills
The first time most teachers ask their students to study in groups, it quickly becomes clear that students lack the necessary skills to work effectively with others. Thus, teachers may want to teach these collaborative skills along with academic content. Good  collaborative skills are important so that students learn more when they study in groups. These skills are also crucial for success outside of school, with their friends and families, as well as later, in their careers.

Teachers should choose a skill to emphasize in each cooperative lesson. It will probably be necessary to emphasize the same skill for several lessons or more. This should be a skill which is likely to be needed in upcoming lessons.

There are six steps in teaching collaborative skills. First, students should see the need for the skill. This can be done by asking students how the skill has come up in their own experiences, by explaining why the skill is important in and out of school (now and in the future), and via room displays.

Second, students need a clear understanding of what the skill is. One way to achieve this understanding is for the class to develop lists of what a skill looks like and sounds like. For example, being a good listener can look like looking at people when they are talking to us. It can sound like using expressions such as “uh-huh” and “right” while the people are speaking to us in order to show we are following what they are saying.

Third, students may need to practice t he collaborative skill in isolation from regular class content. This can be done via activities such as demonstrations by the teacher, role plays, and games. Here, both positive and negative examples can be used.

Fourth, the skill should be integrated into course content activities. For example, if groups are working together on projects, they can be asked to use the skill of encouraging others to participate. Another way to do this is for group members to be given rotating roles based on collaborative skills. For example, one student can be the praiser, another the para phraser, a third can be the facilitator (in charge of keeping the group on task), and a fourth can be the questioner (asking people for reasons). The teacher can circulate among groups and observe use of the designated skill(s), and students can also observe their own use and their group members’ use of.

Fifth, processing group interaction is important. One of the other members of your home team will explain this to you. Sixth, once the skill is taught, the teacher needs to encourage students  to persevere in using it. At first, using the skill may seem awkward and artificial. It takes time to become proficient at a skill. Ways to persevere include telling parents which skill the class is practicing and asking them to help, having the whole school work on the same skill, putting up signs, and recycling a skill that was taught earlier in the year.

2.3. Processing Group Interaction
As part of each unit in which cooperative learning is used, time should be set aside at least once for students to discuss how well their group is working together. This processing of group interaction helps groups learn how to collaborate more effectively. It can take place during or at the end of an activity.

Processing group interaction has two aspects. One, the good things about group functioning should be brought out. For example, particular members can be praised for the specific time they helped to explain a difficult point to their groupmates. Two, the group should discuss what in their interaction needs to be improved. For instance, they may feel that their group did not stay on task. Here again, being specific helps. Sometimes, teachers will request that specific collaborative skills be discussed during the processing of group interaction. For instance, the teacher may ask students to concentrate on how well their group did on making sure everyone understood a point before going on. Processing is helped if the teacher and students do observations while the groups are working together.

It is easy to succumb to time pressure and skip the processing portion of a cooperative learning lesson. However, processing group interaction is a key element of cooperative learning because it gives students useful feedback on their group skills, and it te lls students that the teacher places importance on how well they work together.

Heterogeneous Grouping
Many experts on cooperative learning recommend that students usually be placed by the teacher in groups which are heterogeneous on such dimensions as past achievement, diligence, ethnicity, and sex. Mixing students by achievement is encouraged in order to pro mote peer tutoring (which can benefit both tutor and tu tee), to provide low achievers with models of good study habits, and to improve relations between students.

Improved relations is also a reason given for mixing students of different ethnicities in the same group. Working together toward a common goal can help dissolve barriers and build friendships. Additionally, students from different ethnic groups often bring unique perspective to group discussions. This combining of perspectives is also a rationale for mixing female and male students. The resulting diversity of perspectives can enrich students’ thinking.

Usually, heterogeneous groups are best achieved by having the teacher choose who will be in which group.  When students select their groupmates, they often choose people most like themselves. This can lead to cliques and other factors which work against cohesive classroom relations.

2.4. Individual Accountability
One of the most commonly heard objections to having students work in groups is that some group members will end up doing all the work and all the learning. This can occur because some students try to avoid working or because others want to do everything. Thus, encouraging everyone in the group to participate is a real concern. To do this we need everyone to feel that they are individually accountable for the success of their group. There are many ways to structure group activities so as to promote this feeling of individual accountability. Some of these are:
1. Each student individually takes a quiz, completes a task, or writes an essay on the material studied.
2. Group members are called on at random to answer a question and/or to explain an answer.
3. Each group member has a designated role which they are to perform. These roles can rotate. For example, a reading passage can be divided into sections. Members of a pair each read the first section silently. Then, one person is to summarize the section and the other is to make connections between the section and other materials the class has studied or with aspects of their lives. These roles rotate for the next section of the reading passage.
4. Each member is principally responsible for one part of their group’s project.

For example, if a group is doing a report on Korea, one member could write the section on history, another the geography section, an other the art section, and the fourth member could write the section on the economy.

The person in your home team who has information about positive interdependence will have more ideas about how to promote individual accountabilit