**4. Outcomes of cooperative learning**

**2.** Teaches the academic content students are expected to master and apply. The instructor then explains the (a) academic task to be completed, (b) the criteria used to determine the degree of students' success, (c) positive interdependence, (d) individual accountability,

**3.** Monitors the functioning of the learning groups and intervenes to (a) teach needed social

**4.** Uses the preset criteria for excellent to evaluate student performance. The instructor then

Ref. [1] define *informal cooperative learning* as students working together to achieve a joint learning goal in temporary, ad-hoc groups that last from a few minutes to one class period. During direct teaching, such as a lecture, demonstration, or video, the teacher structures informal cooperative learning groups. Students engage in three-to-five minute focused discussions before and after the direct teaching and three-to-five minute turn-to-your-partner discussions interspersed throughout the direct teaching. Informal cooperative learning can create a mood conducive to learning, focus student attention on the material to be learned, set expectations as to what will be covered in a class session, ensure that students cognitively process the material being taught, and provide closure to an instructional session. During direct teaching the instructor needs to ensure that students do the intellectual work of explaining what they are learning, conceptually organizing the material, summarizing it, and integrating it into

*Cooperative base groups* are long-term, heterogeneous cooperative learning groups with stable membership in which students provide one another with support, encouragement, and assistance to make academic progress by attending class, completing assignments, learning assigned material) [1]. The use of base groups tends to improve attendance, personalizes the work required and the school experience, and improves the quality and quantity of learning. Base groups have permanent membership and provide the long-term caring peer relationships necessary to help students developed in healthy ways cognitively and socially as well as influence members to exert effort in striving to achieve. Base groups formally meet to provide help and assistance to each other, verify that each member is completing assignments and progressing satisfactory through the academic program, and discuss the academic progress of each member. It is especially important to have base groups in large classes or schools and

Johnson and Johnson [20] define *constructive controversy* as one person's ideas, information, conclusions, theories, and opinions being incompatible with those of another, and the two seek to reach an agreement that reflects their best reasoned judgment. Constructive controversy

ensures that groups process how effectively members worked together.

and (e) expected student behaviors.

64 Active Learning - Beyond the Future

**3.2. Informal cooperative learning**

existing conceptual frameworks.

when the subject matter is complex and difficult.

**3.3. Cooperative base groups**

**3.4. Constructive controversy**

skills and (b) provide needed academic assistance.

Cooperative efforts result in numerous outcomes that may be subsumed into three broad categories: effort to achieve, positive interpersonal relationships, and psychological adjustment. The social interdependence research has considerable generalizability as (a) research participants have varied as to economic class, age, gender, and culture, (b) research tasks and measures of the dependent variables have varied widely, and (c) many different researchers with markedly different orientations working in different settings and in different decades have conducted the studies. We now have over 1200 studies on cooperative, competitive, and individualistic efforts from which we can derive effect sizes. This is far more evidence than exists for most other aspects of human interaction.

Cooperating to achieve a common goal results in higher achievement and greater productivity compared to competitive or individualistic efforts [10, 13, 19]. There is so much research that confirms this finding that it stands as one of the strongest principles of social and organizational psychology. Cooperation also resulted in more frequent generation of new ideas and solutions (i.e., *process gain*), more higher-level reasoning, and greater transfer of what is learned (i.e., *group to individual transfer*) than competitive or individualistic efforts. The superiority of cooperative efforts (as compared to competitive and individualistic efforts) increased as the task became more conceptual, the more higher-level reasoning and critical thinking was required, the more desired was problem solving, the more creativity was desired, the more long-term retention was required, and the greater the need for application of what was learned.

More positive and committed relationships develop in cooperative than in competitive or individualistic situations [10, 13, 19]. This is true when individuals are homogeneous. It is also true when individuals differ in ethnic membership, intellectual ability, handicapping conditions, culture, social class, and gender. Cooperative learning tends to be essential for classes with diverse students from different ethnic groups and handicapping conditions [10]. The more positive relationships that result from cooperative learning tends to reduce absenteeism and turnover, increase member commitment to academic goals, increase feelings of personal responsibility to the group and school, increase willingness to take on difficult tasks, increase motivation to achieve and persistence in working toward goal achievement, increase morale, increase readiness to endure pain and frustration on behalf of the group, increase readiness to defend the group against external criticism or attack, increase readiness to listen to and be influenced by classmates, increase commitment to each other's academic success, and increases academic productivity. Cooperating on a task, compared to competing or working individualistically, also results in more task-oriented and personal social support.

Each group member is individually accountable to contribute his or her fair share of the group's work. Individual accountability exists when the performance of each individual student is assessed and the results are given back as feedback to the group and the individual [10]. Individual accountability includes completing one's share of the work and facilitating the work of other group members. A purpose of cooperative learning is to make each group member a stronger individual. There is considerable group-to-individual transfer. Students learn together so that they can subsequently perform higher as individuals. Individual accountability may be structured by (a) observing students as they work together and documenting the contributions of each member, (b) having each student explain what they have

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Students promote each other's success by helping, assisting, praising, encouraging, and supporting each other's efforts to learn [10]. Doing so results in such cognitive processes as discussing the nature of the concepts being learned, orally explaining to others how to solve problems, teaching one's knowledge to classmates, challenging each other's reasoning and conclusions, and connecting present with past learning. Promotive interaction also includes interpersonal processes such as supporting and encouraging efforts to learn, jointly celebrat-

Contributing to the success of a cooperative effort requires interpersonal and small group skills. In cooperative learning groups, students are expected to use social skills appropriately [10]. Leadership, trust-building, communication, decision-making, and conflict-management skills have to be taught just as purposefully and precisely as academic skills. How to teach

Finally, students need to engage in group processing. Group processing may be defined as the examination of the effectiveness of the process members use to maximize their own and each other's learning, so that ways to improve the process may be identified [10]. Group members need to (a) describe what member actions are helpful and unhelpful in ensuring that all group members (a) achieve and maintain effective working relationships, (b) decide what behaviors

These five basic elements are the educator's best resource. They enable instructors to (a) structure for cooperative learning any lesson in any subject area with any set of curriculum materials, (b) fine-tune and adapt cooperative learning to their specific students, needs, and circumstances, and (c) intervene in malfunctioning groups to improve their effectiveness. These five essential elements allow instructors to structure any lesson for student activeness and engagement. It is only when these five aspects are carefully structured in a lesson that the lesson becomes truly

Characteristics of active learning are that students engage in dialogs, interact with classmates in small groups, generate new ideas and cognitive structures within the groups, and coordinate with groupmates as to the direction and speed of the work. Active learning

learned to a classmate, or (c) giving an individual test to each student.

ing the group's success, and modeling appropriate use of social skills.

students social skills is the focus of Johnson [21] and Johnson and Johnson [20].

to continue or change and (c) celebrate group members' hard work and success [22].

cooperative and students become active and engaged.

**6. Return to active learning**

Working cooperatively with peers, and valuing cooperation, results in greater psychological health and higher self-esteem than does competing with peers or working independently [10, 13]. Personal ego-strength, self-confidence, independence, and autonomy are all promoted by being involved in cooperative efforts with caring people, who are committed to each other's success and well-being. When individuals work together to complete assignments, through their interaction they master needed social skills and competencies, promote each other's success (gaining self-worth), and form both academic and personal relationships (creating the basis for healthy social development).

When schools are dominated by cooperative efforts, students' psychological adjustment and health tend to increase. The more students cooperate with each other, the higher tends to be their self-esteem, productivity, acceptance and support of classmates, and autonomy and independence. Working cooperatively with peers is not a luxury. It is an absolute necessity for students' healthy development and ability to function independently.
