Introduction
What Is Cooperative Learning?
The Benefits of Cooperative Learning
How to Get the Most From This Book
About the Authors
Part I: Getting Started With Cooperative Learning
1. Principle: Cooperation as a Value
How can I get my class started using cooperative learning (CL)?
What classroom management techniques might work well with CL?
How might the room be arranged for CL?
2. Principle: Heterogeneous Grouping
How can I form cooperative groups?
How can I help my students work together smoothly?
What are some strategies for team building?
3. Principle: Positive Interdependence
What is positive interdependence?
How can I help my students develop positive interdependence?
How can we encourage an "all for one, one for all" spirit among
students?
4. Principle: Individual Accountability
How can I encourage all students to participate and learn?
How can I help students learn to take responsibility for their
group?
5. Principle: Simultaneous Interaction
How can I give students lots of opportunities to express their
ideas?
Should students report on their group work to the whole class?
How can I encourage students to explain their thinking to their
group?
6. Principle: Equal Participation
How can I promote equal participation in groups?
How might CL help with differences in student ability levels?
What about the students whose main strengths do not lie in academic
skills?
7. Principle: Collaborative Skills
Is it necessary to teach students how to cooperate?
Can students learn collaborative skills while learning content, or
does it have to be done separately?
How might cooperative learning help students develop thinking
skills?
8. Principle: Group Autonomy
How can I help groups become more independent of the teacher?
How much should I intervene when students are working in their CL
groups?
What is the teacher′s role when students have become more
autonomous?
9. Assessment in Cooperative Learning
How can I assess learning in cooperative groups?
What are my options for grading students, and what are the pros and
cons of giving all group members the same grade?
How might I involve students in assessing themselves and each
other?
What about assessing how cooperative students are?
Part II: Frequently Asked Questions About Cooperative Learning
10. Preparing Our Classes for Cooperative Learning
What size should groups be?
What if there is an uneven number of students?
How long should CL groups stay together?
What if students want to choose their own partners?
How can CL work when students don′t believe they can learn from
their peers?
Should anything special be done when groups end?
11. Managing Cooperative Learning Classes
Isn′t CL a recipe for behavioral chaos?
Should I use time limits with group tasks?
Won′t there be a lot of disruption and wasted time while students
are moving into groups?
How can I quickly get students′ attention when they are working in
groups?
How do you deal with groups that are too noisy?
What if some groups are not carrying out the task or activity
properly?
Is it a problem when groups finish at different times?
How can group reporting be a learning experience for everyone in
the class?
How can I listen in as students are working together in their
groups?
12. Creating CL Tasks
How often should I use CL?
How can I find the time necessary to prepare structured CL
activities?
How are CL lessons different from teacher-fronted lessons?
Won′t group activities take too long?
Won′t students complain about using the same CL technique, or even
using CL, again and again?
What if CL tasks are too difficult for students of different
ability levels?
13. Enhancing Thinking When Using CL
How can I encourage students working in groups to show creativity
or other evidence of higher-order thinking?
How can I ensure that group members avoid reaching quick consensus
and have richer discussions?
14. Using CL in Special Situations
How do I use CL with preschool and lower elementary school
students?
How do I use CL with students learning in a second language?
How should we respond when students use their first language in CL
groups using another language?
How do I use CL with large classes?
15. Helping Groups That Aren′t Functioning Well
What can I do when students don′t get along with their
groupmates?
My students argue with one another. How can I turn arguing into
productive disagreement?
What can I do about students who don′t participate much in CL
activities?
What about students who really want to work alone?
What about students who dominate the group?
What can I do when less able students hurt their group′s
performance?
What can I do when students give each other the wrong
information?
What can I do when there is cooperation within groups but not
between groups?
16. Collaborating With Other Teachers
Most other teachers at my school don′t seem interested in CL.
Should I give up on them?
A few other teachers I know are using CL. How can we help each
other?
What goals should my teacher support groups strive for?
With what other changes in teaching does CL fit well? Why?
17. Working With Administrators and Parents
How can I respond to administrators and parents who worry that CL
won′t prepare students for multiple-choice tests such as the
SAT?
Will CL give me enough time to cover the syllabus and finish the
textbook?
How can I work with administrators who do not support CL?
Part III: Resources for Cooperative Learning
CL Print Resources
Web Sites
Index
George M. Jacobs has a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Hawaii and a master’s degree in Linguistics from the University of Illinois—Chicago. He has been teaching courses on cooperative learning since 1988. He has published many articles on the topic and is also a coauthor of Learning Cooperative Learning via Cooperative Learning: A Sourcebook of Lesson Plans for Teacher Education (1997). He is a member of the Executive Board of the International Association for the Study of Cooperation in Education and editor of its newsletter. He also specializes in second-language learning and helped compile an annotated bibliogra-phy of works on group activities in second-language instruction. Contact him at gmjacobs@ pacific.net.sg. Michael A. Power has a PhD in Educational Psychology and a master’s degree in English as a Second Language from the University of Hawaii. He is the Director of Instruction and Assessment for the Mercer Island, Washington, school district. He has taught English as a second language in the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, and has, for many years, conducted training throughout the Pacific in instructional strategies for teachers (including cooperative learning). Loh Wan Inn has an EdD in Science Education from the State University of New Jersey and master’s degrees in Education (First Honors) and in Arts from Trinity College, University of Dublin. She is a chartered biolo-gist (Institute of Biology, UK). She has lived and worked in the United States, Singapore, Ireland, and Australia. She has taught courses on science, mathematics, science education, environmental education, coop-erative learning, curriculum design, and multiple intelligences. Through her interest in cooperative learning, she has seen it introduced in science by preschool and secondary school teachers as part of their science educa-tion modules. She also designs and trains teachers for camps on multiple intelligences and science. Her previous books include storybooks for young children and books on science and science education. She is also a member of a number of environmental organizations.
"The Teacher’s Sourcebook for Cooperative Learning has ideas and
activities that can be used by all teachers who want to improve
their classroom management and promote community
building."
*Rebecca Den Hartog, Elementary Classroom Teacher*
"I unreservedly recommend this important resource to any preservice
or inservice teachers of young children."
*Chris Iddings, Assistant Professor of Language and Literacy*
"The authors reveal considerable wealth of experience as teachers
and as users of CL. This will be a very successful book."
*Jon A. Scaife, Lecturer in Education*
"This book will give teachers the materials they need to try
cooperative learning techniques if they do not currently use them,
and it will encourage teachers to expand their cooperative
activities if they use some now."
*Theodore Panitz, Professor*
"This wonderfully effective guide to the management and assessment
of group work in the high school classroom offers practical
strategies, advice, and an answer to the perennial teacher
question ‘How do I get kids to work together
productively?’ I highly recommend it to any new or
experienced teacher as a great resource for incorporating effective
cooperative learning strategies into the curriculum."
*Ann Morgan, High School Teacher and Curriculum Specialist*
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