History of Cooperative Learning

Prior to World War II, social theorists such as Allport, Watson, Shaw, and Mead began establishing
cooperative learning theory after finding that group work was more effective and efficient in quantity,
quality, and overall productivity when compared to working alone. However, it wasn’t until 1937 when
researchers May and Doob found that people who cooperate and work together to achieve shared
goals, were more successful in attaining outcomes, than those who strived independently to complete
the same goals. Furthermore, they found that independent achievers had a greater likelihood of
displaying competitive behaviours. Philosophers and psychologists in the 1930s and 40’s such as John
Dewey, Kurt Lewin, and Morton Deutsh also influenced the cooperative learning theory practiced today.
Dewey believed it was important that students develop knowledge and social skills that could be used
outside of the classroom, and in the democratic society. This theory portrayed students as active
recipients of knowledge by discussing information and answers in groups, engaging in the learning
process together rather than being passive receivers of information (e.g. teacher talking, students
listening). Lewin’s contributions to cooperative learning were based on the ideas of establishing
relationships between group members in order to successfully carry out and achieve the learning goal.
Deutsh’s contribution to cooperative learning was positive social interdependence, the idea that the
student is responsible for contributing to group knowledge. Since then, David and Roger Johnson have
been actively contributing to the cooperative learning theory. In 1975, they identified that cooperative
learning promoted mutual liking, better communication, high acceptance and support, as well as
demonstrated an increase in a variety of thinking strategies among individuals in the group. Students
who showed to be more competitive lacked in their interaction and trust with others, as well as in their
emotional involvement with other students. In 1994 Johnson and Johnson published the 5 elements
(positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face interaction, social skills, and
processing) essential for effective group learning, achievement, and higher-order social, personal and
cognitive skills (e.g., problem solving, reasoning, decision-making, planning, organizing, and reflecting).

In the mid-1960s, cooperative learning was relatively unknown and largely ignored by educators.
Elementary, secondary, and university teaching was dominated by competitive and individualistic
learning. Cultural resistance to cooperative learning was based on social Darwinism, with its premise
that students must be taught to survive in a “dog-eat-dog” world, and the myth of “rugged
individualism” underlying the use of individualistic learning. While competition dominated educational
thought, it was being challenged by individualistic learning largely based on B. F. Skinner’s work on
programmed learning and behavioral modification. Educational practices and thought, however, have
changed. Cooperative learning is now an accepted and often the preferred instructional procedure at all
levels of education.

Definitions:

Cooperation is working together to accomplish shared goals.

Within cooperative situations, individuals seek outcomes that are beneficial to themselves and
beneficial to all other group members.

Cooperative Learning is an instructional method in which students work in small groups to accomplish a
common learning goal with the guidance of the teacher.

As Benjamin Franklin once said:

“Tell me and I forget.

Teach me and I remember.

Involve me and I learn”

Cooperative learning strategies offer students the possibility to learn by applying knowledge in an
environment more similar to the one they will encounter in their future work life. Teachers get the
chance to work on core competencies and on students’ communication and soft skills, which are
valuable for students’ success in life and work, integrating them in school curricula.

Cooperative learning strategies are content-free structures that can be reused in different school
contexts and we are going to learn how to use some of them.

Strategies can be used both in pairs and groups and are designed to fulfill all the so-called PIES
principles: Positive interdependence, Individual accountability, Equal participation and Simultaneous
interaction.

Personal Interdepence

In general we talk about positive interdependence when a gain for one is a benefit for the other. Pair
and group members experience themselves as a team and are on the same side working toward the
same goal.

To ensure positive interdependence while working with cooperative learning, two requisites must be
met: students should feel on the same side and the task should require working together.[2]Check out
our course on collaborative learning if you wish to know more about how to promote students’
colaboration and engagement in the classroom.

Individual Accountability
In the cooperative classroom, students work together as a team to create and to learn, but ultimately
every individual student is responsible for his or her own performance. It is exactly to fulfill both positive
interdependence and individual accountability that in every cooperative learning strategy students are
given both time to think/work alone and to interact with peers.

In this way students’ autonomy and cooperation are improved.

Equal Participation

Pair and group work is usually very well welcomed by students, but the problem is that it is difficult to
check whether students are equally working.

Cooperative learning strategies instead make sure every student in each team or pair is equally
contributing to the final achievement. They are actually designed to make students interact and to have
everyone at every step of the activity fulfil a specific task.

Simultaneous Interaction

In sequential interaction, when only one student at a time is engaged, the teacher talks (at least) twice
for each time a student talks. And when the teacher is the most active participant in the classroom,
students are obviously disengaged (and most likely bored as well).

Cooperative learning strategies on the contrary are designed to produce simultaneous interaction, so to
engage as many students as possible simultaneously.

Types of Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning can take place in any of three common types of learning groups:

Informal cooperative learning groups - Informal cooperative learning groups can be arranged on the
spot to break up direct teaching or lecturing. For example, a long lecture can be broken into several
short segments, each followed by a period of cooperative group learning. This can help students retain
new information and become acclimated to working with group members.

Formal cooperative learning groups - Formal cooperative learning groups are commonly used when
groups will work together for one class period or longer. Formal cooperative learning groups are
commonly used in group projects that last one or more weeks. This structure and scale enable group
members to learn content and build collaborative skills.

Cooperative base groups - Cooperative base groups last at least one year. They are especially useful for
helping members support each other in both academic and other pursuits, as members hold each other
accountable for following through on commitments and making progress on goals.
What teachers soon observe when working with cooperative learning strategies is that working together
will offer students the chance to know their classmates better. It also helps to create a better
community and therefore a warmer atmosphere in the classroom.

Cooperative learning, reducing students’ disengagement and favoring the natural need of students for
social interaction instead of contrasting it, helps also minimize classroom management issues.

Moreover, cooperative learning strategies often offer students a break from the lesson, giving them also
the possibility to move around in class.

Are Cooperative Learning Strategies difficult to implement?

Are they time consuming?

Cooperative learning strategies are not only very scalable but most of the time they require very little to
no preparation. And some of them last less than 5 minutes, having in this short period of time all
students in class being challenged and engaged.

8 Pros and Cons of Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning helps students be able to learn new concepts and skills together instead of
independently.

The Pros of Cooperative Learning:

1. It creates higher level thinking skills due to the need for skill recognition and the presence of
empathy.

Students can’t know how to help each other unless they get to know one another. This forces them to
begin using higher level thinking skills so they can recognized what gaps exist in their team and how
those gaps can be solved. These skills are an integral part of what the vocational community requires
when it comes to teamwork.

2. It creates new forms of individual responsibility.

Instead of working toward an individualized grade that may not be cared about, students in groups are
forced to hold themselves accountable to the group so the best grade possible can be achieved. Equal
participation becomes necessary for results to be achieved. There will always be students who rebel
against such a system and refuse to participate, but cooperative learning makes it possible to quickly
identify and work with such students.

3. It increases the level of personal participation in lessons.

In a classroom where there may be 20 students, it could easily take 45 minutes to get everyone to
participate in a lesson individually. By creating a cooperative learning environment, however, each
group can be called upon after a period of speaking with one another so that everyone participates
without the same time constraints. Group answers are given that are based on all individual feedback so
that every student has some say in the lesson.

4. It boosts self-esteem on various levels.

There are students who always feel left out, but cooperative learning gives them a chance to shine. Each
strength and weakness must be considered and this creates a form of classroom equality that
individualized learning doesn’t always provide. The end result is that students typically feel more
accepted, develop leadership tendencies, and even work on their problem solving skills.

The Cons of Cooperative Learning:

1. It creates a grading system which could be considered unfair.

In most cooperative learning programs, a grade is handed out to the entire group instead of to each
individual involved. This means that a student’s grades is dependent on the individual with the weakest
grasp of the subject materials. For those who have a good understanding of the subject and have done
their best to help their group, a low grade seems very unfair and could create resentment that stops
further learning.

2. It creates new systems of socialization structure that are not always beneficial.

In cooperative learning, the students soon learn who happens to be great at certain subjects and those
who are not so great. The better students will scramble to be in each other’s groups to avoid grading
issues, which creates a polarization line in the class. Over time, this may even encourage students to
stop trying.

3. It places a teacher’s responsibility onto their students.

It isn’t the student’s job to teach their peers in subject materials. It is the teacher’s responsibility. In a
system of cooperative learning, however, the teacher hands out the assignments and the students are
forced to become teachers if they want to make sure a passing grade can be achieved.

4. It creates a system of dependency.

When there are others to rely upon for work to get done, a habit begins to develop in a student’s
learning behaviors. They become dependent on others to help them achieve specific tasks.
Unfortunately the vocational world doesn’t always operate this way. Students who are dependent on
help become workers who are dependent on help and ultimately put today’s students into a
disadvantageous situation as tomorrow’s workers.

The pros and cons of cooperative learning show that it can be a challenging system of education if it isn’t
properly managed. It could also be the needed key to unlock the potential of today’s students. By
evaluating these key points, a better decision can be made as to whether or not this system of learning
should be adopted.