Students cooperate with each other. In the process, they learn stuff.

Boom. Concept mastered. Next?

Hold your horses, cow-folk. That's a more or less accurate description of how cooperative learning works, but it's worth it to take a closer look at the goals and values of this method, not to mention how to put it into action. So cooperate with us by reading along, and maybe you'll learn a thing or two.

A Harmonious Match

So here's where the concept came from: two fine individuals named Group Goals and Individual Accountability met, fell in love, and gave each other a big smooch. And out popped Cooperative Learning.

According to Teacher Vision's page on the method, "Cooperative Learning, sometimes called small-group learning, is an instructional strategy in which small groups of students work together on a common task" (source).

And whose responsibility is that task, Teacher Vision?

"The ownership of teaching and learning is shared by groups of students, and is no longer the sole responsibility of the teacher," (they say). "The authority of setting goals, assessing learning, and facilitating learning is shared by all. Students have more opportunities to actively participate in their learning, question and challenge each other, share and discuss their ideas, and internalize their learning" (source).

The How and the Why

Breaking it down, you can see a range of tasks in cooperative learning: do a close-reading of this one page on the one hand, or come up with a plot for a new novel on the other.

As for actually completing the tasks, some cooperative learning projects involve breaking down the overall assignment into smaller tasks for individual group members, while others don't divide up the roles.

Different types (which you can read about in full right here) include:

• Group investigations, where students collaborate on a group project. These projects usually focus on building "higher-order thinking skills such as analysis and evaluation" (source).
• Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (sometimes affectionately known as "STAD"), in which students with a range in academic abilities delve into a topic together, with the idea that each will reach their own highest potential, but make progress based on working in that group.
• Jigsaw II (sounds fun, right?), where the group divides up tasks so that each takes charge of one component of a topic, and the "expert" on each topic presents to everyone else, with the goal of everyone ultimately getting the whole picture.

You can also read about the difference between formal and informal cooperative learning at the page introducing the method on the Cooperative Learning Institute website. If you scroll down to the informal stuff, you can also read about various types of discussions and groups that take cooperative learning to even greater heights.

So, if you implement one or a few forms of cooperative learning in your classroom, expect to see a few big, juicy benefits. Students will

• become more effective problem-solvers.
• develop successful collaborative skills to find solutions as a team and learn how to support one another
• gain skills in communicating with others—an especially important skill when those "others" are folks they don't like or wouldn't normally work with.
• develop "positive interdependence" (source)—meaning they feel responsible for their own effort, and for that of their group.
• Learn the importance of maximizing their own and each other's learning, according to the Cooperative Learning Institute.

Plus, in the case of a classroom with a diverse ethnic population, this type of work can help promote stronger and more positive bonds (source).

Ready, Set, Gooperate?

Before you think you can just divvy them up, say "go," and put your head on your desk for a quick snooze, don't forget about grading. In a cooperative learning setting, assessments often have to be shifted: instead of evaluating students based on norms of successful performance like in individual (i.e. competitive) learning scenarios, you have to make the grade more about fulfilling certain criteria, working with the group, and getting something out of the lesson.

We get it—sometimes that plain ol' doesn't work. There are assignments where an A for Effort would get in the way of the learning goal. (Spelling, for example, if someone actually thinks it's A for Affort.) So even if you want a good dose of cooperative learning in your classroom, it's unlikely you'll take it all the way.

Instead, it's a good idea to strike a balance between competition and collaboration. And hey, we've got a whole article about precisely that. What are the odds?

However you go across making that balance happen in your classroom, helping your students learn to cooperate is bound to be a valuable lesson. After all, the better they are at cooperating with each other, the more likely they'll be to cooperate when you're giving them the next set of instructions, right?

Well, we can only hope.