| PRED 356 | Methods
of Science and Mathematics Teaching
Chapter 7: Cooperative Learning |
1.3 Components of a Cooperative Learning Activity
In planning a cooperative learning activity, you need to decide on the following:
Teacher-Student Interaction Student-Student Interaction Task Specialization and Materials Role Expectations and Responsibilities Establishing a Cooperative Task Structure
1.3.1. Teacher-Student Interaction
One purpose of teacher-student interaction during cooperative learning is to promote independent thinking. The way you establish teacher-student interaction during cooperative learning is different from self-directed learning.
In self-directed inquiry, the interaction usually one on one, with verbal messages directed to individuals one at a time and adjusted to their zones of maximum response opportunity.
Cooperative learning occurs in groups that share a common purpose and task, so you must broaden interactions to fit the zone of maximum response opportunity that is common to most group members. Your goal is to help group become more self-reflective and aware of its own performance.In self-directed inquiry, unlike cooperative learning groups, students gradually take responsibility for their learning.
Interaction among students in cooperative learning groups is intense and prolonged.
During cooperative learning, the feedback, reinforcement, and support come from student peers in the group, as opposed to coming from you. Student-student interaction constitutes the majority of time and activity during cooperative learning. An essential ingredient of cooperative learning is each learner’s desire to facilitate the task performance of fellow group members.
Cooperative learning tasks are preplanned activities; they are timed, completed in stages, and placed within the context of the work of others. This promotes the sharing of ideas and/or materials and the coordination of efforts among individuals.
Cooperative learning uses task specialization, or “division of labor”, to break a larger task into smaller subparts on which separate groups work. Cooperative task structures have the goal of dividing and specializing the efforts of small groups of individuals across a larger task whose outcome depends on the sharing, cooperation, and collaboration of individuals within groups.
Proper assignment of roles is important to the success of cooperative learning activities. In addition to groups being assigned specialized tasks, individuals often are assigned roles to perform within groups. Some roles are group leader, researcher, recorder, and summarizer.
The success of a cooperative learning activity depends on your communication of role expectations and responsibilities and modeling them when necessary. Not only must you divide labor among learners and specialized tasks, but you also must designate roles that foster the orderly completion of task.
