Killen Chapter 9 Using Cooperative Learning As A Teaching Strategy

USING COOPERATIVE LEARNING
AS A TEACHING STRATEGY
Once you have become proficient at using group work as a teaching strategy, and your learners
have become accustomed to this form of learning, you will be ready to try cooperative learning.
Much of the information provided in the previous chapter is very relevant to cooperative
learning. However, cooperative learning is more than just group work and it places some special
demands on learners. To help them deal with these demands, you will probably need to do more
planning and preparation than you do for any other learner-centred teaching strategy.
Cooperative learning is one of the most researched teaching strategies of recent times.
The plethora of information about cooperative learning is testimony to its versatility and
effectiveness. There are many varieties of cooperative learning and numerous claimed benefits.
This chapter provides some insight into the literature on cooperative learning by outlining the
key features of several common approaches. It then gives guidelines for using the techniques,
and suggests some ways to evaluate your efforts to use these strategies.
To use cooperative learning effectively, you will need the same general teaching
competencies that you need for group work When you have mastered the ideas in this chapter
you will be able to:
... decide when cooperative learning is an appropriate strategy for helping learners to achieve
particular learning outcomes
-+ select an appropriate form of cooperative learning and prepare thoroughly and thoughtfully
when using this strategy
... create a learning environment that motivates learners and encourages them to work
collaboratively to achieve the learning outcomes regardless of their ability and cultural,
ethnic or other differences
... organise and manage cooperative learning lessons in ways that encourage students to engage
in critical and creative thinking
... evaluate the success of your cooperative learning lessons.
226
CHAPTER 9: USING COOPERATIVE LEARNING AS A TEACHING STRATEGY 227
Some important features of

cooperative learning
Cooperative learning is an instructional strategy in which learners work together in
small groups to help one another achieve a common learning goal. It is based on
the belief that learners (of any age or ability) can achieve more by working
collaboratively than by working alone or by passively receiving information from a
teacher. As you will see later in this chapter, there are many different approaches to
cooperative learning.
Many teachers consider that they are using cooperative learning whenever they
have learners working in groups (Boo et al., 2001), but as Johnson, Johnson and
Johnson-Holubec (1993) point out, most group work is not, strictly speaking,
cooperative learning. So, what exactly is cooperative learning? Well, that depends
on whom you ask.
Writers such as Slavin (1991, 1995) and Johnson and Johnson (1989, 1994), who
laid the foundations for what we now call cooperative learning, agree that there are
two essential components in all cooperative learning methods: a cooperative task
(something that learners have to do together - which is a feature of any group work)
and a cooperative incentive structure (which is unique to cooperative learning).
These ideas are explained in detail later in this chapter. Based on the work of
Johnson and Johnson (1994), it is possible to identify five basic features that need to
be present for small-group work to be considered truly cooperative:
1 There must be positive interdependence. The learners must function as a
cohesive group to achieve specific learning goals. Each group member's efforts
must be necessary for the group to succeed. All learners must accept that they
cannot be successful unless their partners are successful. Each must take
responsibility for the learning success of every other member of the group and
must directly help them to learn.
2 There must be ongoing, direct interaction. Students must help one another to
learn by discussing the task, deciding how to approach it, exchanging ideas,
explaining things to one another, checking for understanding, and making links
to past learning. It is not sufficient for the group members to simply divide up
the work and do it without further interaction. (In early descriptions of
cooperative learning this interaction always took place face to face, but later in
this chapter you will see ·that it can also take place using various forms of
technology.)
3 There must be individual and group accountability. Each learner is responsible
for what he or she learns and the entire group is accountable for the success of
228 EFFECTNE TEACHING STRATEGIES
each of its members. Each learner is held accountable for demonstrating his or
her understanding of the material.
4 The learners must use appropriate interpersonal skills (such as listening
attentively, questioning to clarify ideas, negotiating, constructively resolving
differences) so that all interactions are productive.
5 Each group must analyse the outcomes it achieves and how well the group
functions, so that the participants become reflective learners.
Stahl ( 1997 :1) proposes a far more rigorous set of criteria to describe what
needs to occur prior to, during and following group activities in order for the
students to be working cooperatively. He emphasises the need for students to
consistently engage in maximising their own academic achievements and the
academic achievements of every member of their group, and maintains that there
are '21 essential elements that are necessary if groups are to exist and operate
under conditions of optimal cooperative learning'. His central claim is that
cooperative learning must allow each group to focus on maximising the long-term
academic success of each learner so that information can be retained, recalled and
applied well beyond the end of the group meetings. Various aspects of his theories
are incorporated into the remainder of this chapter.
Why does it work?

The widespread use of cooperative learning is due to three main factors: it is
clearly based on theory, it has been validated by research and it has been
operationalised into procedures that educators can use (Johnson, Johnson &
Stanne, 2000). The main reason for having students work in cooperative groups is
so that all students can be more academically successful as individuals than they
would be if they worked alone (Stahl, 1997). There is growing consensus among
researchers that this result is possible (Hattie, 2009) and several explanations of
why it appears to be so effective.
Abrami and Chambers ( 1996) suggest that learning through cooperative group
work can be explained from a number of theoretical perspectives. They point out
that a behaviourist (or motivational) explanation for learning would emphasise the
immediate feedback students receive from their peers and the benefits they gain
from increased practice. A cognitivist explanation would stress the importance of
students elaborating on and verbalising their understanding. A developmentalist
explanation would emphasise the process of peer modelling. A humanist
explanation would suggest that learning is enhanced by students' natural curiosity
and by the way group members respond to one another's contributions.
Various perspectives on why cooperative learning influences understanding
suggest that group goals based on the learning of all group members have three
motivational effects: they motivate students to learn, they motivate students to

encourage one another to learn and they motivate students to help one another to
learn. When students are motivated in these ways, they can work as a cohesive group,
give one another elaborate explanations, model appropriate thinking processes, help
one another practise academic tasks, provide one another with feedback, praise the
efforts of others, and willingly receive help from group members.
The cognitive perspective for explaining the success of cooperative learning is that
'interactions among students will in themselves increase student achievement for
reasons which have to do with mental processing of information rather than with
motivation' (Slavin, 1996:48). An example of a cognitive developmental perspective is
Vygotsky's ( 1978) theory of proximal development: if at least one student in the
group has a deeper understanding than others then he/she has the potential to
scaffold the learning of other group members and deepen their understanding.
An alternative cognitive perspective on cooperative learning is based on the
notion of cognitive elaboration. Essentially, this perspective suggests that in order
for learners to understand and remember information, they must engage in some
form of cognitive restructuring or elaboration of the material. One effective
method of elaboration is to develop explanations for others, as is necessary in most
forms of cooperative learning. This view is consistent with neuroscience research
such as that reported by Sousa (2010) and Willis (2006). It is also consistent with
Stahl's (1997) constructivist perspective that sees learning as a function of (a) the
appropriate information one has relative to the information one needs to have and
use, (b) the appropriate internal processing tasks one has completed relative to the
processing tasks one needs to complete, and (c) the productive time one has spent
relative to the time one needs to spend learning. He claims that cooperative
learning can maximise each of these factors.
A social cohesion perspective attempts to explain the effects of cooperative
learning on achievement by suggesting that 'students will help one another to learn
because they care about one another and want one another to succeed' (Slavin,
1996:46). This is a component of social interdependence theory that is described in
considerable detail by Johnson and Johnson (2006). Teambuilding and self-
evaluation by the groups help to create a positive climate in which each group
member wants all other group members to succeed. Cooperative learning strategies
that emphasise group interdependence (such as Jigsaw, discussed later in this
chapter) rely on social cohesion for their success. However, the Australian research
of Gillies (2004) suggests that the development of group cohesion depends very
much on the way the groups are s.tructured.
From this brief explanation you can see that there are many theories about why
cooperative learning can be an effective teaching strategy. This is true about all
forms of learning because there is never just one way to explain how or why
230 EFFECTIVE TEACHING STRATEGIES
learners make sense of the things they are trying to understand. This makes
teaching a difficult task, but it also makes it very interesting.
Regardless of which explanation you prefer for how and why cooperative
learning helps students to learn, the potential of a group to work cooperatively and
to achieve common goals depends on the knowledge, skills and dispositions of the
group members, and on the resources available to them. The degree to which this
potential can be realised will depend on the cohesiveness of the group. Thus it is
important for students to feel comfortable working with one another, and for them
to be motivated to make the individual effort that is necessary for group success.
Some guidelines for developing group cohesiveness were mentioned in the
previous chapter. The issue of student motivation is addressed later in this chapter.
Most advocates of cooperative learning stress that it is an effective way to
promote academic learning and, equally important, it promotes positive peer
interactions and relationships. But none of these things will occur unless you
create a learning environment in which they are possible. Consequently, team-
building activities might have to be introduced before the cooperative learning
starts, and you must monitor the group dynamics very carefully so that you can
decide when further team-building activities are needed.
Cooperative learning is very versatile and it can be used in all subject areas at
all levels of education. Some examples of the its application in various academic
areas can be explored in more depth in the following references: Biology (Lord,
2001), Creative Arts (Baloche, 2005), Economics (Yamarik, 2007), English
(Department of Education, Tasmania, 2010), Engineering (Hsiung, 2010),
Geography (Rama, 2003), Health Education (Gilbert, Sawyer & McNeil!, 2011),
History (Graham & Townsend, 1993), Literature (Renegar & Heartling, 1993),
Mathematics (Cangelosi, 2002; Slavin, Lake & Groff, 2009), Music (McGillen &
McMillan, 2005; Chong, 2008), Physical Education (Hannon & Ratcliffe, 2004),
Science (Boo et al., 2001; Thurston et al., 2010), Reading (Stone, 2007) and Social
Studies (Zarrillo, 2012). A comprehensive meta-analysis of research on cooperative
learning is given by Johnson, Johnson and Stanne (2000) and it features
prominently in the meta-analysis of Hattie (2009).
Reasons for using cooperative learning

Cooperative learning is particularly useful for the following reasons:
* Having students work together results in much more learning than occurs
when students work alone, competitively or individually (according to evidence
from more than 600 research studies reported in Johnson & Johnson, 1986). By
encouraging students to explore and discuss their understandings, cooperative
learning helps students to develop a deep understanding of course content.
* Students who engage in regular cooperative learning tend to like school better,
like one another better and develop better social skills (Aronson, 2012; Johnson &
Johnson, 2010).
* Cooperative learning teaches students to be less reliant on the teacher and
more reliant on their own ability to think, to seek information from other
sources and to learn from other students. They become empowered to take
greater responsibility for their own learning and for the learning of others
(Drake & Mucci, 1993). This shared responsibility for learning can enhance
learner satisfaction, and if cooperative skills are taught explicitly they can be
transferred to new learning contexts (Patrick, 1994).
* Cooperative learning helps students to learn respect for one another's strengths
and limitations and to accept these differences. This is very important in
culturally diverse classrooms and in classrooms that include students with
disabilities. Because it fosters positive interdependence among students, it can
promote cross-racial and cross-cultural friendships. Aronson (2012) describes
how these benefits were the catalyst that led him to develop the Jigsaw
approach to cooperative learning. Manning and Lucking ( 1993: 13) point out
that 'the recognition, acceptance, and appreciation of learner differences
required for successful cooperative learning are the same attitudes that are
needed for positive intercultural relationships'. However, substantial periods of
time are required to change or eliminate biased attitudes.
* Cooperative learning provides opportunities for learners to see that their
individual differences in abilities, backgrounds, cultures and experiences are
valued and respected, and can be accommodated in learning tasks and contexts.
This enhances both motivation and achievement and can help to create a
general atmosphere of compassion, respect and inclusion (Aronson, 2000).
* Cooperative learning helps students to understand that different points of view
need not be divisive - they can be a positive aspect of developing an
understanding of a subject. This can lead to students asking more and better
questions in class.
* Cooperative tasks are useful in promoting a sense of responsibility to others and
a willingness to reflect on outcomes (Curriculum Corporation, 2002).
* Cooperative learning can boost students' confidence and self-esteem because it
allows all students (not just the high achievers) to experience learning success.
In some studies this effect is related to group size (Bertucci, Conte, Johnson &
Johnson, 2010).
* Cooperative learning can change students' views about learning. It helps them
to move from seeing learning as individual memorisation of facts to seeing it as
a collective construction of understanding.
* Cooperative learning encourages students to verbalise their ideas and to

compare them with the ideas and feelings of other students. This can be
particularly useful when the students are solving problems because it helps
them to see that there can be multiple solutions to complex problems, and this
helps to improve their problem-solving skills.
* Cooperative learning encourages students to think about their learning
processes, identify the limitations of their knowledge and learn to seek help
when necessary. It encourages students to reflect on what they think about each
aspect of the task and to consider (and verbalise) how they arrived at those
thoughts. Recent neurological research (Willis, 2006) suggests that these factors
all contribute positively to learning.
* Cooperative learning emphasises democratic thought and practice as desirable
ways for people to interact (whatever the focus of their interactions).
* Cooperative learning can change the verbal interaction patterns of students, so
that they make greater use of specific verbal patterns believed to be related to
increased learning, such as statements of support and requests for help
(Lanning, 1993). It can also help them to develop effective strategies for what
Wegerif and Scrimshaw ( 1997) refer to as exploratory talk, in which students
engage critically but constructively with one another's ideas and are able to
alternate between taking the perspective of another group member and
critically assessing that perspective.
* Cooperative learning provides students with opportunities to test their ideas
and understandings and to receive feedback in a relatively safe and non-
threatening environment. Students who might otherwise feel stressed by
participating in whole-class discussions (e.g. underachievers, students with
disabilities and students whose first language is not the language of instruction)
can learn in a more relaxed atmosphere. Students can practise problem solving
in a low-risk environment because it is much less threatening to make a
mistake in front of two or three peers than in front of a whole class.
* Cooperative learning can help students to see that their perceived lack of talent
for a particular subject is actually a problem of lack of thorough understanding
of the material (Manera & Glockhamer, 1988-89).
* When compared with lecture and discussion activities, cooperative learning
can lead to students being frustrated less often, getting confused less often,
feeling more intellectually challenged, feeling more actively involved in
learning and looking forward to class more often (Glass & Putman, 1988-89).
* Numerous studies have found that cooperative learning can be equally
beneficial for high, average and low achievers (but for different reasons).
Cooperative learning encourages weaker students to persist and helps strong
students to identify gaps in their understanding (Felder & Brent, 1994).
* Cooperative learning can help students to become socially integrated into

networks of positive peer relationships that assist them with constructive conflict
resolution and this can lead to reductions in antisocial behaviour such as
bullying (Aronson, 2000; Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 2008). In turn, this can
lead to improved academic performance (Johnson, Johnson & Roseth, 2010).
* There are some claims that providing frequent cooperative learning
experiences may be an important tool to increase students' cooperativeness and
thereby reduce the frequency of aggression, increase the frequency of prosocial
behaviours and reduce students' individualistic predispositions (Choi, Johnson &
Johnson, 2011).
* Cooperative learning appears to be an effective way of helping students to
develop the core skills they will need in the future: the ability to research, think
creatively and collaboratively problem solve.
You cannot expect these benefits to occur rapidly. Stahl ( 1997) claims that the
benefits related to affective social skills and attitudes may not emerge until students
have been engaged successfully in cooperative learning for four or more weeks. A
range of other issues and challenges that teachers face when attempting to use
cooperative learning strategies are described by Gillies, Ashman and Terwel (2008).
Most research on cooperative learning has focused on its benefits for students,
but a few studies have considered how it can directly benefit teachers. Garvie
( 1994) found that teachers who use cooperative learning are likely to be more
enthusiastic about teaching than those who do not use it. Shachar and Shmuelevitz
( 1997 :65) found that 'teachers who employed cooperative learning in their
classrooms expressed a significantly greater degree of efficacy in promoting the
learning of slow students compared with teachers who . . . did not employ
cooperative learning in their classrooms at all'. Many of the benefits to teachers are
a direct result of the increased motivation of learners.
Issues to consider before using

cooperative learning
Attempting to use cooperative learning does not guarantee that your students will
learn. In addition to the general limitations of small-group work mentioned in the
previous chapter, you should take into account the following factors:
* Cooperative learning may not be equally effective for all types of learning.
There is some evidence (Mullins, Rummel & Spada, 2011) that it is more
effective when students are attempting to master conceptual knowledge than
when they are trying to master procedural knowledge.
* An essential feature of cooperative learning is that the students learn from one
another. Unless this 'peer teaching' is effective, the students may learn much
less than they would under direct instruction from the teacher. You may have
to spend considerable time helping students to develop the skills they need for
helping one another learn, such as giving clear explanations and asking
thought-provoking questions.
* Some students do not like to learn cooperatively; they prefer to work alone.
Sternberg ( 1997) refers to these as internals - students who prefer to apply their
intelligence to things or ideas in isolation from other people. It is important to
realise that such students do not necessarily lack ability and that they are not
necessarily trying to be disruptive through their lack of cooperation. You need
to be patient, recognise that these learners may be anxious working in groups,
and help them to become flexible in their approaches to learning.
* The values and practices of the cultural, socioeconomic and educational
worlds that students experienced prior to being involved in cooperative learning
may create conflict for some students (Liang, 2004). Most of the suggestions
about how to use cooperative learning are based on research conducted in
Western countries. Nguyen et al. (2010) caution that some modifications
(particularly related to group formation and leadership) might need to be made
to suit students from different cultures.
* To be successful, cooperative learning needs to be used over an extended
period so that students develop the necessary group interdependence. It is not a
strategy that you can use very successfully just once in a while.
* To use cooperative learning (of the type suggested by Slavin) properly you will
have to keep very detailed records of each student's performance on each
learning task, and spend considerable time calculating group achievement
scores.
* Because cooperative learning relies heavily on group incentives to motivate
students, there is some concern that student learning may not transfer to
situations in which these structures are not present (Stallings & Stipeck, 1986).
* Although cooperation is a very important ability for students to master, many of
life's activities are based on individual effort. Therefore, students have to learn to
be self-reliant as well as learning how to cooperate. It is difficult to achieve both
of these outcomes from a single cooperative learning lesson (Lindblad, 1994 ).
* Students' perceptions of the ability and social standing of group members can
influence the functioning of cooperative groups. You will need to emphasise that
each student has unique abilities and that everyone's contribution is important.
* Some students may initially object to the idea that their assessment depends on
the learning of other students in their group. You have to make it clear that the
groups might complete tasks or produce products (that will be assessed as
group efforts) but the learning is by individuals - therefore, the individuals

must also demonstrate achievement of the outcomes.
* Even though collaboration can improve the quality of the products that
students produce (e.g. in collaborative writing) some students may resist
collaboration because they do not want to lose a sense of personal ownership of
what they are producing (Caspi & Blau, 2011). Some students may have
difficulty reaching group consensus because they place too much emphasis on
personalising the task (Lowrie, 2011 ).
* Translating the promise of cooperative learning into practice is not always easy.
Some of the teacher factors that limit its success (such as teachers' perceptions
of teaching) are discussed by Sharan (2010).
¥tMfiUI LEARNING FROM AN EXPERIENCED TEACHER
Talk to a teacher who has used cooperative -+ How do they monitor students' learning
learning and ask them the following during cooperative learning activities?
questions: -+ What factors influence their decision to
-+ What do they see as the major advantage use cooperative learning?
of cooperative learning? -+ Which students do they find learn most
-+ What do they see as the major limitation effectively through cooperative learning?
of cooperative learning?
[_ Use cooperative learning _if: _______________ ___i __ Do not use cooperative learning if: ___ ___!
:, -+ you want to encourage learners to -+ students do not have the basic skills
develop their social skills while required for collaboration and
learning academic content teamwork
!:::, -+ you want students to use their prior -+ students lack the prior knowledge
'
knowledge as a foundation for to guide their collaborative learning
examining issues in depth -+ there is insufficient time for
!:: -+ you want students to explore issues students to collaboratively
from multiple perspectives investigate, discuss and think about
the things you want them to learn.
: -+ you want students to develop their
ability to learn collaboratively
!::, -+ you want to minimise tensions in the

:'
classroom that stem from student
differences.
~--- ----- - -- - ----- - --- - - ---- -- -- ---- - -- -- - -- -- -- -- - - - -- - -- -- - _,!__ ------- -- --- -- ----- --- - - - - - -- - ---------- - - - • - - --------- - - - - .,
Preparing to use cooperative learning

It is important to understand that cooperative learning is not simply a matter of
putting students into groups to learn. Your task is to get the students to work as a
team, exchange ideas, think critically and help one another to learn, and this takes
careful planning. You have to create a learning environment in which there will be
purposeful interaction, positive interdependence, individual accountability and
appropriate use of interpersonal and small-group skills. Structuring the students'
learning is vital (Gillies & Boyle, 20ll; Topping, 2006).
When preparing to use cooperative learning, there are two major things to
consider: student motivation and the learning processes that you want students to
use. How you deal with these issues in practice will depend on which variety of
cooperative learning you decide to use. However, in general you will have to do
the following:
* Give students guidance and practice in helping one another to learn. This might
mean that you have to spend some time helping students to develop strategies
for assisting one another before they attempt to master academic outcomes
through structured cooperative learning activities. It is a good idea to introduce
small cooperative tasks early in the teaching year and gradually build these into
longer and more complex learning episodes. As with group work, you may
need to have students work in pairs until you are satisfied that they have
developed the skills they will need to work in larger cooperative groups.
* Specify clearly what outcomes you want the learners to achieve. This will usually
include academic outcomes and social outcomes. Remember that 'cooperative
learning groups are a means to an encl [student learning] rather than an encl in
themselves' (Stahl, 1997:7). There must be 'group goals that can be achieved
only by ensuring the learning of all group members' (Slavin, 1996:54).
* Decide what content (issues, problems, theories) students will focus on as they try
to achieve the outcomes. It is vital that the cooperative learning task is relevant
to all members of the group, and that it provides opportunities for them to offer
diverse opinions; otherwise they will not be interested and their exchanges of
ideas will be very limited.
* Select what you think will be the most appropriate form of cooperative learning
to use. (Various forms are described later in this chapter.)
* Prepare the materials that students will need in order to learn and to help one
another to learn.
* Decide how to form the groups. Most commonly, it is recommended that the
groups should be mixed (males and females, high and low achievers, etc.).
However, there is some debate on this issue (see Mills & Tangherlini, 1992;
Nelson, 1993) and it is examined further in the next section.
* Decide how you will explain the cooperative learning process to students, what
you expect of them, how you will assist them and how they will be assessed. It
is essential that the students understand the concept of cooperation and how to
use it to achieve success on academic tasks. Remember that 'students who give
each other explanations . . . are the ones who learn most in cooperative
learning' (Slavin, 1996:54). You should emphasise that group decisions need to
be reached through consensus rather than majority rule as students are likely to
take greater responsibility for decisions reached in this way and have greater
commitment to the actions that follow those decisions (Stahl, 1997).
* Develop a system for recognising and rewarding the learning of individual students
as well as the achievement of the groups. Group rewards based on individual
learning have an indirect effect - they motivate students to engage in certain
behaviours, such as giving one another elaborate explanations (Slavin, 1996) and
this, in turn, enhances learning. Stahl ( 1997 :9) emphasises that 'students must
believe and feel that they can earn the rewards for their efforts only when the
members [of their group] collectively have been successful'. The rewards must
focus clearly on academic achievement, and for many students the recognition
that they are learning and being supported in their learning will be sufficient
reward. The types of rewards that will be most suitable will depend on the age of
the students. It is important to note that the group rewards are not the same
thing as grades - they are designed to encourage students to engage in learning,
whereas grades are a summative acknowledgement oflearning.
* Prepare appropriate assessment instruments so that students will be able to
demonstrate their mastery and retention of academic content and .skills after the
cooperative groups have completed their work. It must be made clear that each
student is responsible for mastering all the outcomes. Some cooperative learning
strategies (such as Jigsaw) divide the learning responsibilities in the initial phase,
but this is merely a stepping stone to help all students understand all the content.
* Develop a system for keeping records of the group and individual achievements of
students, and for publicly acknowledging the achievements of the groups.
* Plan a period of reflection so that after the groups have completed their tasks
and received their feedback, the students can analyse their achievements and
their group processes.
Implementing cooperative learning

When you use cooperative learning, your role is not to deliver information or
provide explanations (as it usually is with direct instruction). Rather, your role is to
plan, manage and monitor the learning environment so that students can
collaborate and engage productively in learning. Cooperative learning will be most

successful when cooperation is necessary for success - that is, when it would be
difficult (or impossible) for students to learn without cooperating with one another.
It is not appropriate to simply contrive a situation in which students are required to
cooperate when they could learn better individually (see Boo et al., 2001, for
examples of this pitfall).
If students are not familiar with the type of cooperative learning that you want
to use, it is best to start with short, frequent activities and leave the students in the
same groups for an extended time. A cooperative learning session will generally
proceed as follows:
* Assign students to groups.
* Explain clearly the outcomes that students are to achieve and provide clear
directions about the academic tasks that each group will undertake.
* Remind students of your expectations of them (particularly in relation to
helping one another learn) and of the cooperative goal structure (the rewards
for learning).
* Explain how the learning of individual students will be assessed.
* Provide students with resources if this is necessary.
* Remind students how long they have for the cooperative activities and get them
started.
* Circulate to provide assistance as required, to monitor the activities and learning
of the students, and to make notes of matters that will need to be dealt with once
the group sessions have finished. Do not meddle - allow the groups to deal with
minor problems themselves. However, it is not the students' responsibility to
regulate peer behaviour that is seriously inappropriate; you must do that.
* At the appropriate time, bring the lesson to a logical conclusion.
* Evaluate student achievement and help them assess how well they collaborated
with one another.
The last three steps will be different if the student collaboration is based on the
use of ICT, as explained later in this chapter.
Of course, teaching is never a simple task in which everything goes strictly
according to plan. You will have to attend to many unexpected issues and you will
have to keep experimenting to find cooperative learning approaches that suit you
and your sh1dents. You can learn a lot by listening to your students as they engage
in cooperative tasks.
Forming groups
There is no simple answer to the question of how groups should be formed for
cooperative learning. You have three choices: allow the learners to form their own
groups, form the groups by random selection or place individual learners in groups
for some special reason. If you take the last approach, the basic choices are to try to
make the groups heterogeneous (as mixed as possible in terms of learner abilities,
gender, etc.) or to try to make the groups homogeneous (one gender, similar
abilities, similar cultures, etc.).
Slavin (1994) claims that the achievement of social goals through cooperative
learning depends on each group being heterogeneous, with learners of both sexes,
mixed races or cultures, and mixed abilities, a view supported by Aronson (2012).
Gillies and Boyle (2006) explain why they found mixed grouping effective in
Australian Grades 4 to 6 classes. Felder and Brent (1994:7) also argue strongly for
mixed groups on the basis that 'weaker students gain from seeing how better
students study and approach problems, and the stronger students gain a deeper
understanding of the subject by teaching it to others'. Stahl (1997:8) goes further
and suggests that groups should be mixed as much as possible, 'first on the basis of
academic abilities and then on the basis of ethnic background, race, gender, etc.'
However, Abrami and Chambers (1996) suggest that the issue is not so clear-cut.
(Don't be worried by this; it is not unusual for educational researchers to disagree.)
They suggest that:
* low-ability learners learn more in mixed-ability groups than when grouped with
other low-ability learners
* medium-ability learners learn best when working with other medium-ability
learners
* ability grouping has no effect on the achievement of high-ability learners.
Curry (1997) found that mixed-ability grouping can encourage lower-ability

students to persist at difficult tasks, but high-ability students may lose their
incentive to learn when placed in mixed-ability groups. Moody and Gifford ( 1990)
found that there were no differences in achievement between homogeneous and
mixed-ability groups, but both boys and girls performed better when they were not
in mixed-gender groups. Terwel et al. (2001) claim that high-ability students
(especially in high-ability classes) benefit more from cooperative learning because
they are better able to provide solicited explanations to their fellow students.
Vermette (1995) suggests that groups should be mixed (in terms of ethnicity,
gender and social class) but they should also be balanced - not just one girl in a
group of boys, for example. He also suggests that learners should be told that the
groups are mixed in order to take advantage of the different strengths of individual
learners, not for the purpose of developing friendships or reinforcing existing social
groupings. Logan (1988) warns that some forms of diversity in groups can be
counterproductive. Pairing learners who, say, have a personality clash will rarely
help them to overcome their dislike for one another, and grouping learners who
have low self-images with those who have over-inflated egos may cause conflict.
So where does all this, sometimes conflicting, information leave you? It means
that when you start to use cooperative learning you will have to experiment with
the way you form the groups and see what works best for your learners. Shimazoe
and Aldrich (2010) provide some additional advice on this issue. However you
form the groups, it is important that 'students do not see or feel themselves as being
penalized academically by being in the group they are in' (Stahl, 1997:8).
:•HHVOi FORMING COOPERATIVE GROUPS

Make a list of the factors that you think -+ What are the reasons for the
should be taken into account when grouping differences?
students for cooperative learning in your -+ How does the teacher you interviewed
specialist teaching area. Then interview an balance the academic and social reasons
experienced teacher and compare your list for grouping students?
with the factors that the teacher considers
when grouping students.
Group size
Cooperative learning groups can vary in size from two to 10 or more, but there are
advantages in limiting the size to four or five. Cattell and Millis ( 1994) suggest that
groups of four (sometimes called quads) have several specific advantages:
* Quads are small enough to encourage all group members to remain attentive
and focused on the learning task.
* Quads are large enough to function smoothly when a team member is
occasionally absent.
* Quads lend themselves well to pair work - pairs within each team can work
cooperatively to develop ideas that are then refined by the quad.
* If the class does not divide evenly into quads, a fifth member can be added to
several teams without making them too large.
Effective group size may depend on the age of the students and their
experience in working cooperatively. Although Chambers ( 1993) found that
Kindergarten children were capable of learning cooperatively, Abrami and
Chambers ( 1996) suggested that their limited ability to take others' perspectives
into account may limit their ability to work cooperatively in groups of more than
two or three. At the other end of the age scale, adults can sometimes work
effectively in large cooperative groups because they are more aware of using rules
or procedures to control how learners interact in the group. Ladyshewsky and
Gardner (2008) make the interesting point that large groups can be more effective
than small groups when the student collaboration is taking place online.
CHAPTER 9: USING COOPERATNE LEARNING AS A TEACHING STRATEGY 241
Apart from group size, you will need to consider how long to keep the learners
in the same group. You might bring teams together and disperse them within a
single class period, or keep them together until some specific task has been
completed, or have them remain together for an extended period. My personal
experience has been that cooperative groups function better if their membership is
stable for a reasonable time (such as a full school term).
Guidelines for learners

The minimum guidance you will need to give students if you want them to work
cooperatively is:
* a well-defined task with clear outcomes
* suggestions of how they might get started
* self-checking guidelines so that they can monitor their progress and know when
their task is complete
* guidelines about participation and some practice in working collaboratively
(active and tolerant listening, helping others to understand difficult points,
giving and receiving constructive criticism, managing disagreements)
* guidelines for asking thought-provoking questions that will generate high-level
thinking
* suggestions for how the group might develop a plan of action - who will be
doing what, when and for what purpose
* suggestions for how to deal with group members who are not doing their fair
share of work - this is particularly important if students will remain in the same
group for several lessons, or if the groups are expected to continue their
cooperative work outside the classroom.
Talk to a teacher (or lecturer) who has used learners that summarises the techniques
cooperative learning. Ask what they did to they should try to use when helping one
help learners work cooperatively. Use the another to learn in cooperative groups.
information that the teacher gives you, plus How would these guidelines be different
information from this chapter and your own for Primary and Secondary students?
research, to develop a one-page handout for
Some special types of cooperative learning

There are many different ways of orgamsmg cooperative learning - some
approaches were designed to be used in any subject area, while others were
designed for a specific subject area. You will have to work out which ones are best
for your learners. Several of the approaches to cooperative learning are collectively
referred to as Student Team Leaming (STL). Most commonly, the approaches that
are given this label are Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD) and Teams-
Games-Toumaments (TGT). Other common types of cooperative learning include
Jigsaw and Dyadic (pairs). Do not be concerned about these strange names - they
will make sense by the time you have finished studying this chapter. These are not
the only ways you can use cooperative learning, but they give you an overview of its
basic concepts.
How these approaches are similar

In all the approaches to cooperative learning discussed here, there is an emphasis
on team goals, and team success as a result of all members of the team achieving
those goals. You therefore need to understand three important concepts: team
rewards, individual accountability and equal opportunities for success.
learn rewards are given if, collectively, the students in the team achieve
predetermined learning criteria. The reason for basing the rewards on team effort is
simple - it emphasises the need for the team members to cooperate and assist one
another to learn. Except in the case of TGT, the teams are not in competition with
one another because it is possible for all teams to receive the rewards in any
particular week (or other period). The learning success that comes from frequent
use of cooperative learning generally enhances students' confidence and self-
esteem (Aronson, 2012) so that the rewards for learning become intrinsic and the
need for extrinsic rewards diminishes.
Individual accountability has two aspects. First, a well-structured learning task
will ensure that the team's success depends on the individual learning of all team
members. When students accept this, there is greater incentive to work together
and to assist any team members who are struggling. Second, it is the teacher's
responsibility to assess the learning of each student, not just the product of the
group's efforts.
With the exception of TGT, equal opportunities for success for each student
and each team is achieved because students contribute to their team's score by
improving on their past performances (or by achieving maximum marks). Thus,
high, average and low achievers are all challenged to do their best and they are all
rewarded for this effort. Because all team members must learn in order to help
their team, and because low achievers can help their team just as much as high
achievers, the contributions of all team members are valued. Rewarding students
for improving on their past performances instead of rewarding them for
performance relative to other students seems to be one of the main reasons why
students are motivated by involvement in cooperative learning.
How these approaches differ

All forms of cooperative learning require students to work in pairs or groups to
assist one another to learn. However, the various forms of cooperative learning are
different in terms of:
* how the students are presented with the information they are to learn (with
Jigsaw being quite different from the other methods)
* how the students interact with one another (with several approaches
emphasising peer tutoring and other approaches emphasising group
investigation)
* how the students are assessed (with TGT being different from the other
methods)
* the formality of the interactions among learners (with Dyadic being different
from the other methods).
We will now consider the details of some common approaches to cooperative

learning.
Cooperative pairs
The simplest form of cooperative learning is when learners work in pairs - this is
sometimes referred to as Dyadic cooperative learning. It is often a good way to
introduce learners to cooperative learning because it gives them a chance to
develop their social skills (such as listening and accepting the views of others) in a
non-threatening environment. It also helps them to develop their skills at
explaining, asking questions and helping someone else to learn.
One way of using this strategy is to give each pair of learners materials to read
that are divided into sections. They read the materials one section at a time. After
the first section, one of the learners in each pair explains to the other learner what
the reading was about. They then discuss it and come to agreement on the
important points. They then both read the next section and the second learner
explains what it means. This process continues until all the material has been read,
discussed and understood. Once all the materials have been read and discussed,
the learners quiz each other and attempt to clarify any misunderstandings about
the overall meaning of the material. You then give the whole class a test to check
what they have learned.
An obvious extension of this simple procedure is to require the learners to do
more than just interpret the materials they are reading. If the materials are suitable,
and if the learners are given appropriate guidance, the interactions between
students can engage them in high-level cognitive processing such as making
inferences, drawing conclusions, synthesising ideas and generating hypotheses.
One approach to this form of learning is called guided reciprocal peer questioning.
King (2002) gives a detailed account of how this strategy can be used. It is based on
the idea of giving students high-level question stems that they use to construct
questions related to the material to ask their partner. The question stems are
designed to engage students in specific types of cognitive activity, from review of
their understanding ('Describe ... in your own words') to explaining ('Why did ...
occur') to generating new knowledge ('What would happen if ... ') to being
metacognitive ('What led you to that conclusion?').
Having students work in cooperative pairs is very similar to the Jewish social
learning practice known as hevruta. In this form of interactive text study, two
people engage with a text and negotiate a common understanding of it through
listening, questioning, hypothesising and explaining. Kent (2006) provides an
informative analysis of a typical hevruta session.
So that you will know what it feels like to -+ How would you need to modify these
work in a cooperative pair, try this exercise. ideas to use them with low ability
Select a partner who is also in a teacher students?
education program and together work
While you are engaged in this discussion, ·
through chapter 14 of this book using the
have a third teacher education student
guidelines given above for Dyadic
cooperative learning.
observe and make notes using the system j
of analysing conversations suggested by :1
After you have read each major section,
Kent (2006). From this experience, develop
discuss it using the following questions as
a set of guidelines that you could use to I
ll
prompts:
evaluate how well cooperative pair activities
-+ How could you use these ideas in your
were helping your students to learn.
specialist teaching area 7
-•• , ...... wv;,c:J
Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD)

STAD is one of Slavin's basic approaches to cooperative learning (Slavin, 1978). It
is an easy way to introduce learners to cooperative learning and it is a good
technique to use on a regular basis. To use this technique, follow these steps:
1 Divide the learners into groups of four or five (refer to the earlier discussion of
how to form groups).
2 Give the learners an outline of what they will be learning and why. (Get them
focused on the outcomes you want them to achieve.)
3 Present new academic information to learners (perhaps as a written handout)
or direct them to the information (perhaps on the Internet).
4 Give the learners worksheets or other study devices to help them master the
academic materials. These worksheets should guide them through the
materials and show them how they can help each other learn through tutoring
one another.
5 Give the learners sufficient time to work together to understand the ideas you
have presented - several periods if necessary.
6 Test the learners (as individuals, not as a group) to see whether they have
learned what you wanted them to learn. These tests are sometimes called
quizzes to emphasise that they are not major assessment tasks that will count
towards learners' grades; they are simply part of the learning process. It is
important that these quizzes test important outcomes (such as understanding
and the ability to apply knowledge) as well as recall of facts.
7 Score the quizzes and give each learner an improvement score. This
improvement score is based on the degree to which the quiz score exceeds the
learner's past average on similar quizzes.
8 Add the individual improvement scores to give a team score. Emphasise to the
learners that the more they learn, the more their individual improvement
scores will increase their team scores.
The STAD cycle of teacher presentation, team learning and quiz typically
takes three to five lessons. The scope and depth of learning can easily be extended
if you require learners to gather information (and perhaps continue their team
learning) outside normal class times (perhaps using some of the e-learning
strategies described later in this chapter). Remember that giving learners
'improvement scores' is just a convenient way of motivating them by showing them
that they are learning. The important thing is that the learners are achieving
significant outcomes, not that they are accumulating marks.
You might find that learners respond well to some form of public
acknowledgement of the success of each team. One way to give this
acknowledgement (if you have the resources) is to issue a short newsletter each
week to give recognition to the teams who reach certain criteria and to the learners
who have high improvement scores or who have perfect scores on the quizzes. This
newsletter could also contain a short summary of the key learning outcomes that
have been achieved, thus reinforcing that learning. It might be convenient to issue
this newsletter electronically, or you may simply make a class announcement about
the team results. Whatever technique you use, remember to emphasise that the
teams who score highly are those in which the team members are helping one
another to learn.
,fHil'ild ···~~~AF.DS FOR IM~~O-VE~~N;·

'; ..:. , "-""- "", -...; ,,.,. "° ~- ,.,_, ~::'- >'!'-- .,,F -s-0 -·_,_,,._, c •,,:·, ·,r,·.· 7.-'.•.v.,;,~-::, ·:. 7'.'.:-'. ,.:;~,~-;-·;;: ·.-. : •;. •: ><"',:•.,;.,-,,,; ·'-" :-c.-,- ,;:,;,_-.,,:r:..--1.: :.· ~'"-7 ,-7:,:c:~ ;.;:.-::;;.;:r ;.,_,-,7.:.:;;;. :·.;,r,\~::~ ~ ·.:.-:--~;,:~.: :,:_;i; ,,;,:.;~,:.:,:~;,·,-: "5.~.. •u,.;.·;r.~·,.:·_,·;._:·,;,;,;;,~c.,:Jw 073·,;:r•x.cr,;;:; -.">:,;r:~;-ic,=,=•·
The following scheme was devised by a and each learner's mark was compared with
teacher for translating learners' quiz marks the average mark that he/she had received
into improvement scores when she was on previous quizzes. The improvement
using STAD. The quiz was marked out of 1O scores were then allocated as follows:
Quiz score .. . . .
\ Above previous average 1 2

~-- --- -- --- ---· --- ---- -- ----- -- -- --- -- --- -- --- ------ -- --- ---- -- --- --- --·r· ------ ----- ---- -- --- --- ------ -- --- --1
! Equal to previous average i !
!_Less than previous average ----------------····-----·--_..l·········--·······--~---------··--_j

Another teacher who was using STAD had this scoring scheme:
Quiz score Improvement score
i Full marks , 5
~ ---- ----- ----- - --- --- ----- -- ---- - ----------- -- ----- --- ----- -- --- ---- ---: -- ---- ---------- - --- --------------- --~
! Three or more marks above previous average : 4 !
(rwo_marks above _previous average ----··-----·--------i----------·······-· 3 ---·········---!

: One mark above previous average : 2 :
~ --- - -- - ~-
i Equal to previous average

~ ----- -- --- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - • - - - - - - - - - - - - - • • i,. • • • - - - - - - - - - - - - - . - - - - - - . - - - - - - - - - - - - - '
l i
!
1 l
j _Lower than previous average ___________________________ __[ ___________________ 0 _______________ !
!
-+ What do you think are the advantages and -+ How would you explain to students the 'i"
limitations of each scheme? reasons for having scoring schemes
1
such as these? l
j
•·c'~-.,...;
STAD can be used with learners of all ages and in any subject area. It is very
well suited to subjects such as Mathematics or Science in Primary and Secondary
schools where factual material has to be mastered as a basis for further learning. It
can also be used effectively in other areas, such as language learning where there are
ample opportunities for learners to tutor one another on well-defined content that is
not controversial or open to too many interpretations, but it is not suitable for
situations where the academic learning outcomes cannot be assessed objectively.
Teams-Games-Tournament (TGT)
TGT was Slavin's original version of cooperative learning (DeVries & Slavin,
1978). It is similar to STAD in that you present information to learners and then
they help one another learn. The difference is that the quizzes are replaced with
tournaments in which learners compete with members of other teams in order to
gain points for their home team. To use this strategy you would follow these steps:
Follow steps 1 to 5 of the STAD approach.

2 While the learners are learning in their groups, review your records of their
learning progress over the past few lessons so that you can classify each learner
as a low, medium or high achiever at this time and for this aspect of their
learning.
3 When it is time to check on what the learners have learned, select three at a
time for the tournament. The three learners should be from the same category
(low, medium or high achievers), but from different groups.
4 Pose a series of questions (perhaps four) to the contestants who will be trying to
be the first to answer (just like a quiz show on TV).
5 At the end of the round (after four questions, or more if you need a tie-breaker)
the winner's team earns one point, regardless of how many questions the
contestant answered correctly or how difficult the questions were.
By having the high achievers compete against one another and low achievers
compete against one another, each team member has an equal chance of scoring
team points. Learners do not have to compete against the same people each week,
particularly if some are making rapid progress in the subject and others are making
slow progress. You decide each week who will compete in each round of the
tournament. As with STAD, you should try to develop some system for recognising
the achievements of the groups and individuals who are learning well.
TGT is suited to the same types of subject matter and learning outcomes as
STAD. It requires a little more organisation than STAD, but can be very
motivating for learners. A variation to TGT is to have the learners compete against
one another as teams rather than as individuals - the teams try to be first to answer
the questions. This works best when there is not much difference in the abilities
and learning progress of the learners in the class, otherwise it becomes dominated
by the high achievers.
Other STL approaches

Slavin ( 1995) provides a brief outline of two very specialised approaches to Student
Team Leaming: Team Assisted Individualisation (TAI), which is designed to teach
Mathematics to Primary school children, and Cooperative Integrated Reading and
Composition (CIRC), which is designed for teaching reading and writing in upper
Primary schools. After you have become familiar with using STAD and TGT, you
might like to investigate these other approaches.
Jigsaw
The STAD and TGT approaches to cooperative learning were devised as ways of
improving student learning, and the social benefits came as a bonus. In contrast,
the Jigsaw approach to cooperative learning was devised as a solution to a social

problem that was inhibiting learning. Aronson (2012) describes how he and a
group of graduate students developed Jigsaw in 1971 as a means of reducing the
interracial hostility among students in a recently desegregated school in America.
By shifting the emphasis from competition to cooperation in the classroom, they
were able to reduce racial conflict, raise the self-esteem of students, improve their
academic performance and increase their enthusiasm for learning.
The basic idea in Jigsaw is that each student initially concentrates on mastering
a small portion of the material to be learned and then shares her/his understanding
with other students to complete the 'jigsaw'. This is how you can use it:
* Step 1: Focus on the outcomes. Decide what outcomes learners are to achieve.
These outcomes should require more than simple memorisation.
* Step 2: Organise the learning materials. Prepare learning resources (written
materials or guides to where relevant information can be located) that learners
can use in order to achieve the outcomes. These resources should be divided
into clearly defined sections that address different parts of the material to be
mastered. If, for example, a History teacher wanted students to be able to
'explain the significance of particular individuals in society' (part of the
achievement standard for Year 7 History in the Australian Curriculum),
the learning task might be for students to write an autobiographical account of
the life, role and importance of a scribe in Ancient Egypt. The learning
resources could be divided into sections focusing on the structure of Ancient
Egyptian society, the work of a scribe, the skills and training needed by scribes,
and the status of scribes. Each section of the materials needs to be numbered
and you need to make one copy for each team.
* Step 3: Divide the learners into groups. The groups should be mixed in terms of
student ability, gender and ethnicity. Each group will need to have the same
number of learners as there are sections in the resource materials. (If there are
four sections in the materials then put four learners in each group.) These
groups are called the home teams. It does not matter how many home teams
you have. Within each group the learners are allocated a number
corresponding to a section of the learning materials.
* Step 4: Appoint a leader in each group. Until students are familiar with the
procedures, the leaders will need to be the most mature or responsible students
in each group.
* Step 5: Explain the procedure. Briefly outline how you have divided the
learning materials and explain how the rest of the lesson will be organised.
* Step 6: Move learners into expert groups. Ask the learners to move into new
groups that are numbered to correspond to the numbers on the sections of the
learning materials. All the number 1 learners will move to group 1 to deal with
section 1 of the materials and so on. These new groups are sometimes called
the 'expert' groups because the learners in each group will become experts on
their section of the learning materials.
* Step 7: Have learners study their specialist section. Within the specialist groups,
the learners help one another to understand their allocated section of the topic.
Allow sufficient time for them to discuss and master the information, and to
agree on how they will explain it to others when they return to their home
teams.
* Step 8: Have experts teach in their home teams. After the learners in each expert
group have helped one another learn their material, they return to their 'home'
teams. There they teach the other members of their group what they have
learned from their section of the resource materials. The only way learners can
learn about the sections of material that were not their specialisation is from
the other members of their home team. Therefore, the learners are encouraged
to interact and learn from one another. This part of the learning process can
extend over several lessons.
* Step 9: Assess learning. After the learners have been given adequate opportunity
to learn about all the sections of the resource materials and to integrate this
knowledge into an understanding of the total topic, their learning is assessed
individually.
A very useful additional step in this Jigsaw procedure was described by

Lazarowitz and Karsenty ( 1990). They suggested that after Step 8 (peer teaching in
the home teams) each group should be given a problem to solve that involved
actively using what they had learned. They claimed that if this problem required
students to use higher-order thinking skills, the students' ability to recall and use
their new learning improved.
Some learners might have difficulty with this way of learning because they are
expected to get a detailed understanding of one section of the material (one piece of
the jigsaw) before they see the big picture. To overcome this problem, Slavin (1995)
developed a version of this technique that he calls Jigsaw II. To use this approach
you start by having each learner read all the resource materials. (Recall that in the
original Jigsaw the learners initially read only their specialist section of the
materials.) Each learner is then assigned a particular aspect of the materials on
which she/he is to become the expert Learners meet in expert groups to study the
materials in depth and then return to their home teams to teach one another. At an
appropriate time, the learners are given individual quizzes. Mattingly and VanSickle
( 1991) report success with this approach in a high school Geography class, and
Ghaith and Abel El-Malak (2004) found it to be a useful way of improving higher-
order comprehension in an English as a foreign language (EFL) class.
In both approaches to Jigsaw team scores can be formed using one of the
scoring procedures described for STAD, if you consider this form of external
motivation to be useful. High-scoring teams and individuals are recognised in the
weekly class newsletter or by some other suitable means.
All approaches to cooperative learning, but especially Jigsaw, depend for their
success on the ability of learners to help one another learn. You should not assume
that all your learners will be very adept at doing this. Some learners may have
difficulties reading the materials that they have to master, some may have little idea
of how to identify the important ideas in the materials, some may be poor
explainers, some may not appreciate the difficulties that other learners will have in
learning, and some may have difficulty overcoming their prejudices towards other
students in their group. If Jigsaw is to be a successful learning experience, you will
have to spend some preparatory time helping your learners to overcome these
difficulties and develop some basic instructional skills. Aronson and Patnoe (2011)
give some useful guidelines for doing this. Aronson (2012) makes the point that
Jigsaw will be most effective in the long term if it is introduced to students in
Primary school, although older students readily adapt to it.
II HELPING STUDENTS TO LEARN THROUGH

COOPERATIVE LEARNING
-+ Prepare a simple guide that you could -+ Prepare a simple guide that you could
give to Year 4 students (or Year 7 give to Year 4 (or Year 7) students to
students) to help them give clear help them ask thought-provoking
explanations to other learners in their questions in their cooperative groups.
cooperative groups.
What might go wrong when you use

cooperative learning?
There is a lot of evidence to suggest that cooperative learning is a useful teaching
strategy. However, most teachers do not use cooperative learning frequently. As a
result, students are unlikely to be very familiar with the formal approaches to
cooperative learning described in this chapter and they may not initially be happy
or comfortable learning in this way. Therefore, you cannot expect that your first
attempts at using cooperative learning will be highly successful. You will need to
persist with it until the students become comfortable and confident learning in this
way. Some of the difficulties you might encounter are these:
* No matter how carefully you plan your cooperative learning lessons, there are
likely to be some students who do not participate or contribute as well as you
would like them to. This can occur for a number of reasons, just as it can when
you are using any other teaching strategy. This can be a particular problem in
mixed-ability or mixed-race cooperative groups where the contributions might
not be equal because of the different status of some students within the class.
For cooperation to succeed, students must get to know and trust one another,
communicate accurately and unambiguously, accept and support one another
and resolve conflicts constructively. Aronson (2012) describes how this can be
achieved with Jigsaw.
* Some highly task-oriented students might initially view cooperative learning
with impatience, perhaps because the activities often require discussion and
consensus-building rather than the immediate resolution of a problem.
* In cooperative learning groups, the achievement of each student will depend
on the ability of all members of the group to help one another to learn. King
(2002) emphasises the point that different types of interaction are required to
facilitate different kinds of learning. Group interactions that are little more
than requesting and providing information might help with learning factual
material, but more complex interactions are required to promote high-level
complex learning. Without careful teacher guidance, students may not
generate thought-provoking questions or probe different perspectives on issues.
Most students will, at least initially, require direction and help with tutoring
one another.
* Students will not be able to help one another to learn if the materials and
resources they are using are not appropriate. You will have to select and
structure all learning materials carefully. It will often not be appropriate simply
to use the type of material that students might find in a textbook or which you
might give them as a supplement to your direct instruction. You will probably
have to spend more time preparing for cooperative learning than you would
preparing for a direct instruction lesson.
* Some students may object to the idea that their marks (the group marks) will
depend on the effort and learning of other students. You will need to explain
very carefully to all students why you are using cooperative learning and why
you are using a particular assessment scheme.
* You may also encounter some of the difficulties that were discussed in the
previous chapter on small-group work - for example, students who refuse to
participate, students who want to dominate their group, students who want to
waste time and so on. Ellis and Whalen ( 1992) present 3 5 different strategies
for dealing with these challenges.
From the curriculum for a subject you will indicate the specific strategies you will use
teach, identify a topic that is suitable for a to minimise each of the possible problems
series of cooperative learning lessons. Plan identified above.
at least two lessons for this topic and
Using ICT with cooperative learning

When the original cooperative learning strategies were developed in the 1970s, it
was taken for granted that one of their key feah1res would be 'face-to-face'
interaction, and this idea persists in much of the writing about cooperative
learning. For example, Johnson and Johnson (2010) say that 'it is through
promoting each other's learning face-to-face that members become personally
committed to each other as well as to their mutual goals'. However, they also
emphasise the broader idea of promotive interaction, which they say occurs when
'members share resources and help, support, encourage, and praise each other's
efforts to learn'. Such interactions can occur electronically.
It is possible to use JCT to engage students in cooperative learning in two basic
ways - either as cooperation around computers (in a classroom) or cooperation
through computers (where the participants can be in different locations). In the
first instance, computers are simply used as tools to enhance the face-to-face
cooperation of students. They provide a shared workspace or point of reference for
obtaining information and for the development and exchange of ideas.
In the second approach, computers (or smartphones or other mobile devices)
become the prime means of communication among group members. The online
communications necessary for !CT-assisted cooperative learning can be either
synchronous (the participants are on the system at the same time) or asynchronous
(the participants are on the system at any convenient time). There are advantages
and limitations with each approach, but you should heed the cautions of Savard
et al. (1995) concerning the limited effectiveness of cooperative learning when
communication between group members is not immediate, or when some of the
group efforts are relatively anonymous.
For this form of cooperative learning you may use software specifically
designed for group interaction (such as a discussion group on a school web server),
or utilise more generic options such as wikis. Alternatively, you could have students
share information in less sophisticated ways such as email (Huang, 2006).
Whatever system is used, it is essential that it enables easy sharing and refining of
ideas so that participants are learning from their exchanges, not merely exchanging
information. The overall organisation must create a learning environment in which
the interactions among students are academically focused and productive, and it
must maintain the essential elements of cooperative learning (a cooperative task,
positive interdependence and individual accountability).
Some researchers have found that computer-assisted cooperative learning can
promote greater achievement, more successful problem solving, more student-
student interaction related to the task, and higher performance on factual
recognition, application and problem-solving test items than 'normal' cooperative
learning. It can also increase the perceived status of female students, which seems
to be partly responsible for the finding by McConnell (2000: 105) that 'there is a
greater equality in the contributions made by males and females in mixed on-line
debates than there is in the corresponding physical groups where males tend to
dominate'.
Some specific suggestions about how you can use computers as part of a
cooperative learning strategy are given by a number of authors. For example:
* Schmidt (2003) describes how to use web-based simulations as a focus for
cooperative learning in an Economics course.
* Iding et al. (2001) offer specific suggestions for using computers to support
STAD and Jigsaw when teaching Science.
* Hutchinson (2007) suggests a framework for effectively managing an online
learning environment for cooperative learning.
* Pelliccione and Craggs (2007) describe how WebQuests can be used as an
instructional tool to foster cooperative learning practices in Primary classrooms.
* Chong (2008) describes an effective use of 'edublogging' to facilitate
cooperative learning among Music students.
* Biesenback-Lucas (2004) also provides a very useful discussion of the
techniques that can be used to promote computer-based collaborative learning.
When cooperative learning is being supported with ICT, group members have
added responsibilities in helping to scaffold one another's learning. Because their
exchanges will be primarily written, posing appropriate questions, offering evaluative
comments and providing constructive criticism in a supportive way can be a
challenge. However, these types of input are critical to helping group members
restructure their knowledge and understanding. You should not assume that your
students have the skills they need to participate effectively in this form of
collaborative learning. You will need to spend time helping students to develop these
skills and learn how to manage their time, stay on task and arrive at joint decisions.
One important advantage of having students cooperate online (say, via a wiki)
is that it helps students to keep track of their learning and interactions (Reimann,
Thompson & Weinel, 2007). As your students become confident at collaborating

online, you might consider introducing them to additional tools such as Jing,
which allows easy capture and sharing of on-screen images and video.
Determining whether your cooperative

learning strategy was effective
As usual, your basic evaluation question will be 'Did the students achieve the
outcomes?' In addition, you could ask the following questions:
* Did this learning task really require cooperative group activity, or could the
learning have been achieved equally well by students working individually?
* Was this an efficient way for students to learn? Was the investment of time
worthwhile?
* Was the learning task authentic? Did the task engage learners in the type of
cooperation that adults engage in at work or elsewhere?
* Did all students participate enthusiastically in the learning activities?
* Were the students confident and successful when helping one another to learn?
* Did the students challenge the ideas and interpretations of others in their
groups, or did they passively accept everything?
* Did the activity achieve the social goals I had planned?
* Were the available learning materials sufficient to allow students to achieve the
outcomes, and did the materials cater for those students or groups who wanted
to learn more than the minimum you expected?
* Did the cooperative learning activities achieve any worthwhile outcomes that
were not planned or anticipated? How could you try to deliberately achieve
these outcomes in the future?
* How could this cooperative learning experience be improved so that it
produces better learning outcomes for the students?
Review and reflect

on your learning
Develop answers to each of these questions and discuss your answers with another
learner or with an experienced teacher.
1 How will you convince students in your classes that they should help one
another to learn rather than compete against one another?
2 Consult the syllabus for a subject you teach. Identify learning outcomes that
can be achieved effectively through cooperative learning.
3 When you are using cooperative learning, how will you deal with learners who
do not get along with their peers, or who want to work alone, or who are not
motivated, or who do not keep up with the rest of their group?
4 Why are group goals and individual accountability so important in cooperative
learning?
5 When you use the Dyadic approach to cooperative learning, what do you think
might be the advantages and disadvantages of pairing learners of similar
ability? What might be the advantages and disadvantages of pairing low
achievers with high achievers?
6 In cooperative learning, the learners are not just required to do something as a
team; they are required to learn something as a team. How will you explain
this difference to students?
7 Because team success depends on all students learning, it is necessary for
them to tutor one another rather than simply share ideas and information with
one another. What is the difference between tutoring and sharing ideas?
8 In those versions of cooperative learning where marks are allocated to learners,
there is opportunity for each member of each team to succeed, because
success is based on improvement on past performance rather than on absolute
scores. What are the advantages and limitations of this way of acknowledging
learners' achievements?
9 When students are cooperating online, what are the particular advantages and
disadvantages of the fact they will generally be communicating
asynchronously?
10 When students are learning collaboratively online, what is the main role of the
teacher?
11 If you are a Secondary teacher education student, prepare two lesson plans
that would enable you to use cooperative learning with a Year 8 class and a
Year 12 class in your specialist teaching area. What important differences are
there between these two lesson plans?
12 If you are a Primary teacher education student, prepare two lesson plans that
would enable you to use cooperative learning with a Year 4 class, with one
lesson focused on literacy and the other lesson focused on numeracy. What
important differences are there between these two lesson plans?
13 If you are an Early Childhood education student, prepare two lesson plans that
would enable you to use cooperative learning with a Kindergarten class. Which
of the guidelines in this chapter are most relevant to discussions with children
of this age?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weblinks
• Two of the most prolific researchers-writers on cooperative learning have
been D. W. and R. T. Johnson. Some of their current work is available from
the Cooperative Learning Institute at the University of Minnesota at
http://www.co-operation.org.
• The Cooperative Learning Institute website, http://www.co-operation.org,
also provides detailed information about the forms of cooperative learning
advocated by David and Roger Johnson.
• The Early Childhood Australia website (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.
org .au) has suggestions about using cooperative learning strategies with young
children.
• On the website of the International Association for the Study of Cooperation in
Education, http://www.iasce.net, you can access a wide range of
information, research and practical advice about cooperative learning.
• On the Jigsaw Classroom website (http://www.jigsaw.org), Elliot Aronson
describes how and why the Jigsaw technique was developed, and gives a
comprehensive description of how to use it.
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USING COOPERATIVE LEARNING

Some important features of

Why does it work?

motivational effects: they motivate students to learn, they motivate students to

Reasons for using cooperative learning

* Cooperative learning encourages students to verbalise their ideas and to

* Cooperative learning can help students to become socially integrated into

Issues to consider before using

group efforts) but the learning is by individuals - therefore, the individuals

¥tMfiUI LEARNING FROM AN EXPERIENCED TEACHER

!::, -+ you want to minimise tensions in the

Preparing to use cooperative learning

Implementing cooperative learning

collaborate and engage productively in learning. Cooperative learning will be most

Curry (1997) found that mixed-ability grouping can encourage lower-ability

:•HHVOi FORMING COOPERATIVE GROUPS

Guidelines for learners

Some special types of cooperative learning

How these approaches are similar

How these approaches differ

We will now consider the details of some common approaches to cooperative

Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD)

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\ Above previous average 1 2

!_Less than previous average ----------------····-----·--_..l·········--·······--~---------··--_j

Quiz score Improvement score

(rwo_marks above _previous average ----··-----·--------i----------·······-· 3 ---·········---!

i Equal to previous average

Follow steps 1 to 5 of the STAD approach.

Other STL approaches

the Jigsaw approach to cooperative learning was devised as a solution to a social

A very useful additional step in this Jigsaw procedure was described by

II HELPING STUDENTS TO LEARN THROUGH

What might go wrong when you use

Using ICT with cooperative learning

Thompson & Weinel, 2007). As your students become confident at collaborating

Determining whether your cooperative

Review and reflect

CENGAGE Visit http://www.cengagebrain.com and search for

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