Reading through Vygotsky's thoughts on cooperative learning highlighted the importance of using varied teaching strategies. Rather than always 'talking to' the class, it is important to also have the class 'talk among themselves'. By having students work in small groups, they can be given the opportunity to discover things on their own with some guidance from the tutor. Students get to share ideas with their group, explore and build on those ideas, and often times arrive at solutions without have to be 'told' what the solution is. Cooperative learning affords students the opportunity to think things through.
However, this method of instruction does require careful planning to be effective. Tasks must be clearly defined and enough 'clues' or pointers must be available to students so they can connect the dots and find their way. This type of learning doesn't take teachers out of the equation, they don't simply assign work and leave children to their own devices. The teacher must monitor what each group is doing and provide guidance as they move from group to group. Classroom management is also critical here since some groups can become sidetracked and not focus on the tasks at hand.
I have tried cooperative learning in my classes a few times since reading this topic. I've found that some students applied themselves more than they did previously. Since they were in a small group working there was now responsibility not just to the teacher to get tasks done, but also to their peers. Many students didn't like having their peers accuse them of 'doing nothing' in the group so they made some effort. It is my opinion that some persons also applied themselves more from a perspective of wanting to be able to boast that their group did a better job than the other groups.
One of the major positives was seeing the stronger students explain certain concepts to the weaker students. I believe this helped all concerned; it meant that the strong students got to take on some leadership responsibility; the weaker students got another opportunity to learn about a concept they didn't understand before (in some cases they understood more easily from their peers than they did from me); I didn't have to explain to weaker students many times again, their peers helped with that. Students got to have more socialization take place when they were in groups since they were communicating a lot, however, unlike what typically happens in my classroom, they were communicating positively and in a focused manner most of the time instead of engaging in disruptive chatter.
I did have one major concern though, and this was where some students, usually from among those who understood the concepts best, became like mini dictators and rather than explain to the weaker students, tried to bullly them by calling them names because they didn't understand. This is something that I will have to keep a keen lookout for. Classroom management (group management) will be critical in ensuring students stay on point and treat each other with respect and support.
Above all, I like this approach because a lot more thinking takes place among the students.
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