blog post 6

Cooperative learning

"Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of varying abilities use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding on a subject"(Teacher Vision(n.d.)). Cooperative learning gives a chance to students to feel success as a group". Also, it is a method to bring together both high and low achievers to work in same group.  Cooperative learning has many advantages and some of its advantages is really supported when we look theories of some scientists like Piaget and Vygotsky. For example, in cognitive theory Piage sad that people are really active when constructing their own knowledge and cooperative learning give this change to students firstly to create their own knowledge. Also, in socio-cultural theory Vygotsky defend that social interaction affects construction process and how people create meaning out of experience. Constructivist learning is both interrelated with these two theory. Firstly, learners create their own knowledge, and then, by sharing that knowledge with each other, they manipulate their knowledge as stronger. On the other hand, cooperative learning has advantages for students with lesser abilities while they are working with gifted students but some of the researches think that it is not same for the gifted students. Moreover, they think that it is exploitation. Actually, I agree this Word. Gifted students can tutor students with lesser abilities and by teaching to someone, they can repeat their own knowledge and hold it in remembering stage but that is all. I mean that students with lesser abilities will not improve higher thinking of gifted students and will not be helpful for them to manipulate their knowledge and to make it stronger. Even so, this disadvantage definitely cannot Show that cooperative learning is not helpful. Rose even has a thorn. Also, cooperative learning has some technics to make it more helpful. For example, one of them is Stad. In this technic, students are grouped as 4 or 5 member and they help each other to learn materials by tutoring and testing each other. The other one is jigsaw. In this technic, students are again grouped but it is heterogeneous different from Stad. Each student work to learn a specific subject. Each member having same topic from different group comes together to improve that subject and they come back to their group to teach their learned subject with better understanding. The last one is structural approach. Actually, it is what we do with our peers when we help us to understand a particular subject before exam comes. We think the subject and understand it. When our friend asks us about it to learn, we teach it as we are making a daily conversation. Later, while waiting exam, when chatting, we ask some of us who are good at some particular subjects to learn. Also, seating arrangement is important. It should have some proper design while needed. Moreover, it should not be forgotten that every student should have a role in a group. This is important because every student should focus a specific responsibility. This will make them feel like a flywheel in a clock. If it stops the other components of clock will also stop.

teacher division(n.d.)What is cooperative learning and what does it do. Retrieved from: https://www.teachervision.com/cooperative-learning/what-cooperative-learning-what-does-it-do