Cooperative Learning enables students to develop important social and communication skills. By working in teams, they learn to listen to and tolerate others’ viewpoints, build trust, provide mutual support and encouragement, compromise, negotiate, deliver constructive criticism and manage conflict. Teachers may help students to develop effective communication skills through role-playing classes and sometimes appoint someone within the group to ensure that everyone is treated fairly and to help resolve conflicts. Groups are made up of students of various levels of academic ability, and diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds.
Students depend on one another to master the skills that enable them to complete a given task. A student participating in a history project, for example, might be asked to compile information about a historical event and distribute it to other group members. Students learn that each individual is indispensable for the team’s overall success and, consequently, to value and feel proud of others’ contributions.
Although students work as a team, each individual is formally tested on her academic knowledge once the project is complete. Teachers sometimes randomly examine students by asking a team member to provide a synopsis of what he has learned or to deliver a class presentation. A teacher might also observe cooperative learning groups to ensure that each student does his fair share of the work and helps other team members, by teaching what he has learned to someone else.
Classroom groups are arranged so that students face one another and have direct eye contact, to promote meaningful and positive interaction. Explaining how to solve problems, discussing academic concepts, brainstorming and sharing information are tasks typically shared by cooperative learners.