Sulis Tiyana

1605111485
TEFL

COOPERATIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES

Why should educaters use cooperative learning in the classroom?

Teachers should not come to class with the same lesson. Plans each and every day, change
things up, allow students to hear a voice of someone different, allow them to hear the voice of
their peers, this way students get a break from boring teacher lectures.

Cooperative learning is a great strategy because it's all about the students, and their own
thoughts and ideas. The students are actually the center of learning, not the teacher. As
teachers we have a responsibility to prepare students for most careers which happen to require
people to work in groups with others. Cooperative learning is a key component of 21st century
life skills. Ultimately we are smarter together as groups, then we are a part as individuals.

A common question is how do we group students for cooperative learning? It is best to group
students deliberately and the first thing to consider when grouping students is their academic
abilities and their test scores. So consider grouping students by performance level.
Homogenous grouping for students with similar performance levels and heterogeneous
grouping for different performance levels. Student safety is always the number one priority,
avoid bullying situations. Therefore, consider grouping students for harmonious and safe
environments.

Another possibility for grouping is a random approach. In that case, there is no particular rhyme
or reason for placing any one student in a group as opposed to placing them in another group.
Random grouping is sometimes used when teachers are looking to shake things up. When
students are grouped together things can get out of control pretty quickly, to keep order assign
students specific roles within the group, therefore, assigning responsibilities to its members.
Always remember the best grouping scenario is one where students are both safe and learning.

Now it's time to look at some classroom examples for our teachers;
It should be noted that there are many different strategies.
The first strategy is think-pair-share, students are first given a question to work on then they
are grouped into pairs. Once grouped they can compare answers and discuss their different
perspectives. Sometimes they are asked to come up with a single answer and then share that
answer with the entire class.

The jigsaw learning model, students are assigned in two different groups. The first group they
are assigned to is the home group. Each student is given a different topic to study, that student
joins other students with the same topic the expert group and shares ideas on that topic. Lastly
students come back to the home group and share what they learned from the expert group.
There are many different project based learning examples that allow students to work in groups
and solve different real world problems. Project-based learning should be aligned to standards
and based around a driving inquiry question.

Let's consider some cautions and dangers for cooperative learning;

First off, whenever students are placed in groups there's a tendency to talk. Students will have
conversations because students tend to socialize when given a chance. So teachers must be
vigilant and keep a close eye on students. Also group sizes should be no larger than 3 to 4
students. The large number of students placed in the group the less work that gets done. In
psychology it's called the Ringelmann effect.

For cooperative learning to work efficiently, require submission of student work. Make sure
these lessons have learning goals and objectives that students must meet. Lastly, because
cooperative learning is group work some students will look to take advantage of that and do
little to no work and allow their peers to do all the work. As a teacher you must ensure
individual accountability to each student.

Source: https://youtu.be/cnkKHL_dyGE