COOPERATIVE LEARNING WHAT IS IT?

GROUPS Cooperative Learning is a

group learning activity
By: Susan Regan organized in a way that
learning is dependent on the
socially structured exchange of
information between learners
in the group
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Cooperative learning is a
successful strategy in which
small groups, each with
students of different abilities,
use a variety of learning
activities to improve their
understanding of a subject.
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BENEFITS
A benefit of cooperative
The five elements of Cooperative Learning: learning is to provide students
with learning disabilities (LD),
• Positive Interdependence who have math disabilities and
social interaction difficulties,
• Face to face interaction an instructional arrangement
that fosters the application and
• Accountability practice of mathematics and
• Interpersonal and small group skills collaborative skills within a
natural setting (Johnson, 2018)
• Group Processing
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How will this be useful in an inclusion classroom?
For ELL students, cooperative
learning promotes language
acquisition by providing
According to one study performed, Cooperative learning groups help comprehensible input in a
students with learning disabilities build the social skills by providing supportive environment
them with the opportunities to participate with their peers in a positive (Kagan,1995)
manner. Students gain self-confidence and independence through
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participating in cooperative learning activities. These students become
more engaged since cooperative learning reduces off-task and Research has shown that
disruptive behaviors. This strategy produces advanced social skills and students who work in
role model behavior in students (Dietrich 2005) cooperative groups do better
on tests, especially about
reasoning and critical thinking
skills than those that do not
(Johnson and Johnson, 1989 )
TEACHERS:
Choose an approach
Choose Appropriate Content
Form Student Teams
EXAMPLES
Develop Materials
How do I use this in my Classroom?
Plan for orienting student Tasks and roles
Plan for the use of time and Space
Monitor and assist as needed
Evaluate each group's performance/product. In many cases, H
each group decides how it will demonstrate what has been
learned. Each group's work is judged on its own merit
rather than in comparison with the outcomes of other
groups.
Have the learning groups assess how well they worked
together and discuss how they can improve their functioning
and performance.

STRATEGIES

References:

Dietrich, S. L. (2005). A look at friendships between pre-school aged children with and without disabilities in two inclusive classrooms.
Journal of Early Childhood Research. 3, 193-215.
Johnson, D.W. & Johnson, R.T. (1989). Cooperative learning: What special educators need to know. The Pointer, 33, 5-10 Retrieved from
ERIC on June 24, 2018
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (2017). The use of cooperative procedures in teacher education and professional development. Journal of
education for teaching, 43 (3), 284–295. Retrieved from EBSCO on June 22,2018
Jolliffe, W., & Snaith, J. (2017). Developing cooperative learning in initial teacher education: indicators for implementation. Journal of
education for teaching, 43 (3), 307–315. Retrieved from ERIC on June 22, 2018.
Kagan, S. (1995) We can talk: Cooperative talking in the esl classroom. Retrieved from ERIC on June 22, 2018
Ott, L. E., Kephart, K., Stolle-McAllister, K., & LaCourse, W. R. (2018). Students' understanding and perceptions of a team roles in a classroom
laboratory environment. Journal of College Science Teaching, 47(4), 83-91. Retrieved from ERIC on June 21, 2018