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Examples of cooperative and collaborative learning

26 July, 2019 - 10:10
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Although this description may make the requirements for cooperative learning sound somewhat precise, there are actually a variety of ways to implement it in practice. Error: Reference source not found summarizes several of them. As you can see, the strategies vary in the number of how many students they involve, the prior organization or planning provided by the teacher, and the amount of class time they normally require.

Table 9.4 Strategies for encouraging cooperative learning

Strategy

Type of groups involved

What the teacher does:

What the students do:

Think-pair-share (Lyman, 1981)

Pairs of students, sometimes linked to one other pair

Teacher poses initial problem or question.

First, students think  individually of the answer; second, they share their thinking with partner; third, the partnership shares their thinking with another   partnership

Jigsaw classroom, version #1 (Aronson, et al., 2001)

5-6 students per group, and 5-6 groups overall

Teacher assigns students to groups and assigns one aspect of a complex problem to each group.

Students in each group work together to become experts in their particular aspect of the problem; later the expert groups  disband, and form new group  one student from each of the former  expert groups.

Jigsaw classroom, version #2 (Slavin, 1994)

4-5 students per group, and 4-5 groups overall

Teacher assigns students to groups and assigns each group to study or learn about the same entire complex problem.

Students initially work in groups to learn about the entire problem;  later the groups disband and reform as expert groups, with each group focusing on a selected aspec  of the general problem;  still later the expert groups disband and the original general groups reform to learn what the expert students can now add to their general understanding.

STAD (Student- Teams- Achievement Divisions) (Slavin, 1994)

4-5  students per team (or group)

Teacher presents a lesson or unit to the entire class, and later tests them on it; grades individuals  based partly on individuals' and the team's improvement, not just on  absolute level of   performance.

Students work together to insure that team mates improve their performance as much as possible. Students take tests as  individuals.

Project-Based Learning (Katz, 2000)

Various numbers of students, depending on the  complexity  of the project, up to and including the entire class

Teacher or students pose a question or problem of interest to other students; teacher assists students to clarify their interests and to make plans to investigate the question  further.

Students work together for extended periods to investigate the original question or problem; project leads eventually to a presentation, written report, or other product.