35.3 The Nature of Cooperative Learning

The best way to conduct technology-assisted instruction is to embed it in cooperative learning. To understand technology-assisted cooperative learning, you must understand the nature of cooperative learning, the theoretical foundations on which it is based, the research validating its use, the distinctions between cooperative learning and other types of instructional groups, and the basic elements that make cooperation work.

Cooperation is working together to accomplish shared goals (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Within cooperative activities, individuals seek outcomes that are beneficial to themselves and beneficial to all other group members. Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning. In cooperative-learning situations, there is a positive interdependence among students' goal attainments; students perceive that they can reach their learning goals if and only if the other students in the learning group also reach ' their goals (Deutsch, 1962; Johnson & Johnson, 1989). There are four types of cooper ative learning that may be used in combination with instructional technology: formal cooperative learning, informal cooperative learning, cooperative base groups, and academic controversy.

Formal cooperative learning is students working together, for one class period to several weeks, to achieve shared learning goals and complete jointly specific tasks and assignments-such as decision making or problem solving, completing a curriculum unit, writing a report, conducting a survey or experiment, or reading a chapter or reference book, learning vocabulary, or answering questions at the end of the chapter (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 1992, 1993). Any course requirement or assignment may be reformulated to be cooperative. In formal cooperative learning groups, teachers:

1. Specify the objectivesfor the lesson. In every lesson there should be an academic objective specifying the concepts and strategies to be learned and a social skills objective specifying the interpersonal or smallgroup skill to be used and mastered during the lesson.
2. Make a number of preinstructional decisions. A teacher has to decide on the size of groups, the method of assigning students to groups, the roles students.will be assigned, the materials needed to conduct the lesson, and the way the room will be arranged.
3. Explain the task and the positive interdependence. A teacher clearly defines the assignment, teaches the required concepts and strategies, specifies the positive interdependence and individual accountability, gives the criteria for success, and explains the expected social skills to be engaged in.
4. Monitor students' learning and intervene within the groups to provide task assistance or to increase students' interpersonal and group skills. A teacher systematically observes and collects data on each group as it works. When assistance is needed, the teacher intervenes to assist students in completing the task accurately and in working together effectively.
5. Evaluate students' learning and help students process how well their groups functioned. Students' learning is carefully assessed and student performances are evaluated. Members of the learning groups then process how effectively they have been working together.

Informal cooperative learning consists of having students work together to achieve a joint learning goal in temporary, ad-hoc groups that last from a few minutes to one class period (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 1992; Johnson, Johnson & Smith, 1991). During a lecture, demonstration, or film, ad-hoc groups can be used to focus student attention on the material to be learned, set a mood conducive to learning, help 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 instructional challenge for the teacher is to ensure that students do the intellectual work of organizing material, explaining it, summarizing it, and integrating it into existing conceptual structures. Informal cooperative learning groups are often organized so that students engage in 3- to 5-minutefocused discussions before and after a lecture, and 2- to 3-minute turn-to-your-partner discussions interspersed throughout a lecture.

Cooperative base groups are long-term, heterogeneous cooperative learning groups with stable membership (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 1992; Johnson, Johnson & Smith, 1991). The purposes of the base group are to give the support, help, encouragement, and assistance each member needs to make academic progress (attend class, complete all assignments, learn) and develop cognitively and socially in healthy ways, Base groups meet daily in elementary school and twice a week in secondary school (or whenever the class meets). They are permanent (lasting from one to several years) and provide the long-term caring peer relationships necessary to influence members consistently to work hard in school. They formally meet to discuss the academic progress of each member, provide help and assistance to each other, and verify that each member is completing assignments and progressing satisfactorily through the academic program. Base groups may also be able for letting absent group members know what responsi went on in class when they miss a session. Informally, members interact every day within and between classes, discussing assignments and helping each other with homework. The use of base groups tends to improve attendance, personalizes the work required and the school experience, and improve the quality and quantity of learning. The larger the class or school and the more complex and difficult the subject matter, the more important it is to have base groups. Base groups are also helpful in structuring homerooms and when a teacher meets with a number of advisors.

When students work together in cooperative groups, they will often disagree and argue with each other. Using intellectual conflicts for instructional purposes is one of the most dynamic and involving, yet least-used, teaching strategies. The fourth type of cooperative learning is academic controversy, which exists when one student's ideas, information, conclusions, theories, and opinions are incompatible with those of another, and the two seek to reach an agreement (Johnson & Johnson, 1992). Teachers structure academic controversies by choosing an important intellectual issue, assigning students to groups of four, dividing the group into two pairs, and assigning one pair the "pro" position and the other pair a "con" position. Students then follow the five-step controversy procedure of (a) preparing the best case possible for their assigned position, (b) persuasively presenting the best case possible for their position to the opposing pair, (c) having an open discussion in which the two sides argue forcefully and persuasively for their position while subjecting the opposing position to critical analysis, (d) reversing perspectives, and (e) dropping all advocacy coming to a consensus as to their best reasoned judgment about the issue.

In all four types of cooperative learning, repetitive lessons can be scripted so they become classroom routines. Cooperative learning scripts are standard cooperative procedures for conducting generic, repetitive lessons and managing classroom routines (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 1993). They are used to organize course routines and generic lessons that occur repeatedly. These repetitive cooperative lessons provide a base on which the cooperative classroom may be built. Some examples are checking homework, preparing for and reviewing a test, drill-review of facts and events, reading of textbooks and reference materials, writing reports and essays, giving presentations, learning vocabulary, learning concepts, doing projects such as surveys, and problem solving. Each of these instructional activities may be done cooperatively and, once planned and conducted several times, will become automatic activities in the classroom. They may also be used in combination to form an overall lesson.

Cooperative teaming is being used throughout preschools, elementary and secondary schools, colleges, and adult education programs because of its blend of theory, research, and practice. It is not a strictly American educational phenomenon; it is touted from Finland to New Zealand, from Israel to Japan. What underlies cooperative learning's popularity is that it is based on well-formulated theories that have been validated by numerous research studies.