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INTRODUCTION

One way of instilling students with skills necessary to become productive and
successful in class is through the use of cooperative learning.This is because students
will be actively involved in their learning process .The writer will explore in detail the
advantages and disadvantages associated with using the cooperative method.Some of
the advantages are promoting social interaction, promoting positive attitude towards
learning and it accommodates different learning styles like Kinesthetics, auditory and
visual however the teacher may lose control of the class and it is time consuming. The
writer will also define cooperative learning and secondary school.

DEFINITION OF TERMS
COOPERATIVE learning
According to Peters(2001) cooperative learning is a teaching
strategy in which small teams each with students of different
ability levels use a variety learning activities to improve their
understanding of a subject.In line with the above Mcbrien(1997)
defines cooperative learning as the instructional use of small
groups so that students work together to maximise their own and
each others learning.One can therefore define cooperative
learning as a methodology that employs a variety of learning
activities to improve students understanding of a subject by
using different approaches.

Secondary school
Johnson(2000) defines a school as an institution designed to
provide learning spaces and learning environment for teaching
of students.To add to the above a school is defined by
Marzano(2003) as an institution at which instruction is given in
a particular discipline.From the above a secondary school can be
defined as an institution comprising of mainly teenager's for
educating children that is drilling in a specific knowledge or
skill.

THEMES
ADVANTAGES

Promotes critical thinking

According to Marzano.(2003) cooperative learning in a class
promotes critical thinking.For Johnson.(1998) students are being
asked to come up with the answers to questions through
discussions and collaboration necessitating them to think deeply
about the question being asked .With the lecture method method
being used students do not have that time to critically analyse an
asked question let alone have time to even think it through but
with the cooperative learning the pupils have enough time to
critically analyse a question in detail before giving the answer.If
a student is asked about the effects of price control during a
lecture most students will answer simple random answers or
even say that they do not know the effect but with enough time
to analyse the question in their groups they can critically analyse
the effects in detail.

Promotes social interactions

Sherman.(2005) postulated that with cooperative learning
students benefit in a number of ways from the social
perspectives by having the students explain their reasoning and
conclusions.Cooperative learning helps develops oral
communication skills.Just because of the social interaction
among students cooperative learning can be used to model the
appropriate social behaviours necessary for employment
situations.Of the same view is Panitz.(2012)who says that by
following the appropriate structuring of cooperative learning
students are able to develop and practice skills that will be
needed to function in society and the workplace .These skills
include leadership, decision making, communication and
conflict management. When you are working in a group of
students with the same objective the social life of pupils change
those who didn't know how to share can learn how to do it, and
every group needs a leader those characteristics may be made
during the cooperative learning. When people work as a group
conflict is bound to happen but it has to be resolved also thus
conflict management by one of the students and not by the
teacher

Promotes diversity among students

Slavin.(2003) says that research has proved that cooperative
learning builds diversity awareness among students.It
encourages students to use their differences to help each other
because students are placed in a situation where they are able to
interact with peers that they otherwise may never socialize with
behaviours which might appear odd in other settings become
understandable when students are given the opportunity for
students to defend their reasoning .According toSheman.(2005)
in a classroom situation there is very little opportunity for
students to defend their perspectives. As students observe each
other's reasoning process there is more room to understand and
appreciate their differences. As a result more deeper of cultural
and individual difference is developed.In addition because
students are placed in a supportive environment where group
processing skills are more likely to accept the difference than
tbey would in a competitive ,non interactive environment.
Motivates
Johnson. (1998) postulated that students perceive that their
success of failure is dependent upon their ability to work
together as a group. Students are likely to encourage each other
to do whatever helps the group succeed .They are also more
likely to help each other with the task at hand.According to
Panitz(2012) receiving encouragement in a cooperative setting
from bothe teacher and peers helps develop higher efficacy and
students grades tend to increase.Learning on their own
producing the needed answers on its own motivates the pupils to
like learning .Even those whole absconded lesson before
because of routine lecture method are then motivated to attend
to their lessons.Those who are shy to speak before in front of the
whole class can now speak and are motivated by their peers
encouragement.Thus cooperative learning must be employed
when teaching.

Creates an atmosphere for achievement

According to Marzano.(2003) cooperative learning utilizes ideas
of Vygosky,Piaget and Kohlberg in that both the individual and
the social setting are active dynamics in the learning process as
students work towards acquiring both knowledge and social
skills. It is a teaching strategy which allows students to work
together in small groups with individuals of various talent
,abilities and backgrounds to accomplish a common goal.Each
individual team member is responsible for learning the material
and also for helping the other members of the team .Students
work together until each group member successfully
understands and complete the assignment thus creating "an
atmosphere of achievement."To add on Panitz(2012) say that
because of the above they frame new concepts by basing their
conclusions on prior knowledge. This process results in a deeper
understanding of the material and more potential to retain the
material. In a group one will aim to produce good results to
make the group proud like during a seminar every group work
hard towards giving the best presentation for your group thus a
moving one step towards achieving academic goals.

Academic benefit
According to Johnson. (2000) research indicates that students
who were taught cooperative methods learned and retained
significantly more information than students being taught by
other methods .He says requiring students to verbalize their
ideas to the group helps them develop more clear concepts thus
the thought process becomes fully embedded in the student's
memory.Vygosky supports this concept in his research on
egocentric speech by claiming that verbalisation plays a
significant role in task solution With same view is Panitz (2012)
who says that discussion within the group lead to more frequent
summarization because the students are constantly explaining
and elaborating which in turn validates and streghten the learnt
concepts .Marzano(2003) says that students also benefit
academically in the sense that there is more potential for success
when students work in groups. Individuals tend to give up when
they get stuck whereas a group of students finds a way to keep
on going.An individual can give up on solving mathematics
problems but as a group they can help each other till they get an
answer.

Caters for students with special needs

McBrien(1997) postulated that cooperative methods are flexible
and can easily be adapted for students with special needs .The
fast learners are mixed with slow learners thus because of group
interactions the slow learners can grasp the concept because the
fast learners or the gifted can explain to them stage by stage
because the group can not afford to be let down by one
person.According toSherman(2005) this type of learning
environment allows for improved social acceptance of
mainstreamed students with learning disabilities. Those pupils
who are shy to talk because of the failure to really express
themselves can do it in a group set up .Those who have the
language disability are not sidelined but are involved in the
learning environment

DISADVANTAGES
Loss of control
Teachers who are unfamiliar with cooperative learning may not
accept this style of learning because they may feel they will lose
control of their classroom,.Slavin(2003).According
toPeters(2001) cooperative learning is a structured approach that
requires instructor support and guidance.In order for cooperative
to be utilised in the classroom instructors must receive training
to be proficient in implementing the techniques .Maximum
learning will emerge only if proper training is not received by
the instructor and then transfered to the student.If no proper
training is received it means the loss of control is experienced.
The class may do what they want even though they will be
having a task, the students may even divert the attention and
discuss latest news.It needs proper control to achieve set
objectives.

Takes time to implementg and time consuming

According to Johnson(1998) cooperative learning takes time to
implement therefore the initial lessons tend to be longer .For
example at a secondary school where the lessons are 30 minutes
it means 2-3 lessons are lost trying to explain and form these
groups.They are really time consuming in that the time taken by
a teacher to put the groups in place then plan the task and get the
ball rolling.The training that they also need before implementing
makes it difficult and time consuming.

Group work resistance from pupils

for Sherman (2005) depending on the age level ,students may
resist using cooperative learning in their classes.Lectures does
not require much interaction and participation from the students
therefore they can as much or as little from the classes as they
like.Being required to work in a group may ruffle a few feathers
with the students because now they a are being asked to
participate and contribute to their learning .Adding on
McBrien(1997)says that students are also asked to learn new
concepts and taught how to working a group.They may not be
accustomed to working in a group and therefore may be unsure
of the dynamics involved in group work.This resistance will
have a negative impact on the academics of the pupils.pupils
benefit from the cooperative only if they want to and this will
become a problem as the teacher may assume the students are
benefitting whereas in actual essence they are benefiting from
that.

Grouping effects
Slavin(2003)postulated that since cooperative learning is centred
on proup work students may be concerned that other members
of their group are going to bring their grades down. This is
usually true if students are grouped by mixed ability ,requiring
higher ability students to guide lower ability
students.marzano(2003) is of the view that mixed ability
grouping allows for all group members to be involved though
the type of involvement differs .Advanced students doing all the
work and struggling students not being motivated to be involved
at all.There are also concerns that gifted students are held back
by the lower ability in their group .If students are grouped with
others of the same ability level ,then the lower ability group may
feel frustrated and unmotivated to try.This is also true of those
who are grouped by gender or race because it may support
stereotypes that certain sub areas are dominated by certain
groups.If you group by ability at form 4 the lower ability group
will not register for that subject and if one mixes them it is the
gifted who do the work only

CONCLUSION
From the above discussion the write can say that the cooperative
learning method should be adopted by all teachers to be used in
school because of the different advantages associated with it
which include enabling critic thinking amongst students, the
students become independent learners and that it caters for a
mixed ability ability class although it has to treated with care for
if not handled well the teacher may lose control of the class as
well as losing lots of learning time for it is difficult to
implement.But it is however the best method of teaching
student.
REFERENCE.
1.Johnson.D(1998).Learning together and alone,Edina,MN
Interactions publishers.
2.Johnson.D(2000).Cooperation in the classroom,Edina,MN
Interaction publishers.
3.McBrien S.(1997).The language of learning,Alexandra
4.Panitz.M(2012),A definition of cooperative
learning.Boston,Bacon publishers.
5.PetersD(2001).http:\\www.cooplearning.blog.co.UK
6.Sherman.P(2005) Cooperative learning in post secondary
education.Chicago
7.MarzanoR.(2003)http://home.capecod.net.coopbenefits.