The State of Cooperative Learning in Postsecondary and Professional Settings

Abstract

Modern cooperative learning began in the mid-1960s (D. W. Johnson & R. Johnson, 1999a). Its use, however, was resisted by advocates of social Darwinism (who believed that students must be taught to survive in a "dog-eat-dog" world) and individualism (who believed in the myth of the "rugged individualist"). Despite the resistance, cooperative learning is now an accepted, and often the preferred, instructional procedures at all levels of education. Cooperative learning is being used in postsecondary education in every part of the world. It is difficult to find a text on instructional methods, a journal on teaching, or instructional guidelines that do not discuss cooperative learning. Materials on cooperative learning have been translated into dozens of languages. Cooperative learning is one of the success stories of both psychology and education. One of the most distinctive characteristics of cooperative learning, and perhaps the reason for its success, is the close relationship between theory, research, and practice. In this article, social interdependence theory will be reviewed, the research validating the theory will be summarized, and the five basic elements needed to understand the dynamics of cooperation and operationalize the validated theory will be discussed. Finally the controversies in the research and the remaining questions that need to be answered by future research will be noted.

The relationship between students’ small group activities, time spent on self-study, and achievement

“…According to this learning principle learning increases when students share common goals, are dependent on and accountable to each other (Johnson et al 2007; Van der Linden et al 2000). The factors that affect the effectiveness of different types of collaborative learning environments have been studied extensively over the years.…”

Conflits et apprentissage. Régulation des conflits sociocognitifs et apprentissage

“…Certains travaux issus de la tradition de recherche sur l'apprentissage coopératif Johnson et al, 1998 ;Johnson, Johnson & Smith, 2007) se sont intéressés aux effets des confrontations dans un contexte d'échange d'informations. Leurs premières études ont indiqué que les personnes confrontées à une position opposée à la leur rapportent plus d'incertitude quant à leur compréhension de la position de leur partenaire, mais qu'elles sont en même temps capables d'identifier plus précisément la nature du raisonnement de ce dernier, comparativement à des personnes qui ne sont pas en situation de contradiction (Tjosvold & Johnson, 1977.…”

“…La controverse coopérative s'appuie sur ces deux éléments. Ce type de controverse a lieu lorsque les jugements initiaux d'un apprenant sont incompatibles avec ceux d'un autre apprenant, et que les deux tentent d'atteindre une position commune (Johnson & Johnson, 1995 ;Johnson & Johnson, 1999 ;Johnson et al, 2007 ;Johnson, Johnson & Tjosvold, 2000). Elle est structurée de manière à renforcer l'investissement des étudiants dans les conflits intellectuels en proposant une séquence de travail qui permet d'expliciter les divergences de manière constructive.…”

Assessment of a novel group‐centered testing schema in an upper‐level undergraduate molecular biotechnology course

“…For example, cooperative learning benefits student achievement through increased understanding of the material, long-term retention of previously learned course content, improved higher-level thinking, and enhanced test performance [10][11][12]. This type of structured peer interaction engages students to become more familiar with the material through active discussion, debate, and the opportunity to explain and share information between their peers [13][14][15][16][17]. Collaborative interaction serves as a checks and balance system for students to evaluate their understanding of core concepts and form new connections for meaningful learning [18,19].…”