Cooperative Learning

Provide students with opportunities to interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance their learning.

Generalizations From Research

1. Organizing groups based on ability levels should be done sparingly.
2. Cooperative learning groups should be rather small in size.
3. Cooperative learning should be used consistently and systematically, but should not be overused.

Example Activities

• Project-Based Learning
• Wikis
• Collaborative Writing

Special Note: Cooperative Learning IS NOT only "collaborative groups." Collaborative Groups are one form of Cooperative Learning, and Cooperative Learning is anything that involves students interacting with one another in a learning process.

Recommendations & Ideas

1. Use a variety of criteria to group students- rubrics
2. Use informal, formal, and base groups
3. Keep groups to a manageable size
4. Combine cooperative learning with other classroom structures

Information presented above in the definition is from McREL, and generalizations from research, and recommendations & ideas is from Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement (ASCD)(Robert J. Marzano, Debra J. Pickering, Jane E. Pollock).

Web 2.0 Connections

Category Key: and links to more web tools

SD = Identifying Similarities and Differences CL = Cooperative Learning SNT = Summarizing and Note-Taking ER = Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition HP = Homework and Practice NR = Nonlinguistic Representation OF = Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback HYP = Generating and Testing Hypotheses QCO = Questions, Cues, and Advance Organizers