Cooperative Learning

Cooperativelearning has been defined as “small groups of learners working together as a team to solve a problem, complete a task, or accomplish a common goal”  (Artz & Newman, 1990, p. 448).  The cooperative learning model requires student cooperation and interdependence in its task, goal, and reward structures. 

The idea is that lessons are created in such a way that students must cooperate in order to achieve their learning objectives.

            Slavin (1995) says that cooperative learning methods share the idea that students work together to learn and are responsible for their teammates learning as well as their own. It means that in cooperative learning students learn together, contribute their own thought and have responsibility for the learning achievement either individually or in group.

            They are five elements of cooperative learning. They are:

1.      Positive interdependence

Positive interdependence is the feeling among a group of students that what helps any member of the group helps everyone in the group, and what hurts any member of the group hurts everyone in the group. In other word, positive interdependence means that group members feel that they “sink or swim together.”

2.      Collaborative

The first time most teachers ask their students to study in group, it quickly becomes clear that students lack the necessary skill to work effectively with others. Thus, teachers want to teach these collaborative skills along with academic content.

3.      Processing Group Interaction

Processing means giving students the time and procedures to analyze how well their groups are functioning and how well they are using the necessary collaborative skills. Processing can be individual, team-wide, or at the whole collaborative class level.

4.      Heterogeneous Grouping

In cooperative learning, students usually be placed by the teacher in group which are heterogeneous on such dimensions as past achievement, diligence, ethnicity, and sex. Mixing students by achievement is encourage in order to promote peer tutoring, to provide low achievers with models of good study habits, and to improve relations between students.

5.      Individual Accountability

Students must feel that they are accountable for helping to complete a task and for mastering material.

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