Cooperative Learning
A concept that has taken off in colleges as well as K-12 schools across
the country is cooperative learning. As a philosophical challenge to the
competition paradigm that dominates our nation's schools, cooperative learning
seeks to promote teamwork - students helping each other in a group setting.
A psychological component addresses the need to overcome the sense of isolation
felt by many students today because of the breakdown of family and community
structures. Mirroring what happens in the best corporate and business settings,
cooperative learning holds that it is important for each member of the team
to take responsibility for the progress of the whole group - sharing ideas,
materials and resources - and sharing equally in the rewards of a successfully
completed assignment.
Two brothers, David and Roger Johnson, of the University of Minnesota and
Robert Slavin of Johns Hopkins University are the major proponents of the
concept. Their research seems to demonstrate that students who work on a
task in small cooperative groups appear to master material better than their
lone-working counterparts, that they feel better about themselves and are
more accepting of clasmates who are different from them. Minority students
also appear to function better in cooperative learning settings, according
to Spencer Kagan's research at the University of California, Riverside.
For more information about cooperative learning, see: