Cooperative learning stands for a learning process in which the students get opportunities to learn by themselves in a group in a non cooperative or cooperative environment by forming a number of teams. Each team consisting of a different level of ability of students for the understanding of a subject.
The basic assumption and features associated with cooperative learning may be outlined as-
- Emphasis on making the teaching-learning process as learner centered.
- Redefining the role of teacher from a lecturer, expert or repositories of subject knowledge to capable facilitator.
- Helping the students to learn in a quite healthy and meaningful cooperative environment.
- Emphasis on the evaluation of group achievement rather than the individual achievement and helpful in developing many social virtues.
Cooperative learning may be executed in a number of ways like
- Students of a class in any subject may be asked to work on a group project.
- A units of the course in a subject may be broken down in to certain meaningful subunits and assigned to five or six team of a class. In a team, each team member is responsible for learning a specific part of a topic.
Cooperative learning may prove quite fruitful and advantageous on account of a number of educational, psychological and social benefits derived through its use, In educational benefits we may include the benefits like making the teaching learning process learner centered rather than content and teacher centered. It helps the weaker students in improving their performance when grouped with higher achieving students. In deriving psychological advantage we may specifically mention the anxiety free inspiring and stimulating environment of learning created cooperative learning. In the social benefits, cooperative learning helps in promoting leadership skills among students.
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