Cooperative and Collaborative Learning

I had always thought cooperative learning and collaborative learning were homophones, but have since learned that they are two dimensions of the same thing. They have these five similar elements and are beneficial to students because it:

• has children learn to work with all types of people
• exposes students to differences and similarities
• builds social skills such as listening skills and how to give and appropriately respond to constructive feedback
• has students actively involved in learning
• allows for more personal feedback since students have the opportunity to make more exchanges in a small group

These elements are valuable skills for students to obtain to meet success inside and outside of the classroom. The only drawbacks to collaborative and cooperative learning are student’s conflict can interfere with learning and in mixed ability groups stronger students are often left to teach weaker students, which can be burdensome. This can be a bit burdensome, but I also see teaching peers as valuable be because the best way to learn something is to be able to teach it.

I since learned that collaborative learning is more open ended and complex as students team to explore a question or create a meaningful project. As they work towards their goal there is an equal distribution of the work and everyone contributes so everyone grows and matures. The students particularly grow as they receive feedback from their peers. Cooperative learning is more structured and teacher driven as the students have specific roles and are individually accountable for their part of the task. Cooperative learning prepares students for collaboration as they learn how to complete a task and how to contribute to a group.