Cooperative Learning Research Paper

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Cooperative Learning Introduction Cooperative learning has been implemented in the classroom for decades now. It was implemented in the social studies classrooms with diverse populations primarily as means of fostering positive student interaction. Cooperative learning was first viewed in the United States as an approach to facilitate racial integration (Dotson, 2011). What makes a cooperative learning a great methodology in teaching social studies and are there any issues when implementing it in the social studies classroom? What is the definition of Cooperative Learning (CL)? Several authors have defined cooperative learning differently. Gillie and Boyle (2010) defined cooperative learning as a well-documented pedagogical practice that…show more content…
It includes social skills, positive interdependence, individual student accountability, one-on-one interaction, and group processing (Drakeford, 2010; Curry, Amicis, & Gilligan, 2011; Tran, 2013; Asakawa, Kanamaru, Plaza, & Shiramizu, 2016). Gillies and Boyle (2016) investigate and report on the perception of 10 middle-year teachers who implemented cooperative learning in their classroom. The result from this research has shown that 10 middle-year teachers who implemented cooperative learning in their classroom spoke positively about their cooperative learning experiences. Some teachers noted cooperative learning as a helpful tool, which helps them to better manage and structured their lessons. It also helps students getting to know each other better, accepting their group roles, learning to interact with each other, being willing to take some risks with their learning and manage their time effectively. Here were some of the comments made by the teachers or the interviewers based on their positive experiences of cooperative learning: “They’ve really gotten to know each other much better than they did”; “I like cooperative learning because it gives a nice feeling in the classroom and you can do a lot of stuff”; “The kids are quite responsive in that they now know that they’ve got a task, this amount of time, and they’ve got knock it on…show more content…
This means teachers put students in groups just for the setup of the classroom instead of having them to work in groups, but individually. For example, having a group setup and have no activities where students work as a group. Another example is how other teachers put same types of learners in each groups, such as one group is for proficient students, another one is for mainstream, and the other group is for the poor students, and last group might be for students with special

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