CL and GL dissected
Jun 24th, 2012 by pcollins
Co-operative versus group learning
Initially, I had thoughts about identifying the similarities/differences between group and co-operative learning. Then as I finished the readings and remembered all the activities in my classroom that I had thought were legitimate co-operative learning experiences and it turns out they probably were not, I changed my mind and decided to go with the What-Cooperative-Learning-Is-Not approach vs. the What-Group-Learning-Is-Not approach to my reflection.
Co-operative learning is not
• A learning experience where students are in a group to complete any old task
• A day when the teacher still lectures on the topic and then puts the students into groups to answer questions till the end of class
• A competition amongst students in a group format
• An activity where kids pick their own groups to work in to complete the activity during a class
• An activity where there is only a group mark assigned and no individual accountability
• An endeavour that has insignificant student interaction (like the divide the task and conquer approach)
• Just having a class discussion on a topic
• Completing any task with a well-defined problem – such as a chemistry lab
• A class based activity where students share ideas in a group and report back to the teacher
• The completion of a learning task without significant use of social/mediated/community skills by the students
As to what group learning encompasses, flip any of these statements into a “What does group learning involve” and almost all of them will become affirmation points. I am slightly humbled by my ignorance as to what legitimate co-operative learning is in actuality. And it makes me smile a little bit because earlier this week, on National Aboriginal Day, I learned that in the Nlaka’pamux language instead of saying “I don’t know that”…. they say “that is not in my knowledge yet.” A saying that applies quite well to my new understanding of co-operative vs. group-learning experiences.
Guanghai, Hou. The Relationship between co-operative learning and academic achievement in English.
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