Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is an instructional process that engages students in collaborative discussions about the content to promote learning. The discussions may involve teaching, explaining, asking questions, quizzing, or checking, in an instructional activity where students actively share in the responsibility for learning. Cooperative learning processes significantly restructure classrooms from passive learning environments, with the teacher dominating the instructional conversation, into engaging environments where students actively participate in the learning environment. Cooperative learning also attempts to change the social and motivational environment in the classroom to promote positive and supportive peer interactions and a positive orientation toward achievement and learning. This selection on cooperative learning will describe the philosophical and historical roots of cooperative learning. It will describe the theory behind the positive effects of cooperative ...