Sunday, April 24, 2011

Collaborative/Cooperative Learning as Strategy in Teaching

Student’s classroom atmosphere should not be harsh and distractive to the point that students hate to learn in school. Student-centered instruction is a must in schools so that students will have the opportunity to learn happily and find learning a friendly and effective tool in education.

Getting away from the traditional way of teaching, collaborative and cooperative learning is an essential tool that embraces students to access better processes and understanding of the activities.

This kind of teaching strategy makes everyone aware that he has a given task to perform. All members are collaborating and accomplishing a certain activity as a team where they will help each other in meeting the desired positive result.
Studies revealed that collaborative learning is a method of teaching and learning in which students team together to explore a significant question or create a meaningful project. This is formed of a group of students who are discussing a lecture or students from different schools working together on a shared assignment. On the other hand, cooperative learning is a specific kind of collaborative learning in which the students work together in small groups on a structured activity. It is specifically viewed in which the students are individually accountable for their work, and the work of the group as a whole is also assessed.

In this kind of teaching strategy, the teacher gives the students the opportunity to actively participate in the entire assigned task to accomplish. Teachers become learners that learners sometimes teach. There is respect that is given to every member since all of them are able to express and donate their respective ideas. But if conflicts arise, student learns skills for resolving them. This kind of strategy in teaching make members draw upon their past experiences and knowledge in accomplishing the given task to do. This envelope the students to discover that they have such potentials and skills in accomplishing given task based on what they have learned.

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