The Cooperative Link

The Newsletter of
The Cooperative Learning Institute
Volume 14 Issue 1
February, 1999

Cooperative Learning And Diversity

Editors: David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson

Highlights

Summer Schedule For Training Sessions
Cooperative Learning And Conflict Resolution SIGs
1999 Leadership Conference

Inside

Approaches To Classroom And School Diversity
The Eight Steps Of Ensuring Diversity Is A Resource
Examples Of Implementation

Greetings From The Johnsons

Greetings! We know it is past time for us to say hello and encourage you to continue making your settings more cooperative, but here we are at last! We are planning this summer's training and are looking forward to a first international training in Houston, Texas in June. The Minneapolis Trainings are the last two weeks in July. They include seven different sessions (Foundation, Advanced, Conflict Resolution, Assessment, Leading the Cooperative School, Cooperation the College Classroom, Foundation Leadership Training, and Leadership Trainings for all the other courses). The weekend in between (July 23 - 25), we will host the Annual Leaders Conference where we share ideas, discuss the latest in cooperative learning, and reunite with each other.

We are doing an increasing amount of training in Colleges and Universities. They are seeking research-based practices and have money for staff development. You may wish to approach the colleges near you to see if they are interested in training. The President's Office can direct you to the staff development office.

We are also seeing a number of opportunities emerging outside the US and Canada. There has always been interest in cooperative learning in Scandinavia, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand. Now there is also interest in South Africa, South America, Thailand and Malaysia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Italy, and Eastern Europe. Many of these countries can implement cooperative learning without some of the barriers we meet in North America.

Teaching Students How To Interact Effectively With Diverse Individuals

Avoiding diversity is not an option. Diversity among individuals is increasing and it is everywhere. Teaching students the skills to interact effectively with diverse individuals is not a luxury, it is a necessity. Doing so requires (Johnson & Johnson, 1999):

1. Helping students recognize that diversity exists and is a valuable resource.

2. Involving diverse students in a cooperative effort that requires the contributions of all members.

3. Assisting each student in identifying his or her historical/cultural heritage and the view of him or herself as an individual who respects and values differences among individuals.

1. Value Diversity As A Resource
2. Create A Cooperative Context
3. Establish Own Cultural Identity
4. Reduce Cognitive Barriers
5. Reduce Intergroup Barriers
6. Create Process Of Acceptance
7. Manage Conflict Constructively
8. Internalize Pluralistic Values

4. Helping students reduce their internal cognitive barriers (such as stereotyping and prejudice) to building positive relationships with diverse individuals.

5. Helping students reduce the barriers resulting from the dynamics of intergroup conflict and understand how to establish the conditions for constructive intergroup interaction.

6. Helping students understand how to create the process of acceptance while avoiding the process of rejection.

7. Teaching students to constructively manage intellectual conflicts (constructive controversy) and conflicts of interests (problem-solving negotiations and peer mediation).

8. Helping students learn and internalize pluralistic, democratic values.

1. Recognizing That Diversity Is A Valuable Resource

The United States (and most of the world) is becoming more and more diverse as the result of immigration patterns. At least three times (Brown v. Board of Education, Title IX, PL 94-142) the United States Supreme Court and Congress have emphasized that all citizens have equal rights and opportunities. When individuals are skilled in interacting with diverse others, diversity increases productivity and achievement, makes relationships more positive and personal, and improves various aspects of psychological health.

2. Creating A Cooperative Community

It is only in a cooperative context that diversity is constructive (Johnson & Johnson, 1999). When individuals are competing or working individualistically, diversity tends to result in negative outcomes. Creating a cooperative learning community in the classroom and school begins with using cooperative learning the majority of the instructional day (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1998a, 1998b). Positive interdependence is then extended to the school, parents, and neighborhood.

3. Establishing Historical/Cultural Identity

Your identity provides stability to your life (Johnson & Johnson, 1999). The world can change, other people can change, your career and family life can change, but there is something about yourself that remains the same. There are four steps in building pride in your own and others historical/cultural identity:

a. Develop an appreciation for your own historic/cultural identity. Skills in interacting with diverse individuals begin with an awareness of your own cultural background.

b. Develop an appreciation for the historic/cultural identity of others. The United States is a nation of immigrants. Most everyone has a different historic/cultural identity than you do.

c. Develop a strong superordinate identity as an "American." Everyone becomes a hyphenated American (I am a Norwegian-American, an English-American, an African-American, an Asian-American).

d. Adopt a pluralistic set of values. What makes a person an American is the adoption of a creed. The American Creed consists of valuing democracy, freedom, liberty, equality, justice, the rights of individuals, and the responsibilities of citizenship.

4. Reducing Cognitive Barriers

Interacting skillfully with diverse individuals requires an understanding of the cognitive barriers to valuing diversity (Johnson & Johnson, 1999). They include stereotyping and prejudice. People often see outgroups as being homogeneous while recognizing the heterogeneity among their own group members. People often act friendly on the surface while being prejudiced on the inside. People often blame the victim, believing that people provoke the discrimination they are subjected to. Unless individuals are aware of the dynamics of such cognitive barriers, they are unable to interact effectively with diverse peers.

5. Establishing The Conditions For Constructive Intergroup Interaction

Students also need to understand the dynamics of intergroup conflict and how to establish the conditions for constructive intergroup interaction (Johnson & Johnson, 1999). Just the presence of another group can create feelings of competition and rivalry. Once started, intergroup conflict is very difficult to end. Two of the most important conditions for creating positive relationships among diverse individuals are:

a. Cooperative action (diverse individuals have to engage in joint action to achieve mutual goals).

b. Personal interactions among individuals from the different groups (personal contact is necessary to break down stereotypes and group boundaries).

The combination of cooperative action and personal interactions tend to result in friendships. Intergroup friendships are a powerful force in mastering the skills for interacting effectively with diverse individuals.

6. Creating Process Of Acceptance

Forming and maintaining positive relationships takes more than physical proximity. When your students are involved in a cooperative effort with diverse classmates, you teach them to engage in the process of acceptance. They do so by:

a. Engaging in frequent and open communication with the diverse groupmates.

b. Seeking to understand the interaction from the other's perspectives.

c. Using "friendly" persuasion and problem-solving influence attempts.

d. Developing a multi-dimensional and differentiated view of groupmates.

e. Emphasizing the unique contributions and value of each member.

f. Celebrating the group's success and the achievement of each member.

g. Expecting positive and productive future interaction with them.

7. Managing Conflicts Constructively

Diversity inevitably leads to conflicts. Comments that seem trivial and innocent to one person, for example, can be offensive and hurtful to another person. In order to ensure that diverse students build and maintain positive relationships, conflicts must (a) occur frequently and (b) be managed constructively (Johnson & Johnson, 1995a, 1995b, 1999). Students must learn how to engage in:

a. Constructive controversy. Teachers use academic controversies to create intellectual challenge and inquiry. Students must (a) research and prepare a position, (b) present their position and listen to an opposing position, (c) engage in a discussion in which they advocate their position, critically analyze and challenge the opposing position, and defend their own position from attack, (d) reverse perspectives and present the opposing position, and (e) reach a synthesis on which both sides can agree.

b. Engage in problem-solving negotiations and peer mediation. Students master the steps for problem-solving negotiations by (a) describing what they want, (b) describing how they feel, (c) describing the reasons for their wants and feelings, (d) taking the other's perspective, (e) inventing three optional plans to resolve the conflict that maximize joint benefits, and (f) choosing one and formalizing the agreement with a hand shake. When negotiation does not work, mediation is required. Mediation consists of (a) ending hostilities, (b) ensuring disputants are committed to the mediation process, (c) helping disputants successfully negotiate with each other, and (d) formalizing the agreement.

Since both the academic controversy and the peacemaker programs have been discussed at length in previous newsletters (and books), they are only outlined here.

8. Internalizing Civic Values

Managing diversity is much easier when students have internalized pluralistic, democratic values. Diversity cannot be constructive when schools are dominated by (a) competition where students are taught to value striving for their personal success at the expense of others or (b) individualistic efforts where students value only their own self-interests.

Rather, students need to internalize values based on common goals and mutual efforts to achieve them, such as (a) commitment to own and others' success and well-being as well as to the common good, (b) success depends on joint efforts to achieve mutual goals, (c) facilitating, promoting, and encouraging the success of others is a natural way of life (a smart cooperator will always find ways to promote, facilitate, and encourage the efforts of others), (d) the pleasure of succeeding is associated with others' happiness in their success, (e) other people are potential contributors to one's success, (f) own and other people's worth is unconditional (because there are so many diverse ways that a person may contribute to a joint effort, everyone has value all the time), (g) intrinsic motivation based on striving to learn, grow, develop, and succeed is valued (learning is the goal, not winning), (h) people who are different from oneself are to be valued as they can make unique contributions to the joint effort.

Summary

Diversity in a classroom or school is unavoidable. Students' future career success and quality of life may depend on their skills in interacting effectively with diverse individuals. We need to utilize existing classroom and school diversity to enhance students' education while teaching them the skills and procedures required for effective interaction with diverse peers.

Historical/Cultural Identity Assignment
1. My cultural, historical, ethnic heritage is: ___________________
2. Find the other members of this class who share your cultural heritage.
3. Plan a 20 minute presentation of your cultural heritage that includes the following:
* Who are we? (Definition of cultural identity)
* What is our history?
* What are our traditions?
* Examples of our culture are... (food, songs, dances, and so forth)
* Our personal experiences as a member of this culture are...
* The continuing traditions we are following are...

Comparing Cultural Identities
What do we have in common, how are we different? Draw two overlapping circles. Such a figure is known as a Venn Diagram. Form a pair with someone who has a different historical heritage than you do.

1. In the first circle write down the aspects of your historical, cultural, and ethnic identity that is unique and different from the identity of the other person.

2. In the second circle write down the aspects of the other person's historical, cultural, and ethnic identity that is unique and different from yours.

3. In the overlapping part of the circles, write down the aspects of both historical, cultural, and ethnic identities that are similar.

4. Discuss how you are different and what you have in common.

5. Find a new partner and repeat the procedure.

References

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1995a). Teaching students to be peacemakers (3rd ed.). Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1995a). Creative Controversy: Intellectual challenge in the classroom (3rd ed.). Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1999). Human relations: Valuing diversity. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R., & Holubec (1998a). Cooperation in the classroom (7th ed.). Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R., & Holubec (1998b). Advanced cooperative learning (3rd ed.). Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

New Book! Human Relations: Valuing Diversity
Our latest book is entitled, Human Relations: Valuing Diversity. The contents of the book are summarized in this newsletter. It is aimed at training teachers how to teach students the procedures and skills they need to interact effectively with diverse peers. It is especially helpful for teachers in inner-city schools and schools where there is a great deal of diversity among students.

Join The AERA SIGs
To join the Special Interest Groups in the American Educational Research Association on Cooperative Learning or on Conflict Resolution, call or write Laurie Stevahn at the Cooperative Learning Center (612) 624-7031.

Visit Our Web Page: www.cooplearn.org

New Summer Training!
Assessment And Cooperative Learning: The two most important assessment issues are making assessments meaningful and managing all the work the new assessment procedures require. Cooperative learning is essential for both of these issues. All the latest assessment procedures will be taught.

1999 Leadership Conference: Anyone who has taken our Leadership Training is invited to attend this conference. Call Linda for details. (952) 831-7060; FAX: (952) 831-9332

New Foundation, Advanced, College Books!
You may have noticed that in 1998 we revised the Brown (Cooperation In The Classroom), Green (Advanced Cooperative Learning), and college (Active Learning) books.