Cooperative+Learning

=**Cooperative Learning**=
 * from the perspective of Theresa Overall**

"Cooperative Learning is a relationship in a group of students that requires positive interdependence (a sense of sink or swim together), individual accountability (each of us has to contribute and learn), interpersonal skills (communication, trust, leadership, decision making, and conflict resolution), face-to-face promotive interaction, and processing (reflecting on how well the team is functioning and how to function even better)." [Johnson and Johnson] To me, the biggest difference between cooperative learning and old-fashioned "group work" is the structures. In cooperative learning, the teacher/leader provides structures to insure cooperation for that event and to teach behaviors that will lead to cooperation in other situations.
 * What is Cooperative Learning?**

The two leading expert organizations in the field of Cooperative Learning are [|The Cooperative Learning Center] at The University of Minnesota (led by Roger T. Johnson and David W. Johnson) and [|Kagan Publishing] and Professional Development (led by Spencer Kagan). I am personally more familiar with Kagan because that is what I learned through professional development workshops at The Lamplighter School where I taught for 21 years. For acquiring information on the topic on your own, The Cooperative Learning Center is a non-profit organization and much of their information is available on-line. Kagan Publishing and Professional Development probably has more materials available in a wider and deeper variety of fields and applications. But at Kagain Publishing, you have to buy the books.
 * Where can I learn more about Cooperative Learning?**

A real nice [|overview of Cooperative Learning] that compares Kagan and the Johnsons is on the "Active Learning Center" web page. I know nothing of this group and most of their links don't work, but the overview of cooperative learning is great!

The Kagan website has "a bucketload" of pages that can't be accessed through a specific URL...lots of clicking on the right buttons. So I've copied the information from two of their pages that I felt were most informative to beginning users of cooperative structures and have linked them below.

[|10 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Cooperative Learning] [|Listing of Some Cooperative Structures]