COOPERATIVE LEARNING

 Students work in groups or teams to help each other learn.

 It evolved strategies and procedures that can help small groups solve their own problems
and acquire information through collective effort.
 Learning environment is characterized by strong motivation and smooth interpersonal
interactions.

Characteristic features
1. Has two important components:
o A cooperative incentive structure- one where two or more individuals are interdependent
for a reward.
o A cooperative task structure- a situation in which two or more individuals are allowed,
encouraged or required to work together on some tasks, coordinating their efforts to
complete the task.
2. Students work in teams to tackle academic tasks.
3. Reward systems are group-oriented rather than individually-oriented.
4. The interactions within the group are controlled by the members themselves.
5. Teams are made up of mixed abilities – high, average and low achievers.
6. Each individual learner is accountable for his/her learning.
7. The group reflects on and evaluates the group process they underwent.

Guidelines for its effective use

1. Heterogeneous grouping
2. Exhibit the necessary social skills to work cooperatively in group situations.
3. Provide adequate space for ease and speed in movement.
4. Provide adequate learning tools.
5. Encourage students to assume responsibility for individual and group learning by offering
rewards for achievement.
6. Each group understands the goals, procedures, tasks and methods of evaluation.

Advantages of cooperative learning

1. Interdependent relationship is strengthened and reinforced when group cooperation is
rewarded.
2. Group work develops friendliness, willingness to assist and the more worthwhile values
of caring and sharing.
3. Cooperation in groups promotes maximum generation and exchange of ideas, tolerance
and respect for other people’s points of view.
4. Cooperative learning groups exhibit less competitive behavior compared to whole-class
teaching classrooms.
5. The group members gain skills of cooperation and collaboration through experiences.
Peer tutoring
 Think, pair, share!
 Is commonly employed when the teacher requests the older, brighter and more
cooperative member of the class to tutor other classmates.
 This is based on the rationale that the former is better equipped than the others.
 This is also due to their closeness in age, skills, study habits and even learning styles.

Tutoring arrangements
a. Instructional Tutoring. Older students help younger ones on a One-to-one or one-to-a-
group basis.
b. Same age Tutoring. Children who can act as an interactive pairs, more able ones to
assist the less able.
c. Monitorial Tutoring. The class may be divided into groups and monitors are assigned to
lead each group.
d. Instructional Tutoring. Older students help younger ones on a One-to-one or one-to-a-
group basis.
e. Same age Tutoring. Children who can act as an interactive pairs, more able ones to
assist the less able.
f. Monitorial Tutoring. The class may be divided into groups and monitors are assigned to
lead each group.

Instructional characteristics
1. The tutees receive individualized instruction.
2. The tutees receive more instruction.
3. Rapport between tutor and tutee may be readily established considering that they belong
more or less to the same age group.
4. The teacher is free at the same time to do other classroom chores while the members are
being handled by the tutors.
5. Reduces a large class into smaller working groups.
6. Discipline problems are lessened because there are more assistants looking after small
groups.
7. The spirit of cooperation, camaraderie and reciprocity are highlighted.
8. The tutors stand to gain more since teaching is excellent learning situation.
9. The tutors can likewise improve their own self-concept.

Guidelines for its effective use

1. Care in selecting the tutors to assist the rest must be strictly exercised.
2. The teacher must go around and observe how the members of the groups are interacting
with one another.
3. Tap students who posses leadership qualities in addition to being knowledgeable and
older.
4. Explain well the benefits of this form of arrangement in order to avoid possible
resentment since both tutor and tutees are classmates.
5. The tutor must confer with the teacher regarding the nature and extent of assistance they
are expected to provide.
6. Prepare both the tutors and the tutees regarding the role each will play in the teaching-
learning situation in order to avoid confusion.
7. Make sure the tutor exhibits teaching competence as to the depth and breadth of the
subject.
8. The tutors must employ a variety of techniques in “reaching” the tutees since they are
more alike in tasted, skills and habits.
9. Instant evaluation by way of performance and oral responses serve as feedback that can
indicate progress in the tutorial situation.

Partner learning
 Learning with partner
 “study buddy”

Guidelines for effective use

1. To prevent your students from socializing about unrelated topics, give them specific
amount of time and a specific prompt for discussion.
2. Give your students less time than you think they actually need.

Deductive method vs. inductive method

Deductive method
 Referred to as direct instruction
 The teacher tells or shows directly what he/she wants to teach.
 Teacher-dominated. Teacher begins with the abstract rule, generalization, principle and
ends with specific examples and concrete details.
Advantages
 Cove inning of the lesson. We do not need to worry on what questions to ask to lead the
learners to generalization or conclusion.
Disadvantages
 It is not supportive of the principle that learning is an active process. There is less
involvement on the part of the learners.
 Lesson appears uninteresting at first. We begin our lesson with the abstract, with what the
learners do not know so at the outset our lesson will look irrelevant and uninteresting.

Inductive Method
• Opposite of deductive method.
• Also called indirect instruction
• (Inquiry method or problem solving method and project methods).

Advantages
• The learners are more engaged in the teaching-learning process.
• Learning becomes more interesting at the outset because we begin with the experiences
of our students.
• It helps the development of our learners’ higher order thinking skills (HOTS).

Disadvantages
• It requires more time and so less subject matter will be covered.
• It demands expert facilitating skills on the part of the teacher.

Other Approaches
1. Blended Learning
 Is learning that is facilitated by the effective combination of different modes of delivery,
models of teaching and styles of learning, and is based on transparent communication
amongst all parties involved with a course (Heinze, A.; C Procter. 2004)

2. Reflective Teaching
 Students/ Teachers learn through an analysis and evaluation of past experiences. Without
analysis, no new learning and ideas can be constructed.
Guidelines for Effective Reflective Teaching/Learning
• Allocate sufficient time for reflection. Time must be considered in planning the learning
activity.
• Schedule a short briefing activity as to recapture the experience and think about.
• The teacher serves as a facilitator and guide in developing the skill in analyzing a past
learning experience.
• Encourage the students to recount the experiences to others, thereby strengthening the
insights gained.
• Attend to feelings especially the positive and pleasant ones.
• Evaluate the experience in the light of the learners.

Strategies for the Reflective Teaching

A. Self-analysis
 A reflective student/teacher is able to keep records of his/her success or failure in
employing a strategy, problems and issues confronted, and significance of learning events
that occurred.
B. Writing Journals
• A journal Entry Includes:
a. Description of the teaching/ learning events
b. Outcomes of the events
c. Value or worthiness of the outcomes
d. Causes of failures
C. Keeping a Portfolio
 A portfolio is a very personal document which includes frank, honest and on-the-spot
account of experiences.
 It includes a student’s first hand observations and personal knowledge that will be needed
in analyzing changes in values being developed.
 Instant thoughts and reactions can be recorded in a log book for future recall and study.

Things to ask
1. Did I motivate them enough to continue on?
2. Are the students learning from the activity? If so, why? If not, why?
3. Am I relating the lesson to their knowledge and interest? How can I do better?
4. How good was my classroom management skill?
5. 5. Did anything significant occur? If so, describe. Why did it happen?
6. 6. Was the strategy I used the most effective one? What other strategies might have been
effective?
7. 7. Did I exhibit flexibility in modifying my lesson according to their responses?
8. 8. What I have learned about my own teaching? Have I become a better teacher?
 Van Linden and Fertman (1998)
 Make sure each group understands the goals, procedures, tasks and methods of
evaluation. The experiential learning process of reflection-looking back at what you have
learned, gaining useful insight from the analysis, and applying this new knowledge to
daily work- helps students to understand the meaning and effect of their contribution.
Lambert (2003)
 Schools are increasingly using reflection tools for learning and assessment, whether in
the forms of portfolios, journals, dialogue, or products and performances resulting from
problem-based learning. Rather than discussing only data relating to test scores, as is the
norm these days, we need also to discuss data that emerges from reflection as legitimate
measures of success and to include students in any dialogue.

Summing Up
 Learning that results from reflective teaching is best described as one borne or
experiences that have been deeply thought of, analyzed and evaluated.
 Reflection is inseparable from experience. Experience is not yet best learning, reflection
is.

Metacognitive Approach
• Meta = beyond
• Therefore, a metacognitive approach is an approach that goes beyond cognition.
• It has something to do with our students monitoring their own cognitive processes as they
are engaged in their cognitive task.

Metacognitive activities can guide students as they:

 Identify what they already know
 Articulate what they learned
 Communicate their knowledge, skills, and abilities to a specific audience, such as a
hiring committee
 Set goals and monitor their progress
 Evaluate and revise their own work
 Identify and implement effective learning strategies
 Transfer learning from one context to another

Activities that promote metacognition should:

 Facilitate equal participation
 Ensure students do most of the talking
 Take place before, during, and after an experience
 Happen in different group configurations (individuals, pairs, small group, large group)
According to Hammond….
• Students learn more effectively when they are aware on their learning of how they learn
and know how to monitor and reflect.
Orlich (1994)
 Effective problem-solvers sub vocalize; that is they talk to themselves frequently.
 Sub vocalizing includes constantly re-stating the situation, rechecking progress, and
evaluating whether one’s thinking is moving in an appropriate discussion.