Cooperative Learning

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews three cooperative learning models, which are relatively easy to implement in any classroom setting, require little or no extra cost, encourage students from a wide variety of backgrounds to interact ,and enable students with varying academic performances to collaborate and potentially improve individual performance. The author points out that the Johnson and Johnson "Learning Together" program, one of the earliest models of cooperative learning, designed in the mid-1960s, has shown to have the most positive results in clinical studies. The paper states that cooperative learning has the potential to improve social skills and to re-introduce teamwork into the competitive classroom; moreover, the success of cooperative learning shows that teamwork does not undermine individual achievement.

From the Paper:

"Slavin's Student-Teams-Achievement Division (STAD) and Teams-Games-Tournament (TGT) are similarly structured. Both models use mixed-ability teams that work together to master the material using a wide variety of methods. However, STAD includes a quiz or test at the end of each learning unit, while TGT includes an end-of-the-week tournament. Each group receives points based on performance in the tests or tournaments. Unlike Learning Together, STAD and TGT include competition between groups to motivate and encourage students to work together. Therefore, Slavin's models would work well in larger classrooms in which many groups could be formed."

More papers on Cooperative Learning:

• Term Paper # 95290 : "Cooperative Learning"
• Research Paper # 51987 : "Cooperative Learning and English Language Learners"
• Case Study # 149595 : "How Cooperative Learning Encourages Cultural Diversity and Academic Achievement"
• Analytical Essay # 54453 : "Cooperative Learning"

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