Cooperative Learning Groups - Assignment Example

Cooperative Learning Groups Contents Contents 2 1. Introduction This assignment is about selecting and evaluating an instructional strategy that can be applied effectively in my teaching area. After careful analysis of different instruction approaches, cooperative learning was selected due to its relevance and applicability. Cooperative learning has the reputation for being an effective alternative to traditional teaching approaches but there is little direct evidence that it can provide the same benefit in vocational education. For this reason, an investigation of this popular instructional teaching method was conducted using a range of literature and relevant cognitive theories. These include evaluating the kind of knowledge that can be developed in cooperative learning, skills that may be acquired, expertise that may developed, and its ability to transfer knowledge. Moreover, the effectiveness of cooperative learning was compared with other instruction approach such as collaborative learning and traditional teaching strategies. An argument and overall appraisal of cooperative learning is also presented in this study along with a short discussion in the possibility of applying the teaching strategy in vocational education. 2. Cooperative Learning Groups There are five main types of instructional strategy – direct, interactive, indirect, independent, experiential, and instructional. Under the interactive type is the cooperative learning groups which according to Orlich et al. (2009), is a teaching strategy based on small-group approach where learners are responsible for individual and group achievement (p.268). The idea is to put the students at the centre of the learning of the educational process to stimulate learning. As a result, students’ motivation is increased and learning runs deep (Williams & Dunn 2007, p.126). Cooperative learning has five important elements – positive interdependence, individual accountability, group processing, face-to-face interaction, and collaborative skills (Williams & Dunn 2007, p.126). Positive interdependence assures that each student has the responsibility of learning assigned material while other members of the group learn at the same time. Similarly, each member of the group is accountable and must contribute his or her fair share in the group process to achieve the group’s goal. In developing social skills, face-to-face interaction allows each member to discuss academic or content-based goal. It related to collaborative skills where students are being taught to communicate effectively with one another (Demchak 1997, p.23). According to Brody & Neil Davidson (1998), cooperative learning group will work well in classrooms where instructional decisions are based and guided by research-validated theory that can provide the foundation for planning, analyzing, and modification of classroom application. Similarly, knowledge of learning theories can help in understanding the importance of different factors in cooperative interaction (p.65). For instance, cognitive-development theory recognized cooperation as an important factor for cognitive growth. This is because working cooperatively with more capable peers results to construction knowledge that is consequential to cognitive development and intellectual growth. The incentives being provided to members of the group in cooperative learning is also linked to behavioural learning theory where students are assumed to work harder when there is a corresponding reward or punishment (DeZure 2000, p.207). Constructivist view cooperative learning groups as facilitators of generative learning as working with peers enable refinement of knowledge through argumentation, structured controversy and reciprocal teaching (Wilson 1996, p.68). Cooperative learning in part is constructivist particularly when cooperative learning group members seek for understanding and personalizing meaning (Foote et al, 2001, p.46). Constructivist believed that students' make sense of what they are presented by associating it with prior knowledge and this is being facilitated in cooperative learning. For instance, when new information is introduced to a student’s existing knowledge framework, this student will be enlightened on that information and share it with others. While the student is sharing and explaining his new found knowledge, the listener will then question and challenge their own understanding resulting to the expansion of mental energies on both the information deliverer and receiver (Druger et al, 2004, p.25). 3. Knowledge that Cooperative Learning Group will Develop 3.1 Declarative Knowledge Primarily, having a declarative knowledge means that a student can compare, analyze, examine different points view to make a generalization, make decisions, and correlate things to deepen his or her understanding of the topic (Pollock 2007, p.71). Students in cooperative learning are often engaged in identifying and increasing their own knowledge, develop self-esteem, learn problem-solving and communication skills. Since cooperative learning requires group members to interact, they often have the opportunity to listen acquire knowledge from different views, discuss actions needed to meet their goals, support one another, and deepen their understanding of the task at hand (Orlich et al, 2009, p.270) 3.2 Procedural Knowledge Learning procedural knowledge often require students to participate in some small and highly structured tasks such as comparing and contrasting, classifying, and creating descriptions and correlations. Via peer coaching and feedback, these activities increased students’ ability to explain the procedural knowledge they are learning. This knowledge acquisition process is cooperative learning where students are being taught how to achieve a level of fluent and automatic use of procedures (Marzano & Brown, 2009, p.107). In a study conducted by Simonson (2009), the cooperative learning group scores 9.5 percent while the self-study group has 9.0 percent representing a 5 percent advantage of cooperative learning for developing procedural knowledge (p.140). According to Goodman & Lillis (2003), the success of cooperative learning in developing students’ declarative and procedural knowledge is due to the amount of interactive and discursive practices particularly the social constructivist and scaffolding style being use by the cooperative learning groups (p.49). While declarative knowledge is more on knowing about something, procedural knowledge is learning the steps or methods to follow (Price & Nelson, 2010, p.4). In cooperative learning, students are allowed to develop solutions to contextual problem-oriented situations. Members of the group work toward a specific goal using their respective abilities and by doing so, enhance their knowledge of the criteria, values, and ability to know why, when, and how to use this knowledge (Rao p.105). 4. Development of Skills Studies conducted in cooperative learning group suggest that cooperative setting result to higher achievement, better leadership skills, effective communication skills, better social attitude, and high self-esteem (Columbus, 2001, p.174). Since the focus of cooperative learning is not only on learning content, cooperating setting and group work enable students to acquire social skills valuable to their future work. Moreover, since they are required to interact and communicate effectively, the can deal and work well with others in any social situation. Acquiring communicative and interpersonal skills through the cooperative learning process help student developed self-directed learning skills and positive learning attitudes. Generally, the success of cooperative learning groups depend on the mastery of different skills such telling, listening well, giving feedback, showing empathy, and dealing with criticism. This is because cooperative learning is all about allowing others to participate, valuing others’ comments, arguing for ideas, asking for information, clarification, encouragement, and working together without tension (Errey & Schollaert 2005, p.63). Cooperative learning is a learning approach that can improve the social skills of individuals. This is because working together in a group help individual achieved their behavioural objectives. Students in cooperative learning benefits socially and academically from group activities as interaction reduces student isolation while increasing their ability to react and work with others towards a common goal (Taylor & MacKenney, 2008, p.227). According to Brody & Davidson (1998), group skills are linked to students’ abilities to act accordingly for themselves and on behalf of others beyond the classroom. For this reason, cooperative learning generally emphasized the importance of social skills, sharing of responsibility for learning, and being involved in decisions that can affect students’ learning. Moreover, students are encourage listening well, asking questions, negotiating conflict, and support each other to develop their social skills (p.208). Results of some major research according to Cooper et al. (2010) suggest that cooperative learning improves creativity because it allows acquisition of many types of human intelligence and providing structures that allows shared work and responsibility. Cooperative learning allows the cultivation of general civility and peaceful and productive conflict resolution through its cooperative activities. It also provides measurable improvement on group cohesion, positive relationships, peer support and appreciation of diversity. More importantly, cooperative learning enhances self-esteem, social skills, and stress management (p.255) 5. Development of Expertise Since cooperative learning promotes a more complex teacher and student roles such as students being involve in evaluation, planning and feedback, and group discussions, such activities enhances critical thinking, skill building, motivation, and communicative competence that are important factors in developing expertise. Generally, expertise is developed in situations where learners reinvest their knowledge in a series of complex problem-solving activities. Consequently, those learners who realized that they are gaining some expertise seek for more complicated task where they can engage and improve their existing expertise. The very nature of complex cooperative work increases students’ motivation in applying, developing, and increasing their knowledge of the subject matter which they already have some expertise (Beckett & Miller, 2006, p.31). Cooperative learning groups are excellent source of expertise. For instance, since students participate and contribute to each other’s learning by sharing what they know, large volume of useful information will be shared. Consequently, group members with existing knowledge or some expertise will learn more in shorter amount of time (Murdoch & Wilson, 2004, p.34). Basically, cooperative learning group encourages dialogue and sharing of opinion and in more complex tasks, students can share their individual expertise such as researching, organizing, writing, drawing, and others. In other words, group members share discover and share each other’s expertise and in the long run, developed sophisticated strategies individually or in group (Farmer, 1999, p.3). 6. Development of the capacity for near and far transfer The learning process is often viewed as process of knowledge transfer such the relationship between the teacher and learners. However, this basic knowledge transfer expands with cooperative learning as there will be learner to learner or group to group knowledge transfer (Tomek 1992, p.151). Social interaction in cooperative learning entails the concept of interpersonal and small group skills where each participants challenge other’s viewpoints thus there is often an exchange and transfer of knowledge (Pixy & Godar 2006, p.62). According to Gupta (2004), the type of knowledge being transferred in “near transfer” is explicit and best suited for tasks with are routine. In cooperative learning, near transfer is achieved when one group transferred their knowledge to another group or a member who has a brilliant idea share his thoughts to other members of the group and the problem is solved with little or no conscious thoughts. In contrast, “far transfer” is best suited for information which is non-routine in nature, requires deep thinking, and mostly focus on sharing tacit knowledge between groups that often result to collaborative working. Unlike ‘near transfer’, knowledge being transferred here is not automatically or easily absorbed by the recipient because they require careful analysis and evaluation. For instance, when one group is assigned new and unique tasks, it may bring another group who has worked on similar task before resulting to sharing and exchange of information. Cooperative learning offers the same opportunity to learners by allowing groups to exchange information and share their knowledge with others (p.16). Cooperative learning principles allow students from different cultural backgrounds, values, learning styles, and intelligence to work together. Consequently, such diversified working condition provides students with various learning experiences and unlimited learning opportunity they can use to become successful members of the community (Brody & Davidson 1998, p.106). In other words, cooperative learning is an environment providing greater opportunity for information exchange and knowledge transfer – near or far. The very nature of cooperative working allow students to develop knowledge beyond what traditional classroom can offer such as the opportunity to share and received information coming from other members or groups. Knowledge transfer in cooperative learning group is thus a common occurrence and an important contributing factor in students’ learning. 7. Effectiveness of cooperative learning compared to other instructional strategies 7.1 Cooperative Learning vs. Collaborative Learning Cooperative learning and collaborative learning are often mistaken as one and the same but there are actually several major differences between them. For instance, cooperative learning is more structured than collaborative learning. The structure of cooperative learning is teacher imposed and designed for specific goals compared to collaborative where students are given more power over learning rather complying with traditional instruction. Another major difference is that cooperative learning is more suitable for children while collaborative learning is for adult. This is because cooperative learning assumed that children lack the social skills to work effectively together thus development in this area is required. On the other hand, collaborative learning assumed that adult students already possess the motivation and social skills to achieve their learning goals. Collaborative learning is best suited for non-foundation higher order knowledge while cooperative learning is good for learning facts and formulas (Gillies & Ashman 2007, p.71). Both learning strategy depend on the effectiveness of group interactions among students to attain their learning objectives. Similarly, they are both constructivist and derived from social learning theories. However, according to Hiltz & Goldman (2005), they were developed to educate students of different ages, experience, and prior knowledge (p.193). It is therefore necessary to determine the kind of students before selecting any of the instructional approach. Depending on the application cooperative learning and collaborative learning in this study’s opinion are both effective instructional approach. 7.2 Cooperative learning and traditional approach The traditional approach in teaching often occurs in setting where the teacher is doing most of the talking while her students listen. Consequently, interaction between students rarely occurs which some research suggest is far more effective in enhancing students learning experiences. In contrast, cooperative learning is student-centred and takes advantage of interaction to achieve a particular educational goal by allowing student to learn by depending on each other (Bowsher 2001, p.85). According to McConnell (2000), cooperative learning and traditional learning differs in various ways but it does not necessarily mean that they are always contradictory to each other. The following can help illuminate the differences between them (p.111). The process of learning each one promote: active, problem-centred learning, and passive or book learning. Knowledge gained from each approach: personal knowledge from real experience against knowledge derived from textbooks. The ways which students can gain knowledge: construct knowledge through research and cooperative work compared to learning that promotes the independence of knowledge from learner. The type of learning relationship between teacher and her student: one is based on egalitarian education while the other is based on authoritarianist learning and control. The type of assessment: self assessment, peer and tutor evaluation instead of one-sided tutor judgements. Moreover, students in cooperative learning take their own initiative, express themselves, and making decisions is seen as central to learning. In contrast, there is little or no opportunity for learners to take initiative or express themselves in traditional classroom. This is because classes in traditional classroom is not considered a social unit where individuals need to interact, form social grouping, become collaborators, and support each other while they learn. Traditional teaching approaches are inherently competitive and envious by design while cooperative learning is an environment where everyone is a proud winner. Personal, social, moral, and ethical development of learners is central in cooperative learning while academic development is more important in traditional teaching strategies (McConnell 2000, p.112). 8. Overall appraisal and possible application in vocational teaching Cooperative learning is no doubt an effective instructional strategy as it simultaneously addresses both academic and social skills needs of learners. The workplace is a cooperative environment that requires technical and social skills thus cooperative learning group can viewed as a preparation for real-life work. Similarly, vocational education students benefits from work-based learning through social and emotional development (Heikkinen & Kraus, 2009, p.36). Cooperative learning allow students to work on their and control the course and outcome of their learning. For instance, vocational students taking English subject and participating in cooperative learning groups not only can learn English from their teacher but practice the language in small groups. Some of the advantage of implementing cooperative learning group in vocation education is that students will have better understanding of a particular task by learning and doing it themselves. They will also learn better when they are interacting and exchanging knowledge from other students. They will also have better recall or remember it better because they recognize it. Cooperative learning simulates a real workplace while students are being supervised by experienced teachers and information instructions. With proper implementation, cooperative learning can be an effective vocational education because it can serve as a bridge between adolescence and adulthood and as a means of experiential learning for general purpose. Since most students taking vocational education often come from diverse backgrounds with difference needs and preferences, they need to be involved in learning activities that caters for their academic, vocational, and interpersonal needs which cooperative learning can conveniently provide. In general, in terms of vocational education and preparing students entering the workforce, cooperative learning can be a useful instructional approach in acquiring or developing technical, social, emotional, and communicative skills. 9. Conclusion Cooperative learning is a useful instructional strategy since it can develop declarative and procedural knowledge that can help students deepen their understanding of the topic, compare and contrast, analyze and classify, and generalize different points of view. The interactive and discursive nature of cooperative learning can help student develop declarative and procedural knowledge they can use to solve contextual problems, reach their goals using their respective abilities, enhance their knowledge, and to know why, when, and how to use their acquired knowledge. In terms of skills development, cooperative learning can facilitate the acquisition of communication, interpersonal and leadership skills. Similarly, students can develop expertise through self-evaluation, feedback, group discussion, critical thinking, and communicative competence. Knowledge transfer in cooperative learning is a common occurrence and depending on the appropriateness of application, knowledge transfer can rapidly occur as students share and exchange of information. 10. 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