Retrieved from: http://www.dougwoods.co.uk/curation/ailink/2979/learning
Education strategy is one of the indicators of
the success in the classroom. Century to century variety of strategies has been
developed and improved in order to meet needs of each one every learner in the
classroom. This post is devoted to one of the education strategies; collaborative/
co-operative.
To begin with definition of key words, collaboration/
cooperation is the process of working together to accomplish common,
shared goals. During cooperative- collaborative activity individuals search for
the results that are beneficial to all members of the group. (Johnson,
Johnson, & Smith, 2006). Next, learning, which is
the process by which students get new knowledge and a process by which they
keep that knowledge taken through the educational process. And finally, collaborative/
co-operative learning is the one of the education strategy, which aims
to engage group of students in learning process (Johnson, Johnson & Smith,
2006).
In OECD report Slavin cite that “there was a time when it was
taken for granted that quiet class was a learning class, when participants
walked down the hall excepting to be able to hear a pin drop” (p.163). However,
time has changed and role of collaborative/ co-operative learning strategy has been widened and prioritized.
Additionally, Slavin (2010) argues that collaborative/ co-operative learning is
the process of learning of 21st century. He supports active
engagement to the learning and shares the idea that in aggressive world of
technology teachers have to compete with all sorts of technology such as
television, Internet, and computer games. Jolliffe (2015) asserts similar idea
that collaborative/ co-operative learning is a tool to take into consideration
diverse the needs of each and every student. In this sense, it is obvious that
nowadays teaching and learning process has become more active and it is almost
unrealistic to archive lesson objectives without active participation of
teachers and students. Interestingly, Phuong-Mai (2005), in her
research argues that not all types of collaborative/ co- operative learning
strategies can be successfully implemented in any countries. For instance, the
Asian countries with Confucian heritage culture (CHC), which
includes China, Vietnam, Singapore, Korea and Japan. The reason is common
characteristics of a collectivist society in named countries. Moreover, those
counties due to the peculiarities of the culture, and consequently rules within
the society can fail in implementation of western- based educational
strategies. In her research Phuong-Mai, describes a case when during the co-
operative learning activity boys and girls were reluctant to mix up, or when
students wanted to make a group only with friends.
As the foregoing has demonstrated, active pedagogy process
is demand of the time that can develop successful outcomes. However,
such "innovative" techniques should be at the same time culturally
appropriate in certain countries or adapted accordingly to location.
References:
Johnson, D. W.,
Johnson, R. T., & Smith, K. A. (2006). Active Learning: Cooperation in
the College Classroom. Retrieved from June 10, 2015 http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/prod/groups/ohr/@pub/@ohr/documents/asset/ohr_89185.pdf
Jolliffe
W. (2015). Bridging the gap: teachers cooperating together to implement cooperative learning. International
Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early
Years Education. 43(1), 70-82.
Phuong-Mai,
N. Terlouw, C. Pilot, A. (2005). Cooperative
learning vs Confucian heritage collectivism: confrontation to reveal some
cultural conflicts and mismatch. Online Springer-Verlag 403-419. Retrived from June 10, 2015
Slavin, R. E. (2010). Co-operative learning: what makes group work work?
In H. Dumont, D. Istance, & F. Benavides (Eds.), The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice (pp.
161–178). Paris: OECD Retrieved from June 10, 2015
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