Intrinsic Benefits of Cooperative Learning Essay

This strategy is gained when students learn to reflect and think about their learning. Cooperative learning is a natural way to use the reciprocal teaching strategies, as those strategies are based on having conversations and social interactions. These strategies are beneficial whether working with a whole-class grouping or literature circles.

Moreover, despite all those well documented benefits of cooperative learning, many teachers still do not prefer to use this pedagogical practice in class, stated by Baines, Blatchford, and Kutnik (2003). The fact is that the cooperative learning requires teachers to have high awareness of students’ learning, good control of students challenging behaviors.

To lessen these disadvantages, Jacob (1998) points out that we can: train students explicitly in collaborative skills, ensure individual accountability, have the teacher monitor the groups and inculcate a theme of cooperation.

adopt classroom cooperative learning strategies (Jenkins, Antil, Wayne & Vadasy, 2003, p. 280; Foreman & Arthur Kelly,)

Allowing student collaboration in the classroom introduces the students to a variety of skills that they will use when they become adults. It teaches the students the fundamental skills associated with working as a collective unit toward a common goal. It also teaches the students time management, resource allocation and communication skills (McQuerrey, 2018). While

Educators and researchers have never stopped the examination of the importance and relevance of collaborative learning that are encouraged by middle schools. When compared with studying alone, I personally believe that it is far more beneficial to students when working in groups for the following reasons.

If a student is in a bad mood or is not feeling well they are likely to not meet the cooperative learning standards. A point system will be created and used to quantify the elements. This is intended to account for students’ development regarding working in groups. Accordingly, there are several characteristics that students will be expected to display.

One aspect of classroom that is important for student’s motivation is collaboration with other learners. Smith noted that children naturally involve others as collaborators in their learning and that ’’collaboration is at the heart of

Cooperative learning will be a method I use in my classroom. I believe that in a cooperative learning group a student can learn socialization skills and how to work with others. This goes along with the pragmatic/progressive philosophy that children learn by doing. The progressivism teaching style also includes the incorporation of problem-solving and critical thinking techniques. I want my students to learn to think for themselves and be able to function in society. At the same time, I will be a fellow learner myself and

Cooperative learning has been debated by educators for a long time and continues to be questioned today. Many educators feel that cooperative learning strips students of the benefits of direct instruction. Proponents of homogeneous learning tend to stray from cooperative learning because it seems to deprive gifted students of learning with their gifted peers. Five studies will be summarized that look at different aspects of cooperative learning: effects with the learning disabled, the advantage of helping behaviors, math achievement, strategic reading in groups, social support, and heterogeneous vs. homogeneous grouping.

Individual student performance was superior when cooperative methods were used as compared with competitive or individualistic methods. Other studies show that cooperative learning is superior for promoting metacognitive thought, persistence in working toward a goal, transfer of learning from one setting to another, time on task, and intrinsic motivation. (Johnson, D. W.; Johnson, R. T.; Stanne, M. E. Cooperative Learning Methods: A meta-analysis. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

In this course, there were many different student centered strategies that were discussed. One strategy that was exposed was Cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Cooperation is working together to accomplish shared goals but for me, it is much more than merely arranging students into groups. It is about the development of critical thinking skills, teamwork, positive relations, peer coaching and the establishment of environments where academic accomplishments are valued. With cooperative learning, each member of a team is responsible not only for learning

Collaborative learning stems from the theory of Vygotsky’s conception of Zone of proximal development. The thought is that children learn best with “help and guidance” (Ormrod, 2012). In transitioning this zone to a collaborative learning experience, children work with their peers in broadening their learning experience, allowing small groups of students to work together to share knowledge, exchange ideas, problem solve, and more. These classroom environments help to create durable abilities in students and aid in producing a “smoother integration into adult society when the activities resemble real-world tasks” (Ormrod, 2012). As students work with peers and adults, they adopt some of the learning strategies demonstrated and develop more skills in problem solving. This scaffolding creates a trickle-down effect of knowledge construction. In collaborative learning, students are afforded a myriad of enriching opportunities to explore perspectives that may differ from their own. These activities serve to create a self-awareness in the student of their responsibilities to a group, requiring them to self-monitor their activity (Lee, Tsai, Chai, & Koh, 2014).

Although socialization occurs in everyday life, students must learn group participation skills. Therefore, teachers need to provide their students with opportunities to develop proficient communication skills through student-centered instruction; a variety of strategies that improve collaboration, develop partnerships, and require teamwork. An effective student-centered strategy that is culturally sensitive and promotes the success of all students is the cooperative learning group. The teacher places the students in groups with heterogeneous identities in consideration of their learning styles, gender, language proficiency, or other defining characteristics. Group members receive a specific role in

Students learn how they interact in a group setting and what role they are comfortable filling.