In the small river town of Grafton, Illinois, there is a second-grade classroom where children work in cooperative learning groups. The children in Dot Schuler's class put their heads together to come up with ideas, answers, problems, and solutions. This may sound foreign to our idea of traditional schooling in America. The purpose of this article is to help parents better understand cooperative learning in terms of what their children might be doing when parents see them working in cooperative groups at school.

What Parents Want to Know about Cooperative Learning

Parents often wonder why working in groups at school is important. There are many reasons, but a prominent one is that children gain extraordinary life skills when learning to work together. According to Kagan (1997), the leading cause of job loss in the United States is the inability of co-workers to get along. Children benefit from gaining skills in turn-taking, negotiating a compromise, and considering other children's points of view. When children learn to work together to solve problems, they gain an added appreciation of each other's strengths and perhaps a better understanding of their weaknesses. They learn to recognize that they each have something to contribute to the group proceedings and that they are enriched by the sharing of each other's ideas.

In most classrooms, learning is either accomplished on an individual basis, with the whole class, or in cooperative groups. Usually in individual and whole group learning, competition is a major factor in classroom procedures. However, with cooperative learning, the focus is on getting along and working together so that a task can be successfully completed by the group. Each child learns to contribute to a group effort, so that cooperation rather than competition is emphasized.

Frequently Asked Questions

Several frequently asked questions about cooperative learning have been identified and answered by Kagan (1997):

· Isn't it wrong to teach using cooperative learning methods when we must prepare students for a competitive world?

Most first jobs are lost because of an inability to get along with others.
Most jobs today involve some cooperative interaction with others.

· Isn't the accelerated achievement seen in low-achieving students in cooperative learning environments bought at the expense of high-achieving students? Couldn't the high achievers learn more if they were not stuck tutoring?

Research shows that in the process of teaching others, we continually learn more about the topics we teach. Parents of high achievers frequently hope that their children become leaders. Children can gain experience in leadership through tutoring and leading small groups in assigned or chosen tasks.

· If a teacher allows students to discuss and argue among themselves, won't difficult classroom management problems result?

Children naturally want to interact with their peers. Working together in small groups provides a creative outlet for this energy. Classroom procedures must be clear and fair. The teacher is free to circulate and facilitate with problems when needed.

· Isn't cooperative learning in conflict with back-to-basics and direct instruction?

Research shows that students spend more time on academic tasks in cooperative classrooms than they do in traditional classrooms.

· Doesn't cooperative learning mean forcing some students to work with others they don't like?

Teachers assign students to teams and provide team recognition for desired academic and social behaviors. This process of team-building draws initially hostile and reluctant students into full participation.

· When a group decides on a topic, what happens if the individual has to give up what he or she wants to do? Doesn't cooperative learning mean giving up individuality?

Most cooperative learning activities are structured so that each member must contribute something of their own in order to reach the group's objectives. Only part of the school day is spent working in cooperative groups.

· Doesn't cooperative learning mean that some do all the work while others have a free ride?

Cooperative learning techniques are designed so that no one can coast on the work of others. Each individual is assessed on their individual contribution to the group effort.

Cooperative Learning in Action

Cooperative learning is an instructional approach-not a method, not a technique, not a curriculum, but more like a tool for teaching and learning. Children work together in small groups to solve problems, answer questions, or brainstorm ideas. Sometimes, but not always, each child in the group is assigned a role that helps the group get things done. For example, in Dot's classroom the children's desks are pushed together in groups of four (five if there is an extra student). Each week the children in each group rotate through four assigned roles or jobs:

Task Master: Makes sure everyone remains on task and finishes in the expected time.

Quiet Captain: Helps others in the group talk in low voices.

Encourager: Helps others to try again or keep working on something difficult.

Gatekeeper: Chooses someone to be first and makes sure everyone gets a turn.

Team building. Dot's children work in their assigned groups for about eight weeks. Then she reassigns them to new groupings. She decides who might best work together and takes each child's initiative, self-control, and ability level into consideration when forming work groups. When children first come together in new groups, they talk together until they discover what they might have in common. From this discussion, they choose a name to fit their team and make a sign about that name. Finding this common ground is the beginning of building teamwork among the group members.

Flexible grouping. The children go to lunch, recess, and other classrooms in their groups. However, when they are working in learning centers or during project work, they may work with children who have similar interests, or they may choose to work alone. Sometimes during the day or week they move their desks apart to work alone. For example, Dot will tell them to prepare for their spelling tests, and they will move their desks apart so that they can think individually.

Reviewing material. After Dot reads a new story to the class, she uses cooperative learning to check for comprehension. She asks a question about the material. Each group puts their heads together to think about the question. When they think they have come to the right decision on an answer, one child from each group of four or five stands up. Dot calls on one group. The person standing speaks for the group. If they are correct and all other groups agree with them, she goes on to another question. If they have an incorrect or incomplete answer, Dot calls on another group to add their input. This is one cooperative learning method a teacher might use to conduct a review of previously covered material.

Brainstorming answers. When Dot's children begin a new topic for investigation, she will develop with the children four or five general questions to be answered about the topic. For example, when they studied water, the questions were: (1) Where is water found? (2) What is good about water? (3) What is bad about water? (4) How is water used? Each group is given a piece of notebook paper with a different question written at the top. The children think together and write in answers in pencil. Then the group moves to another table where they read what the previous group has written and then add to it. This allows for the children to think together and also to read and reread other children's ideas. When all questions have been addressed by all groups, Dot checks for correct spelling and grammar. Next the children publish their ideas on wall charts, writing first in pencil and then tracing with markers. Then the charts are hung around the room for future reference in thinking about water and in spelling related words.

Interviewing each other. Another way that Dot uses cooperative learning is in a three-step interview. She uses this when the children begin a new topic for investigation. Each child tells a partner within the group a personal story about something that happened to them related to the topic. For example, one child told a personal story about catching fish in the Illinois River. Next the listener tells a story to his or her partner. Then they each tell the other person's story to the other two people in their group who have also been interviewing each other. Then the children illustrate their stories and write them down for publication.

Teaching with Cooperative Learning vs. Traditional Classroom Instruction

A classroom that uses whole class instruction looks very different from one using cooperative learning. In a traditional classroom, parents see their children sitting quietly working on an assignment or listening to the teacher. In a classroom where students are using the techniques of cooperative learning, children are sitting together in groups of four or five, and they are more likely to be seen talking together or helping each other while they are completing a group task.

The role the teacher plays in a classroom using cooperative learning is very different from that of a teacher in a traditional classroom. According to Johnson, Johnson, and Holubec (1994), a teacher who uses cooperative learning becomes more of a guide on the side than the traditional role of a sage on a stage. A teacher using cooperative learning is challenged to uncover the material with the students, rather than to cover the material for the students. Instead of standing and lecturing at the head of rows of students, the teacher using cooperative learning spends time circulating among the groups, listening for understanding, and monitoring each group's progress on the task at hand.

Kagan (1997) reports research that shows that in traditional classrooms as much as 70% of the teacher's time is spent disciplining, lecturing, giving instructions, and asking questions. In sharp contrast, the same researcher found that in classrooms using cooperative learning techniques, 75% of the teacher's time can be spent in encouraging initiatives, giving feedback, facilitating student communication, and assisting students. This helps to ensure that the teacher has ample time to notice how each child is progressing with his or her assigned work.

The children in cooperative learning groups are learning to express their ideas in a comfortable situation. Children are not ridiculed for not having the right answer. Instead, they are encouraged to come up with original ideas. While in more traditional classrooms, the emphasis is on competition between children, in a cooperative learning classrooms children help each other achieve. According to Gibbs (1994), when children work in cooperative groups, the positive feelings created through an appreciation for their contributions and by feeling a part of a group will motivate children to actively participate in their own learning.

Conclusion

Cooperative learning is a tool that teachers use for instruction. Children are assigned to small groups, often with specific roles or jobs, to brainstorm ideas, answer questions, solve problems, or review material. Research shows that teachers have more opportunities to attend to children's individual progress when children work in groups. Children can benefit from a reduction in competition and an increase in opportunities to learn how to get along and work together. Cooperative learning can encourage children to express their ideas in an atmosphere of acceptance.

Sources

Gibbs, J., et al. (1994). Tribes: A new way of learning together. Santa Rosa, CA: Center Source Publications. ED 379 073.

Johnson, R., Johnson, D., & Holubec, E. (1994). The new circles of learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Kagan, S. (1997). Cooperative learning. San Clemente, CA: Resources for Teachers.

Internet Resources

Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota
http://www.clcrc.com/index.html [NPIN Editor's Note (06-27-03): this url has changed: http://www.co-operation.org/]

Books from Spencer Kagan on Cooperative Learning
http://www.kagancooplearn.com/Catalog/LanguageArts.html [NPIN editor's note (02-06-03): this URL has changed: http://www.kaganonline.com/Catalog/index.html]