definition of cooperative
learning
Cooperative learning is a method of instruction that has students working
together in groups, usually with the goal of completing a specific task. This
method can help students develop leadership skills and the ability to work with
others as a team. However, gifted students are often placed in groups with
non-gifted children, sometimes with the goal of having the gifted student help
the others, either directly or by example. In these instances, the gifted
student is not likely to learn anything new, while the non-gifted students are
not likely to develop any leadership skills. Five recently published methods
for conducting cooperative small-group learning in the classroom, and the
experimental studies conducted by the authors of these methods are examined,
evaluated, and compared in this study. The five methods are: Aronson’s Jigsaw
classroom, DeVries’ Teams-Games-Tournaments (TGT), Slavin’s Student Teams and
Academic Divisions (STAD), the Johnsons’ cooperative learning approach, and the
Sharans’ Small-group Teaching method. The former three methods are categorized
as Peer-Tutoring methods, while the latter two are classified as examples of a
Group-Investigation (G-I) approach. Findings are considered from experimental
studies with these five methods, in terms of their differential effects on
academic achievement, students’ attitudes, and on ethnic relations in
desegregated classrooms. The implications of the distinction between
Peer-Tutoring and G-I methods are explored. New directions for research are
suggested with these cooperative small-group techniques which appear to exert
noteworthy effects on a variety of cognitive and social-affective variables.
A.STAD IN COOPERATIVE
LEARNING
The definition STAD some of experts
According to Slavin,
STAD get children involved in active learning and simultaneously builds both a
team.
Roland (1997) reports,
show that when the STAD approaches compared with the whole class method,
students generally evidence greater development of both oral interaction skills
and social interaction skills. Assigned group tasks must be aligned with
targeted objectives, such as comprehending, translating, making connections,
assigning meanings, organizing the data, and assessing the relevancy and uses
of the information they study.
So, we can conclude that STAD in cooperative learningclassrooms is to make students sit in groups and interact
with one another.
STAD process:
(1) the teacher explained,
(1) the teacher explained,
(2) Students learn together in teams
(3) test-end,
(4) Evaluation
and award; practice quizzes and final test quiz
Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD)
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A cooperative learning method for
mixed-ability groupings involving team recognition and group responsibility
for individual learning.
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Student Teams-Achievement
Divisions (STAD) In
Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD) (Slavin, 1994a), students are
assigned to four-member learning teams that are mixed in performance level,
gender, and ethnicity. The teacher presents a lesson, and then students work
within their teams to make sure that all team members have mastered the
lesson. Finally, all students take individual quizzes on the material, at
which time they may not help one another.
Students’ quiz scores are compared to their own past averages, and points are
awarded on the basis of the degree to which students meet or exceed their own
earlier performance. These points are then summed to form team scores, and
teams that meet certain criteria may earn certificates or other rewards. In a
related method called Teams-Games-Tournaments (TGT), students play games with
members of other teams to add points to their team scores.
STAD and TGT have been used in a wide variety of subjects, from mathematics
to language arts to social studies, and have been used from second grade
through college. The STAD method is most appropriate for teaching
well-defined objectives with single right answers, such as mathematical
computations and applications, language usage and mechanics, geography and
map skills, and science facts and concepts. However, it can easily be adapted
for use with less well-defined objectives by incorporating more open-ended
assessments, such as essays or performances.
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Cooperative Integrated Reading and
Composition (CIRC)
A comprehensive program for
teaching reading and writing in the upper elementary grades; students work in
four-member cooperative learning teams.
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Cooperative Integrated Reading and
Composition (CIRC)
Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) (Stevens & Slavin,
1995a) is a comprehensive program for teaching reading and writing in the
upper elementary grades. Students work in four-member cooperative learning
teams. They engage in a series of activities with one another, including
reading to one another, making predictions about how narrative stories will
come out, summarizing stories to one another, writing responses to stories,
and practicing spelling, decoding, and vocabulary. They also work together to
master main ideas and other comprehension skills. During language arts
periods, students engage in writing drafts, revising and editing one another’s
work, and preparing for publication of team books. Three studies of the CIRC
program have found positive effects on students’ reading skills, including
improved scores on standardized reading and language tests (Stevens et al.,
1987; Stevens & Slavin, 1991, 1995a).
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Jigsaw
A cooperative learning model in
which students are assigned to six-member teams to work on academic material
that has been broken down into sections for each member.
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Jigsaw In Jigsaw (Aronson, Blaney,
Stephen, Sikes, & Snapp, 1978), students are assigned to six member teams
to work on academic material that has been broken down into sections. For
example, a biography might be divided into early life, first accomplishments,
major setbacks, later life, and impact on history. Each team member reads his
or her section. Next members of different teams who have studied the same
sections meet in expert groups to discuss their sections. Then the students
return to their teams and take turns teaching their teammates about their sections.
Since the only way students can learn sections other than their own is to
listen carefully to their teammates, they are motivated to support and show
interest in one another’s work. In a modification of this approach called
Jigsaw II (Slavin, 1994a), students work in four- or five-member teams, as in
STAD. Instead of each student being assigned a unique section, all students
read a common text, such as a book chapter, a short story, or a biography.
However, each student receives a topic on which to become an expert. Students
with the same topics meet in expert groups to discuss them, after which they
return to their teams to teach what they have learned to their teammates. The
students take individual quizzes, which result in team scores, as in STAD.
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Learning Together
A cooperative learning model in
which students in four- or five-member heterogeneous groups work together on
assignments
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Learning Together Learning Together, a model
of cooperative learning developed by David Johnson and Roger Johnson (1999),
involves students working in four- or five-member heterogeneous groups on
assignments. The groups hand in a single completed assignment and receive
praise and rewards based on the group product. This method emphasizes
team-building activities before students begin working together and regular
discussions within groups about how well they are working together.
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Group Investigation
A cooperative learning model in
which students work in small groups using cooperative inquiry, group discussion,
and cooperative planning and projects, and then make presentations to the
whole class on their findings.
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Group Investigation Group Investigation (Sharan
& Sharan, 1992) is a general classroom organization plan in which
students work in small groups using cooperative inquiry, group discussion,
and cooperative planning and projects. In this method, students form their
own two- to six-member groups. After choosing subtopics from a unit that the
entire class is studying, the groups break their subtopics into individual
tasks and carry out the activities that are necessary to prepare group
reports. Each group then makes a presentation or display to communicate its
findings to the entire class.
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Cooperative Scripting
A study method in which students
work in pairs and take turns orally summarizing sections of material to be
learned.
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Cooperative Scripting Many students find it helpful to
get together with classmates to discuss material they have read or heard in
class. A formalization of this age-old practice has been researched by
Dansereau (1985) and his colleagues. In it, students work in pairs and take
turns summarizing sections of the material for one another. While one student
summarizes, the other listens and corrects any errors or omissions. Then the
two students switch roles, continuing in this manner until they have covered
all the material to be learned. A series of studies of this cooperative
scripting method has consistently found that students who study this way
learn and retain far more than students who summarize on their own or who
simply read the material (Newbern, Dansereau, Patterson, & Wallace,
1994). It is interesting that while both participants in the cooperative
pairs gain from the activity, the larger gains are seen in the sections that
students teach to their partners rather than in those for which they serve as
listeners (Spurlin, Dansereau, Larson, & Brooks, 1984). More recent
studies of various forms of peer tutoring find similar results (Fuchs &
Fuchs, 1997; King, 1997, 1998).
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