COOPERATIVE LEARNING!

I read this wonderful piece on my colleague Roel Rohner's Dalton page blog and it reminded me that all great learning is cooperative and collaborative where learners work together sharing ideas and thought you might like to read it. "Cooperative learning is a generic term for various small group interactive instructional procedures.'

Students work together on academic tasks in small groups to help themselves and their teammates learn together. In general, cooperative learning methods share the following five characteristics.

• Student work together on common tasks or learning activities that are best handled through group work.
• Students work together in small groups containing two to five members.
• Students use cooperative, pro-social behavior to accomplish their common tasks or learning activities.
• Students are positively interdependent. Activities are structured so that students need each other to accomplish their common tasks or learning activities.
• Students are individually accountable or responsible for their work or learning."