The document discusses research on the benefits of cooperative learning in classrooms. It finds that when students work in groups, they are more motivated, feel greater social cohesion, can personalize learning by addressing difficulties with peers, and think through ideas more cognitively. Two key elements for effective cooperative learning are establishing group goals and ensuring individual accountability. The document also provides examples of techniques teachers can use to implement cooperative learning, such as peer evaluation of homework, student reporters, and assigning students to help peers who have not learned the material.

1. Chapter 6 – Activating Students
as Instructional Resources for
One Another
Regina Crawford & Tamara Linares

2. Chapter 6

“Even though there is a substantial
body of research that demonstrates
the extraordinary power of
collaborative and cooperative
learning, it is rarely deployed
effectively in classrooms.” (p. 133)

3. Cooperative Learning
4 main reasons why cooperative
learning has a profound effect
 1. Motivation – higher rates of effort
 2. Social cohesion – care about the
group, so higher rates of effort
 3. Personalization – peers address
difficulties
 4. Cognitive elaboration – think
through ideas


4. Studies
When group rewards depended on the
collection of the learning of individuals
within the group, members produced four
times the impact on learning versus
when a group was rewarded on a single
group product
 When peer help is elaborated
explanations, both the giver and receiver
benefitted by increasing learning by 50%
versus peer help in giving answers or
helping with procedures had no benefit
for those giving help and had a drop in
the achievement of the receiver.
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5. Studies continued

Students participating in student-led
groups benefitted almost as much as
getting one-on-one instruction from a
teacher. Plus, they learned more than
students in teacher-led groups.

6. Under right conditions, peer tutoring can
be more effective than having 1:1
teacher-student ratio
 Teacher language. Students pretend
to understand
 Girls worried about teacher time
 Boys didn’t want to look foolish
 When working with peers, students
are willing to ask one another to slow
down or repeat something.

7. 2 elements should be present for
effective cooperative learning
1. Group goals – students working AS
a group, not just working IN a group
 2. Individual accountability – students
can’t ride in on the coattails of others
 If both are present, cooperative
learning is equally effective for high
and low achievers


8. Teachers rarely practice true
cooperative learning even though they
are incorporating it.
 93% of 85 elementary teachers in 2
districts said that they practiced
cooperative learning.
 In follow-up interviews with 21 of those
teachers, on 5 teachers practiced true
collaborative learning to facilitate both
group goals and individual
accountability.

9. Useful Techniques
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C3B4ME
Peer evaluation of
homework
Homework help
board
Two stars and a wish
End-of-topic
questions
Error classification
What did we learn
today?
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Student reporter
Preflight checklist
I-You-We checklist
Reporter at random
Group-based test
prep
If you’ve learned
it, help someone
who hasn’t

10. C3B4ME

Students must have asked 3 other
students for assistance before coming
to the teacher for help.

11. Peer evaluation of homework
Involve students in checking.
 Teacher decides method. Might get a
rubric to grade their own, or swap
notebooks with another student and
grade it. Sometimes, this applied to
whole groups of students.
 If students didn’t have the work, could
not participate in group evaluation.
 Students didn’t like being excluded.
 Work was neater


12. Homework help board
At the beginning of day or
lesson, students write any questions
they may have had on the previous
night’s homework on the help board.
 Students who think they “got” the
homework and can help other
students can provide help to those
who indicated difficulties on the board.


13. Two stars and a wish
Peer assessment
 If a student gives feedback on another
student’s work, he or she must give
them 2 things they thought were good
(2 stars) and 1suggestion for
improvement (wish).
 Comments are on sticky notes (can be
removed if not helpful.
 Can take a picture of the feedback
and show to students so that they can
decide whether the feedback was


14. End-of-topic questions
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At the end of lesson, topic, etc., instead
of saying any questions, ask them to
discuss in their groups if any questions
need to be answered. More likely to get
response because students don’t want to
look foolish in front of others.
Can even tell students that each group
needs to generate at least 1 question.
Teacher collects questions, sorts them,
and deals with like questions at the same
time.

15. Error classification
Used when student errors are
straightforward
 Can combine like
strengths/weaknesses for corrections


16. What did we learn today?
At the end of a lesson, groups
generate a list of items they learned
during the lesson
 Each group reports one thing
 # of items in the list needs to be the
same as the # of groups so each
group can mention at least 1 thing not
mentioned by another group


17. Student reporter
At the beginning of a lesson (or end of
a previous one) a student is selected
as a reporter.
 Teacher stops 10 minutes before the
end of the lesson and student reporter
summarized main points of the lesson
and attempts to answer questions
students may have. If can’t
answer, asks other classmates to
help.


18. Preflight Checklist
Before an assignment is submitted, it
has to be signed of by a buddy, who
checks to make sure the assignment
met all the requirements
 Works well when there are several
requirements for the assignment
(science lab report)
 Buddy is accountable


19. I-You-We checklist

At the end of an
assignment/lesson, students writes
something about their own
contribution to the lesson, something
about another student’s
contribution, and something about the
quality of work of the group as a whole

20. Reporter at random
When assigning roles in groups, not a
good idea to assign reporter at the
beginning. Other students feel that
they are off the hook and can back off.
 Individual accountability is lessened.


21. Group-based test prep
When preparing for a test, organize in
groups and assign each member an
aspect to review. Each student given
a task card and suggestions on how to
do it.
 Next day, each member presents task
to the group. Rest of group responds
to presentation using colored cups
(green, yellow, red).
 Group decides if anything needs to be
added to the explanation


22. If you’ve learned it, help
someone who hasn’t
Remember, if students are giving
elaborated explanations (instead of
just an answer), both giver and
receiver benefit.
 High achieving students might resist
peer tutoring for fear of being held
back and think they’re doing the
teacher’s job (especially math)
 To counter, emphasize that getting the
right answer isn’t enough. Need to be
able to communicate findings.


23. continued
Cultural norms – In Japan, teacher keeps class
together. If a student understands something but
others don’t, teacher’s job is to help those who
need help
 Those students in middle can become
spectators. Half-ability groups (weak with middle
and middle with strong). As many students as
possible are engaged in learning
 Some teachers concerned it’s not fair. Primary
purpose of assessment not to sort and rank and
grade students. Be careful to not create
incentives for students to create low-quality work.
 Assessments should be used to adjust
instruction
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