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G., & K. (2015, March 31). Efficacy of the Cooperative Learning Method on Mathematics Achievement and Attitude: A Meta-Analysis Research. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1060189

Summary:

The purpose of this study was to compare the use of traditional teaching methods to using cooperative learning with mathematics. It investigates what effect this may have on student achievement. It was found that the cooperative learning method was more influential than the traditional learning method for academic achievement. It was also found that cooperative learning methods were better than traditional methods in terms of increasingly positive attitudes towards mathematics.

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Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014, June 10). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Retrieved from http://www.pnas.org/content/111/23/8410

Summary:
This study compares student performance in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics under traditional lecturing versus active learning. It was found that active learning increases examination performance. The result raises question about the continued use of traditional lecturing. It was found that cooperative learning groups can cause more stimulation and increase problem solving skills.

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Cooperative Learning Model: Strategies & Examples

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Examples of Cooperative Learning Strategies - KNILT

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As the previous lesson focused broadly on examples of cooperative learning strategies and provided a visual example of them, this lesson is going to dive further into these strategies and discuss a few other strategies. By the end of this lesson you should be able to name cooperative learning strategies that can be used in the classroom and describe their potential uses.

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Herrmann, K. (2013). The Impact of Cooperative Learning on Student Engagement: Results From an Intervention. Active Learning in Higher Education, 14(3). 175-187.

Summary

This article studies cooperative learning it's effect on student achievement. It was found that while students tend to learn better in groups, there are many variables that effect the efficiency. Variables such as previous experience working in groups, the students’ opinion of the value of group work, and how clear the teacher is in explaining the purpose of the tasks can have an impact. It is also important to be sure that when analyzing the levels of participation, the researcher distinguished between physical activity, such as raising one’s hand, and cognitive ability, such as forming a deeper understanding of a concept. A downfall to cooperative learning is the confusion it may cause. Students may not feel as though they are getting correct information when all students in the group are struggling to come up with ideas. It was still found that many students prefer direct instruction, but I feel that this is because they need more experience with group work making it a norm in the classroom.

Meaningful Quotes:
“According to this theory, cooperation is most effective when students perceive that they share similar goals and when the individual members’ goals are positively dependent on the actions of the group.”

“However, results also indicate that changing the instructional method is in itself not enough to discourage a surface approach and promote a deep approach to learning.”

“Whereas some students valued the opportunity to become active in discussion, many students were frustrated that it meant less time for the tutor to ‘teach’, fewer notes and ‘right’ answers’, and greater exposure to misconceptions”

“From a teaching perspective, eliciting and correcting misunderstandings is an important function of teaching complex social science concepts, and indeed, many students were happy to engage in discussion. However, seen from the perspective of those students who expected a correct and comprehensive review, essentially a lecture, eliciting misunderstandings hardly made any sense.”

“First, the task and the subject matter have to be sufficiently challenging without being too difficult. Discussing, applying and interpreting might be more meaningful tasks to cooperate on than the easier task of defining and explaining concepts. Second, the teacher has to strike a very delicate balance between supporting students and ensuring they are on track without starting to lecture. This is indeed very difficult because some students strongly prefer the teacher to elicit the correct answer rather than facing the challenging task of engaging in conversation, confronting their own misconceptions and those of peers. Finally, students are unlikely to fully engage in cooperative learning unless it is meaningful to them and to students that are not internally motivated this might imply explicitly ensuring alignment between cooperative learning activities and assessment criteria. Teachers also need to invest time carefully explaining the intention and purpose of cooperative learning and confronting conceptions of university teaching in which the teaching is the passive transmission of information from tutor to student”

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Hossain, A., & Tarmizi, R.A., (2013). Effects of Cooperative Learning on Students’ Achievement and Attitudes in Secondary Mathematics. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 93. 473-477.

Summary
This article shows research done on the effectiveness of cooperative learning in a secondary mathematics classroom. The research showed that through working in groups, students had more interest in the work they were doing and the subject of math itself. Students, whether male or female, had a better understanding of mathematics after being taught using a cooperative learning strategy.

Meaningful Quotes:
“Cooperative learning establishes a community in which students can get help and support from other group members immediately in a non-competitive learning environment, just raising their hands and waiting for the right answers to be given.”

“…(I)t was found that experimental group students in Boys’ and Girls’ school were equivalent in their performance after cooperative learning implementation.”

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Slavin, R. (2014). Making Cooperative Learning Powerful. Instruction That Sticks, 72(2), 22-26.
Summary
Students should be placed in cooperative groups for a purpose, not just to help each other. Educators must teach their students how to work efficiently in cooperative learning groups. All students must be held accountable using specific roles to avoid students who lack contribution, as well as students who take over the leadership role. Using the strategy of “random reporter” will keep students on task and accountable. Cooperative learning groups must decide on a goal in which they are working together to achieve. It is also important to allow the students to struggle through difficult tasks. Giving students the answers defeats the purpose of working together as a group.  “It is the "learning" in cooperative learning that is too often left out.”

Meaningful Quotes:

“An effective cooperative group is not a collection of kids thrown together for a brief activity. It's a team composed of diverse students who care about helping one another learn—and about the success of the team itself.”

“It's best if teams are composed of a cross section of the class: high and low achievers, boys and girls, students of different ethnicities.”

“Teachers we work with in Success for All programs, for example, make frequent use of a technique called "random reporter." Each student is given a number from 1 to 5. When teachers ask a question, they direct it to a team and then pick a number at random. The student on that team with that number has to respond for the whole group—and the team can earn points based on the answer.”

“The best way to use cooperative learning is to replace individual work, which in traditional lesson cycles happens after lessons and before assessments.”

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Just about everyone loves the idea of cooperative learning. Think of kids working productively and excitedly in groups, everyone getting along and enthusiastically helping one another learn. Think of kids completing great projects together, encouraging one another, and forming friendships. In this ideal scenario, all students are engaged, active, and minds-on. They are learning cooperation itself, an important life skill. Cooperative learning: how pro-social, how liberating-and how does anyone really accomplish this?

Cooperative learning can be wonderful. Students often love working this way. I've heard comments like, "An explanation is easier to understand if it's coming from another kid" or "My teammates ... make sure I understand the work." But for many teachers who've tried it, cooperative learning is a noisy mess rather than a stairway to heaven. One student might be doing all the work while the others socialize, for example. Kids may ignore or belittle group mates they perceive to be low achievers. Some students may think cooperative learning is party time rather than learning time. This is why studies find that most teachers don't use cooperative learning regularly, despite extensive research supporting it (Gillies, 2014; Roseth, Johnson, &amp; Johnson, 2008; Slavin, 1995, 2013; Webb, 2008).

It is the "learning" in cooperative learning that is too often left out. But it needn't be. Using these five strategies, teachers can get the greatest benefit possible from cooperative learning and ensure that collaboration enhances learning.

An effective cooperative group is not a collection of kids thrown together for a brief activity. It's a team composed of diverse students who care about helping one another learn-and about the success of the team itself. All members must know they can depend on one another for help.

In the forms of cooperative learning we've used for years at Johns Hopkins University and at the Success for All Foundation in elementary and secondary schools (Slavin, 1995), we group students into four-member teams (if the class doesn't divide evenly, we have a few five-member teams). A foursome provides flexibility. Some activities can be done in pairs and some with the whole team. Teams work together daily for 6-8 weeks; after that period, teachers assign new teams.

Team members move their desks together and choose a team name. At the beginning of the team's work, members engage in group bonding activities, like creating a motto or coat of arms to express their team personality.

In middle or high school, groups might investigate careers that interest them and colleges known for majors tied to those careers. Their research often culminates in each team giving a presentation about why they recommend a particular college, and teams sometimes name themselves after the school they recommend. Even if students choose Duke because of basketball fame, they've spent time helping one another learn something new, shared what matters to them, and met a deadline.

It's best if teams are composed of a cross section of the class: high and low achievers, boys and girls, students of different ethnicities. Groups definitely won't have such diversity if students choose their teams, so the teacher should make team assignments.

Too often in cooperative learning, students are put into teams and instructed to "help one another." Helping one another is a good thing, but kids will do a lot more of it if they share a team goal.

A team goal is a target, product, or indicator that shows a team has done a good job of getting every member to perform at his or her personal best. A team goal could be increasing the average score on a quiz that all students take individually after they help one another prepare. It could be one overall product with individual components that each team member clearly contributed to, such as by coding a specific part of a computer program or contributing essential data to a group lab report.

In each case, a teacher both looks at the team average and evaluates the individual products. Teams whose work meets certain criteria are awarded certificates or small privileges. This helps team members see their joint work as achieving something important. Teams that don't have a goal are like sports teams in a game where no one knows, or cares, what the score is-not the sort of game in which all players do their best.

This is the essential element most often left out of cooperative learning-and when it is, teachers lose a lot of cooperative learning's potential.

Individual accountability means that to reach the team goal, all team members must master the targeted content or skills. Team success should depend on the hard work-and therefore the learning-of all members.

To understand why this is important, consider a team working together without individual accountability. Imagine that a team studies together and then takes one quiz, on which all team members can help one another. This arrangement will likely produce two undesirable outcomes: the free rider and the know-it-all.

Free riders do little work. They may chat with others, but they don't try much to learn or help others learn. "The others will do it anyway," they reason. "Why should I try?" Students who have doubts about their own skills may be shy or reluctant to participate if they know others will do the work.

The know-it-all is another story. A know-it-all (or two) may dominate the group and tell others the answers. I once saw a group of middle schoolers trying to solve a complex math problem together. (Their task was to solve the problem and give the answer as a group.) Two kids were doing most of the talking. When one of their (usually quiet) teammates ventured an opinion, both know-it-alls shushed her and told her to wait for them to deliver the answer.

How can teachers ensure individual accountability? First, make sure the team goal requires the learning and participation of all team members. For example, if the team goal is to score an average of 80 percent or better on a quiz, all students need to do well. Or a goal might be to write an outstanding report on a given country, with each chapter signed by a team member. Never choose an outcome one student could do alone. In addition, frequently reinforce the idea that the purpose of the team is to make sure that all members are learning, not just to get the right answers or complete the project. Explain why individual accountability is fair; students will readily understand why no team member should get a free ride.

During lessons, use informal cooperative structures that reinforce the idea of individual accountability. Teachers we work with in Success for All programs, for example, make frequent use of a technique called "random reporter." Each student is given a number from 1 to 5. When teachers ask a question, they direct it to a team and then pick a number at random. The student on that team with that number has to respond for the whole group-and the team can earn points based on the answer.

Practices like random reporter communicate consistently that teams must make sure all their members learn. Potential free riders understand that they will be held accountable and that they can't wait for their teammates to make all the effort. Know-it-alls realize that if they don't engage, teach, and give feedback to every team member, their team won't succeed. One middle school math teacher noted, "Students ... know they need to work hard on math problems and be ready to explain them. If they aren't ready, they can't get off the hook easily."

Finally, it's important that the teacher lets the work be challenging and doesn't step in too early to do the work for students who struggle. Doing so not only undermines teammates' developing interdependence, but also teaches students that if they feign helplessness, display apathy, or work slowly, the teacher will soon step in and complete the tasks. If kids instead learn to make appropriate levels of effort and to persist, they will build confidence in their ability to improve and learn. They'll realize that asking for help-not the answers-helps them learn. Letting students struggle constructively and safely in their teams enables each student to reflect on his or her thinking, compare it with others' ideas, and refine that thinking before sharing it with the class-or on a test.

Setting up structures that promote effective cooperative learning is not enough. Team members need to know how to make good use of the opportunity to work with one another; this means they need to learn about, practice, and refine key interpersonal skills.

Active listening. Active listening skills are essential in good group work-and in life. When students are listening well, their eyes are on the speaker and they occasionally nod. Active listeners avoid interrupting but periodically summarize what they hear and ask for clarification when needed. These practices communicate respect for the speaker and enable the listener to learn as much as possible from that speaker's words.

Explaining ideas and opinions. Team members need this skill to communicate and persuade in cooperative interactions. Explaining must go beyond single-word answers; students must be able to identify sources or reasons for their personal opinions or conclusions. They must explain their ideas to others so that peers can understand them too. This demands metacognition, evidentiary thinking, summarizing, paraphrasing, and listening to others thoughtfully.

Encouraging teammates. Effective team members know how to encourage and support teammates, disagree with dignity, and help maintain a positive, prosocial tone within the group. Tell students you expect them to make sure that all team members are actively participating in the thinking parts of the group's tasks. Teach them how to make that happen.

Explaining your own ideas while also encouraging others is a complex skill that demands that students respect one another. Guide kids to make teamwork time a safe environment in which to speak, receive feedback, and admit what they don't understand. Once students establish a productive working relationship, they can set goals together, monitor their own progress, and solve learning problems together.

Completing tasks. Students should be expected to work on the group's tasks until they are finished to a high standard and to ensure that at the end of a team study session, all participants have learned the class objective.

When students know what constitutes great work within their team, and reach that standard, they can be proud of themselves and of any recognition their group receives.

Cooperative learning should be seen as a key part of each lesson, but not the whole lesson. Effective class lessons might also include teacher instruction, media- or computer-based activities, and individual assessments of various kinds. Informal cooperative-learning activities such as random reporter or think-pair-share may also be used, but these shouldn't be the only cooperative activity.

The best way to use cooperative learning is to replace individual work, which in traditional lesson cycles happens after lessons and before assessments. Individual, isolated practice is boring and ineffective for most students, especially if they struggle. Cooperative learning makes practicing to mastery engaging and social and gives all students "study buddies" to help them when they run into difficulties.

Sometimes team activities may come before teacher instruction, as when teams are conducting experiments in a discovery learning format. But at some point, a teacher needs to explain the essential objectives and give students parameters and guidance for their group work so they can move forward.

I once observed a class of 9th graders who started the school year reading significantly below grade level. Their first-year teacher worked hard to provide a research-based cooperative learning model in which they would read a wide variety of complex texts, discuss them in teams, and prepare one another to participate in class discussions. However, students weren't making the desired progress. As the teacher looked for what was missing, she noticed students were sloppy in their work and slow to complete tasks. Although they often talked to one another, they weren't helping one another.

The first change this educator made was holding each student individually accountable for the work. The second was providing and discussing with the class rubrics for high-quality answers or comments in discussions. Students and teachers practiced scoring sample answers and exchanged feedback.

Then she made the task more interesting, challenging, personal, and relevant. She asked students to read closely and compare several journal articles about the science of emotions. Team members were to help one another answer questions that required more than recitation of facts from the articles, but to individually form their own hypotheses about the author's intent in writing the articles-and support those hypotheses with evidence from the texts.

In a few days, when the students realized that the teacher wasn't going to dilute this work to save time, they dug into the articles. Discussions flourished. Well-structured cooperative learning and recognition of work that met the standards of the rubrics ultimately transformed this class from remedial to advanced. When the students were asked what they thought about how their class was changing, one girl summed it up: "When I work with my teammates and we use the rubrics and our brains, we know we have a good answer. We're proud to show what we know-we are ready for any of us to report out."

Used properly, cooperative learning is an exciting way for all kids to learn. Research finds that if teachers make the five elements discussed here part of group learning, students learn more, feel more successful, love school, and enjoy the subject they're studying-and like and accept one another (Roseth et al., 2008; Slavin, 2013; Webb, 2008). For outcomes like these, it's worth the effort.

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Five key practices bring out the tremendous potential of this approach.

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Tran, V.D. (2014) The Effects of Cooperative Learning on the Academic Achievement and Knowledge Retention. International Journal of Higher Education, 3(2), 131-140.

Summary

It was found that students retain more information when it was learned in a cooperative learning group. In order to have successful cooperative learning groups, 5 elements must be met: positive interdependence, promotive interaction, individual accountability, teaching of interpersonal and social skills, and quality of group processing. Positive interdependence is the idea that students must work together to make sure that each member of the group is successful. Promotive interaction is when students are encouraging each other to learn the material. All cooperative groups must have individual accountability to avoid one or two members doing the work and therefore learning while the others do not. Along with accountability, it is important for students to have the social skills necessary for communicating with their peers appropriately. Finally, group processing is essentially, making sure that all members of the group stay on track and make improvements for the future. It is also important to note that learning style does not appear to be based on culture as much as how it is presented.

Meaningful Quotes:

“Cooperative learning consists of five basic elements: positive interdependence, promotive interaction, individual accountability, teaching of interpersonal and social skills, and quality of group processing.”

“Cooperative learning stimulated cognitive activities, promoted higher levels of achievement and knowledge retention.”

“Although all students in the treatment group were accustomed to a teacher-centered style of instruction, they could adapt to this new cooperative style of learning in 8 weeks of instruction in an Asian learning context.”

“Consequently it appears that learning styles are not culturally-based but contextual”

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Burke, A., (2011). Group Work: How to Us Groups Effectively. The Journal of Effective Teaching, 11(2), 87-95.

Summary

This article mentions that when individuals hear they will be working in groups, many of them are less than thrilled. The negative aspect of group collaboration are mainly members being too overbearing, member being too passive, and the time constraint. However, it is up to the instructor to try to alleviate these disadvantages. It is also important for the teacher to avoid breaking up a group that doesn’t seem to be making progress. Adjustments must be made within the group for them to work through the issues. Keeping group sizes small will help to keep all members productive.

Meaningful Quotes:
“Active learning has become an important focus in this time of pedagogical change.”

“Many people cringe and groan when told that they will need to work in a group.  This phenomenon is called ‘grouphate.’”

“There are four stages of group work.   First, the instructor must decide that he/she wants to incorporate group work into the class.  The group work should be designed into the syllabus.  The second stage involves teaching the students to work in a group.  Instructors cannot assume that students know how to work together, structure time, and delegate tasks.  The instructor must be able to teach the students how to work proactively in groups.  This leads to the third stage, which involves monitoring the groups.  The last stage, and the most important to the students, is the assessment of the group.  The instructor must develop a concrete rubric for grading the students.”

“Instructors cannot assume that students know how to work together, structure time, or delegate tasks.”

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Gillies, R. (2014). Cooperative Learning: Developments in Research. International Journal of Educational Psychology, 3(2), 125-140.

Summary
Cooperative learning is something that educators began to study from kindergarten to the collegiate level. Students must work together towards a common goal for cooperative learning to be effective. If students are placed in unstructured groups, they will continue to work independently and not all members will contribute. This article also mentions the five key elements of positive cooperative learning groups. It was also mentioned that the types of tasks that should be given to a group should be open ended and require an explanation to promote discussion. These tasks should be less procedural. Also, teachers who use this strategy tend to be seen differently by the students. These teachers sound more open and positive than traditional teachers who want to be “in charge”. Teachers are seen as a facilitator, rather than the director.

Meaningful Quotes:
“However, it was argued that for these benefits to be realized, students needed to be trained in interpersonal skills as well as the content to be taught, groups should not exceed four members, and children should be encouraged to express their opinions and offer solutions to problems they were discussing. When this occurred helpers and helpees in the groups benefited from the experiences they had working together.”

“The results showed that cooperation promotes higher achievement and greater productivity than do competitive or individualistic modes of learning and these results were consistent across all subject areas, all age groups, and for a variety of cognitively challenging tasks.”

“In short, the results of this meta-analysis indicate that cooperative learning in comparison to competitive and individualistic learning has very powerful effects on achievement, socialization, motivation, and personal self-development.”

“Group processing is critically important as it allows members to discuss how well they are achieving their goals and maintaining effective working relationships.”

“Furthermore, students worked better and achieved more when they worked in groups of 3-4 members than in groups of 5-7 members. Interestingly, the effects of group ability composition were different for students of different relative ability with low-ability students learning more in heterogeneous groups (high-, medium- & low-ability), medium-ability students benefited significantly more in homogeneous ability groups than heterogeneous ability groups while group composition made no difference to high ability students”

“Furthermore, students are more likely to achieve more when they work in groups of four or less members and preferably in mixed-ability groups rather than homogeneous ones.”

“As a consequence their language is often more spontaneous, varied, and creative and they communicate more positive affective messages to their students. This is in contrast to traditional, whole-class teaching where teachers’ language is often regarded as authoritarian, rigid, and less friendly, and teachers are often perceived as distant or impersonal.”

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Laal, M., & Ghodsi, S.M., (2012). Benefits of Collaborative Learning. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 31. 486-490.

Summary
This article reviews the benefits of collaborative learning. The author also mentions the five components of cooperative learning as mentioned in other sources. The focus of this article is on social development and interaction as opposed to academics. Students learn how to resolve conflicts in a healthy way, how to show respect to their peers and improve their self-esteem in the process. Working in collaborative groups also improves students’ self-management, as they are responsible for their own learning as well as for helping their peers.

Meaningful Quotes:
“Collaboration is a philosophy of interaction and personal lifestyle where individuals are responsible for their actions, including learning and respect the abilities and contributions of their peers.”

“They state that Johnsons’ survey of educational research demonstrates cooperation, in comparison with competitive and individualistic efforts, results in; · Higher achievement and greater productivity; · More caring, supportive, and committed relationships, and; · Greater psychological health, social competence and self esteem.”

“…(T)he term CL refers to an instruction method in which learners at various performance levels work together in small groups toward a common goal”

“CL helps students to resolve differences in a friendly manner.”

"Cooperative learning compared with competitive and individualistic efforts, has numerous benefits and typically results in higher achievement and greater productivity, more caring, supportive, and committed relationships; and greater psychological health, social competence, and self esteem."

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-There are 5 main elements of a successful cooperative learning group: positive interdependence, promotive interaction, individual accountability, teaching of interpersonal and social skills, and quality of group processing
-Cooperative learning seems to increase student interest in mathematics.
-Teachers must still provide guidance, feedback and assistance with learning using other educational strategies.
-All students must be held accountable
-Groups should be no more than 4 members.
-It is important for students to work towards a common goal: all students understand the material.

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Ali, H. (2011). A Comparison of Cooperative Learning and Traditional Lecture Methods in the Project Management Department of a Tertiary Level Institution in Trinidad and Tobago. Caribbean Teaching Scholar, 1(1). 49-64.

Summary
This article outlines a study done to test the effectiveness of cooperative learning compared to a lecture setting. It shows that students across all age levels and backgrounds may benefit from cooperative learning. In this study, there was no evidence of improvement of students’ learning when cooperative learning took place. The researcher describes that there is no perfect answer or perfect method for successful teaching. Every student, situation, classroom and school is different.

Meaningful Quotes:
“Being responsive to the academic needs of students can be particularly challenging in a classroom with great diversity, as in the case of the College.  The reality is that the dominant teaching method of traditional lecturing employed at the College may not fit some of the students’ learning styles and needs.”

“As a teacher aspiring to be effective, it is imperative to find alternative teaching methods that produce statistically significant improvement in students’ performance.  “

“Cooperative learning creates an interactive classroom for all students.  This interactivity may alleviate the challenges faced by lecturers and may assist in achieving other organizational objectives.”

“When students were asked to compare the teaching method used in their particular session to another teaching method, the responses from the cooperative classroom included preferences for the cooperative session because it caters for interaction, participation, and discussion.  They reported that the method allows for clarification and benefitted from the varying points of view within the classroom.  However, some students found the noisiness created by their interactions with each other disturbing and this affected their learning.”

“The findings suggest that there is no statistical difference in students’ understanding and application of the project management principle of motivation after being exposed to different methods of instruction.”

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-I need to understand through my research that not all students have the intrinsic desire to learn math like I do.
-School demographics
-Grouping students based off personal experiences.