Cooperative learning involves students working in small, mixed-ability groups to complete instructional tasks. It can be used for any subject and age group. The purpose is to engage students and make them accountable for their own learning and that of their peers. Teachers assign heterogeneous groups and may assign roles within each group. Students work simultaneously on tasks and are individually accountable. There are eight essential elements to ensure positive interdependence and participation from all group members.
2. What is Cooperative Learning?
• The textbook definition of cooperative is that it consists of “students
working together in small, mixed-ability learning teams to address
specific instructional tasks (Burden & Byrd, 2016, p. 162-163).
• What this means is that cooperative learning is learning in groups, and
discussing content and completing assignments as a team rather than
an individual.
3. When can Cooperative Learning be used?
• Cooperative learning is appropriate
for any age group and can benefit
any class K-12.
• This method can also be used for
almost any subject. Some
examples are: math, science,
English and language arts, and
social studies
• In the classroom, cooperative
learning would typically be used
during the procedures.
• For example, the teacher would
give an introduction of the content
and assignment, assign groups,
and allow the students to complete
work and explore the topic
together. The close to a lesson
using cooperative learning could be
to let students share and reflect on
what they have learned in groups
and to review the information with
them.
4. What is the purpose of Cooperative Learning?
• The purpose of cooperative learning is to engage students and allow
them to be accountable for their own learning and the learning of their
peers (Burden & Byrd, 2016, p. 163).
• When students are responsible for their own learning, the intention is
that they will explore the content more thoroughly than they would if a
teacher was simply lecturing on the topic.
5. What are the steps?
• The steps to cooperative learning are pretty standard, but can be
modified for any classroom.
• Essentially what will happen is:
– Teacher assigns students to groups
– Teacher may assign jobs to students in groups such as recorder, information
gatherer, organizer, and speaker (Burden & Byrd, 2016, p. 163).
– Give groups tasks to complete and allowing students to split work evenly based
on group role
6. Elements of Cooperative Learning
• There are eight essential elements to cooperative learning described in the textbook.
1. Heterogeneous grouping – groups should consist of students with a wide range of characteristics.
2. Positive interdependence – to succeed individually, students must also succeed as a group.
3. Face-to-face-interaction – students are comfortable learning and sharing together and are supportive
of others.
4. Simultaneous interaction – groups work together at the same time.
5. Equal participation – all students in a group participate and contribute equally.
6. Individual accountability – each student is responsible to contribute a certain amount of work to the
group’s assignment.
7. Interpersonal and small-group skills – consists of effective communication, respect for others, asking
relevant questions, being an active member, being present, and resolving conflict.
8. Collaborative skills – reflection on how students’ groups were effective and what could be done to
improve next time.
7. A Quick Video
• Cooperative Learning Model: Strategies and Examples
• 0:00 – 1:00 → Explanation
• 2:12 – 3:13 → Examples
8. References
• Information from:
Burden, P. R., & Byrd, D. M. (2016). Methods for Effective Teaching:
Meeting the Needs of All Students (Page 164). Pearson Education.
• Images:
- https://www.cooperativelearner.com/round-robin.html
- http://helpwritingessays.net/20/49/student-group-work-clipart/group-work-
gone-wrong-best-practices-for-cooperative-learning-regarding-student-group-
work-clipart
- https://melbournechapter.net/explore/school-subjects-clipart/
- https://ubisafe.org/explore/cooperative-clipart-observational-learning/
