CHAPTER 29 COOPERATIVE LEARNING

CHAPTER 29   COOPERATIVE LEARNING

C H A P T E R    O U T L I N E

·         Introduction
·         Definition of Cooperative Learning
·         Basic Assumptions of Features
·         How to Proceed with Cooperative Learning
·         Merits and Advantages
·         Obstacles in Introducing Cooperative Learning
·         Summary
·         References and Suggested Reading

Introduction

            Our ongoing classroom instruction is totally teacher dominated and content centered. Here, the teachers are involved as the repositories of subject knowledge and their role is simply to pour into the open, empty and willing minds of students their vast reservoir of knowledge. They do not trust their students to learn on their own. They believe that they must tell them what to learn and provide all structure for the learning to take place. This learning structure is extremely individualistic. It promotes individual and competitive learning in place of group and cooperative learning. Here, the students are invited to learn more and more in order to them to gain good, high grades, division, certificate and appreciations by excelling their own peers. Cooperating learning says no to such patterns. It advocates cooperative and group learning in place of the competitive and individualistic approach prevalent in our educational system by redefining the roles of the instructors and the learners in a particular learning setup.   

Definition of Cooperative Learning

        Cooperative Learning is the Process or strategies in which the pupils/students had chances to learn on them in a group environment by making a team. Each team should consist of a small number of participants of different level so they can understand well the lesson of the subjects. Understanding and application is the best tool that they can be used in doing their task. Sharing all information also needed for the required knowledge.

Basic Assumptions of Features

• ·         The ideology rest in making the teaching-learning process as learner centered rather than being content or teacher centered.
• ·         Advocate for better teaching-learning outcomes by telling your students to form their ways of understanding the materials.
• ·         In re-evaluating the role of a teacher from a reporter, or the person who have or show the subject knowledge to capable facilitator in helping his/her students in their cooperating-learning task.
• ·         They advocate proper teaching-learning environment instead of mere lecturing and demonstration on the part of the teachers.
• ·         It emphasizes social learning by accepting the learning takes place best in a social situation.
• ·         It presumes that children learn better in a non-cooperative anxiety free cooperative environment as available in the traditional classroom situation.
• ·         It believes in a group efforts and cooperation among the learners in place of individual efforts and competitive.
• ·         It is of the opinion that children learn better in a cooperative way from each other on account of the proximity, equality, interdependence and rapport existing among them instead of the learning thrust upon them by some outside agency including teacher.
• ·         It believes that the students achievement and performances may be better measured in term of group achievements the less threatening group rather than the competitive ore threatening individual situation.
• ·         It thinks that the students learn best when they are totally involved in the learning process by cooperating each other for attaining the maximum benefits.
• ·         It recommends that the two necessary elements group and individual accountability should be used together for the evaluation of group achievements in cooperative learning.
• ·          It believes in providing the students the opportunities to learn and work cooperatively in a group in order to develop them into a cooperative and responsible social being on the very assumption that students who cooperate with each other in learning learn to like each other in real life.

   How to Proceed with Cooperative Learning 

   To substitute the traditional classroom learning and setting into a cooperative learning set-up is not an easy task. I may have to face much opposition and resistance from the fellow teachers, students, authorities and parent in doing so. Moreover, the present circumstances and educational organizations are not at all favorable for the introduction of such innovative but useful practice in our schools and colleges. Nevertheless, much depends upon the teacher who is himself convinced about the fruitful outcomes of the cooperative learning. For this determination, he must learn the art of skills of employing it is a strategy of teaching-learning. And so he must get his students, authorities and parents of the students convinced about the utility of employing this noble practice. With such background and initiation, he should settle down for devising and using variety of ways and means for the adoption of cooperative learning as a teaching strategy. In behaving so, he may try for a number of typical cooperative learning set-ups as method here.

• ·         A unit of the course in a subject may be broken down into certain meaningful subunits. These subunits may, then be assigned t the different teams of a class or grade for cooperative learning. The team member may collect all the information and go through learning experiences, activities.
• ·         Students of a class in any subjects/grade may be asked to work on a group project, for which they may have a hand in selecting. It may extensive opportunities to them for cooperative learning and working in the group.
• ·         Students with varying academics may be assigned to 4-5 members teams for studying what had been initially taught by the teacher and to help each other reach his/her highest level of achievements.
• ·         A particular topic or unit of the subject is assigned for 5-6 groups or team in class. Each group or team may have a small number of students of varying abilities.

Merits and Advantages

       Cooperative learning may prove quite fruitful and advantageous on account of various benefits derived through its use. 

Academic Benefits

1.    Involve students actively in the teaching-learning process.

2.    Make the students responsible for their learning.

3.    Make teacher-learning process as learner centered rather than content and teacher centered.

4.    Help the students in developing higher-order thinking, critical thinking and oral communication skills.

5.    Helps the students in learning so many tasks requiring manipulation, demonstrative and practical skill simply on the basis of learning through imitation and observation of the behavior of their students.

6.    Helps the weaker students in improving their performance when grouped with higher achieving students.

7.    Gives opportunity for deeper understanding and insight into the subject matter as a result of discussing and teaching the material by them to their peers.

8.    Provides interactive model for the classroom teaching in place of one-sided teacher dominated lecture or demonstration method.

9.     Improves classroom result by making the students more involved, motivated and determined to learn and achieve the learning targets by providing an anxiety-free non-competitive simulating environment.

10. Helps in improving the learning environments of a classroom by re-scheduling the roles of the teachers and the learners. Teacher may act as facilitator in task of learning totally planned and implement by themselves.

11. Makes the teacher more free and capable of guiding and supervising the learning activities of his students as group are easier to supervise than the individual students.

Psychological Benefits

1.    Students learn better in a cooperative environment that keeps them away from the unnecessary anxiety of being excelled by others.

2.    Encourage students to seek help and accept tutoring from the peers. It provides a sense of security that is almost endangered in a competitive traditional classroom environment.

3.    Helps in building the students self-confidence and self-esteem in a better way than the traditional classroom teaching.

4.    Cooperative and team spirit help the students in reducing their classroom learning and test anxiety.

5.    Cooperative teaching helps in developing healthy interactions among the students and between the teachers and students. Students acquire a quite healthy and positive attitude towards each other and to their teachers who are always ready for helping the in their learning task.

Social Benefits

1.    It is helpful in the development of many social qualities and virtues among the students for becoming an adjusted social being.

2.    Students get healthy positive atmosphere for modeling and practicing cooperation and consequently, the art of getting and giving proper cooperation can be properly learn through the practice of cooperative learning.

3.    Helps in promoting leadership skills among students.

4.    The students get along with the people of diverse opinion, background, socio-economic status, religion, caste, color, creed, this is helpful to live and adjust in a democratic society.

Obstacles in Introducing Cooperative Learning

      As discuss above, the cooperative learning strategies offers a teaching platform to bring a desirable reform in the present day teaching-leaning system. It is aimed to provide more responsibilities on the part of the learners for carrying out their business by themselves while cooperating and working together in small or large group as per demands of their learning situation for the satisfactory accomplishment of the learning objectives. In reality, it suits the very nature and purposes of the learners belonging to a free and democratic society and as such, it needs to be adopted as one of the good teaching-learning strategies at all levels of school or college teaching. However, in spite of so many benefits derived from its introduction, it has not yet taken any shape in the system of our school and college education.

 Resistance from the Teacher

    The teacher themselves do not favor the introduction of cooperative learning in their teaching-learning on account of the following reasons:

1.    Teaching strategy at their school or college level.

2.    They have not got any orientation and training for the use of cooperative leaning strategy in their teacher preparation courses –D.Ed., B.Ed.,

3.    They fear to accept their role as mere facilitator instead of all and all in the present educational system.

4.    They lack self-confidence for trying method and innovative practices thinking that it may expose them to potentially different situation.

5.    Students will be wasting their time in a cooperative learning setup.

6.    Teacher are supposed to finish the prescribe syllabus of a subject in a fixed duration of days of the sessions.

7.    Textbooks are also not written in view of the requirements of cooperative learning.

8.    Their unfamiliarity to such innovative assessment techniques may persuade them to oppose cooperative learning on the assumption that the system will fail in the absence of the assessment of individual accountability of the learners.

Summary

    Cooperative learning stands for a learning process or learning strategy, in which the students of a class engage themselves in a variety of useful learning activities in a cooperative non-cooperative environment by forming a number of teams, each consist small number of students of different level of ability for the understanding of a subject. Basic assumption and features associated with cooperative learning may be outlined (i) emphasis on making the teaching-learning process as learner centered. (ii) Engaging collectively in a cooperative way rather than doing it individually in a competitive way (iii) redefining the role of teacher from lecturer. (iv) Shifting the responsibility of learning to the students instead of the teacher’s efforts for making the students to learn. (v) Helping the students in quite meaningful cooperative leaning. (vi) Emphasis on the evaluation of group performance or achievements. (vii) helpful I developing many social virtues.

                       

References and Suggested Reading

Cohen, Elizabeth G., Celeste M. Brody and Mara Sapon-Shevin (Eds.), Cooperative learning:

           The Challenge for Teacher Education, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2004

Gillies, Robyn M., Cooperative Learning, Integrating Theory and Practice, Los Angeles:

            Sage Publications, 2007.

Golubchick, Leonard H. and Barry Persky (Eds.), Innovations in Education, Dubeuque, Iowa:

           Kendall/Hunt Pub., 2007

Jolliffe, Wendy, Cooperative learning in the Classroom: Putting it into Practice, Thousand Oaks,Calif,: Sage Pubication, 2007

De Carlo, Julia E. and Consonant A. Madon (Eds.) Innovations in Education for the Seventies: Selected Reading, New York: Behavioral Publication, 1973

McConnell, David, Implementing Computer Supported Cooperative Learning, (2^nd ed.), London:

           Sterling, V A: Kogan Page, 2000.