Highlights

* Summer Schedule For Training Sessions

* Cooperative Learning And Conflict Resolution SIGs

* Web Site: www.co-operation.org

Inside

1 The Third C

2 Common Mistakes In Using Cooperative Learning

3 News From Around The World

The Newsletter of

The Cooperative Learning Institute

Volume 16 • Issue 1

February, 2001

The Cooperative Link

Cooperative Learning

Editors: David W. Johnson, Roger T. Johnson, Edythe Holubec

Greetings From The Johnsons

Greetings! Here we are again! We have had a busy year, both nationally and internationally. In 2000, for example, we conducted trainings in Hong Kong, Israel, Columbia, Spain, Italy. So far this year we have conducted trainings in Honk Kong and Norway. Jetlag is becoming a way of life for us. Roger is still playing golf and David is lstill running. 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 20 - 22), we will host the Annual Leaders Conference where we share ideas, discuss the latest in cooperative learning, and reunite with each other.

We hope your efforts to make your classrooms, schools, and districts more cooperative are going well. We hope your efforts to train students and your colleagues in how to manage conflicts constructively are progressing. We hope your efforts to make your schools more cooperative are fruitful. Keep up your good work.

The Third C

Our recent articles and book chapters have described the three "C's" of safe and effective schools. The first "C" is to develop cooperative classrooms where students work predominantly in cooperative learning groups and a cooperative school where the teachers work together toward shared goals, and model cooperation for the students. The second "C" is to develop norms in the school on how to deal with conflicts constructively; both conflicts of interest and intellectual controversy. The third "C" is the civic values that permeate the classrooms and school if the first two "C's" are accomplished.

How people interact carries a set of values. Serious competition suggests that it is very important that you do better than others and results in cautious communication where you don't "give anything away", hoarding of your best ideas, and too often in hurt feelings. Individualistic work isolates you from others and focuses you on only your own success. The cooperative setting has a message of inclusion and caring about others that is not only productive but very important to any human being. After all we are known as a gregarious species; at our best in groups such as a family, village, community or society. We are at our worst when we are isolated from others for long periods of time. Marriage counseling, psychological counseling and psychotherapy are focused on relationships with others and how to strengthen them. Why then do we insist in schools on having students compete most of the time or work individually with instructions "not to copy", "do your own work", and "don't talk during class"? While all three interaction patterns (cooperation, competition, and individualistic) are useful at different times in a classroom, a predominantly cooperative classroom is more productive, viewed more positively, more accepting (appreciative) of diversity, and more healthy psychologically.

The cooperative setting promotes the values needed to be a good family member, good neighbor, and fellow community member. If you were to observe an experienced cooperative learning teacher at work you would notice a number of values being developed in the cooperative process. A short list might include the following.

1. Commitment to the other group members and to shared goals. This is the hallmark of cooperative learning: "On this task if you want to be successful you have to be concerned about the others in your group as well as yourself." The question in a cooperative setting is "How well did we do?" more than "How well did I do?"

2. Responsibility to self and others. The responsibility to others is to help when it is needed, encourage and support the efforts of others, and ensure others are comfortable with the group effort. The responsibility to self is to do your part of the group's work, ask for help when you need it, and walk away from the group knowing more.

3. Appreciation for diversity. Since the unique talents, skills, perspectives, and knowledge of each group member add on to the group resources, it is best to maximize the diversity of the group. Groups that quickly reach a consensus and finish early are often groups whose members are too similar. Even when students of similar ability are assigned to the same group, other kinds of diversity should be maximized.

4. Respect for others and their ideas, opinions, and attitudes. Respect grows as groups strive together, process, and celebrate. One of the warmest moments in a cooperative classroom is when a struggling student does better than usual and their group cheers.

5. Integrity. Having integrity in your relationships with others is almost always the easiest thing to do in the long run and in a cooperative relationship it is the easiest thing to do in the short run as well.

6. Caring about others. It is obvious from some of the research that even some "hard to like" students are accepted and liked because they were part of a group effort worthy of pride.

7. Compassion. This results from being able to take the other's perspective and see at least some of what they are seeing. Compassion tends to result from cooperative efforts as members work together .

It is important that these civic values are integrated into the daily ebb-and-flow of school life, not as a separate activity or class. As students work cooperatively, they develop these civic values. Teachers can encourage and reinforce civic values as students work together. Some suggestions for doing so are as follows:

1. Encourage group processing during and at the end of cooperative projects. Students should examine how well they are interacting with each other and how they could work together better. Cooperative skills and civic values are identified and talked about. Teachers can enter groups in which members demonstrated civic values, give feedback, and encourage further use of the values. This helps students focus on outcomes other than achievement.

2. Model the values in the way you deal with the students and your colleagues. Your behavior will say more than any words. "What you are speaks so loudly students cannot hear what you say!".

3. Assign roles to students. Roles can encourage the practice and development of civic values. The role of encouraging the participation of each group member carries the message that all group members' contributions are important. The role of class mediator (assist in resolving conflicts) requires practice of conflict resolution skills and the development of the civic value of dealing with conflicts humanely rather than with violence.

4. Associate the cooperative work and the peaceful resolution of conflicts to the role of being an "American" or "Community member" to help students relate the cooperative and conflict resolution processes to broader roles they hold in society.

Teaching for the third "C" not only develops values that increase the quality of students' lives and their success as an adult, it also helps define what the school stands for. Teaching students to work cooperatively and to resolve conflicts helps guide teachers' (a) decisions about curriculum, instruction, and resources and (b) relations with parents and the community.

Common Mistakes In Using Cooperative Learning - And What To Do About Them!

1. Group size too large! It takes a lot of skill for students to manage a group of 4 or more. Instead, keep group size small: 2 or 3 is best. Smaller groups are more effective and take less time.

2. Not preparing students to work in cooperative groups. Explain to students why you are using cooperative learning, do a short cooperative learning activity, then have them explain how it can help them. Initially, do short get-acquainted and review activities.

3. Not teaching students appropriate interaction skills. Ask students to contribute to a class list of appropriate group behaviors. Examples: stay on task, contribute ideas, help others learn, encourage everyone to participate, listen with care, show respect for others. Display the list and remind students to use them. Add to the list as needed.

4. Letting students choose their own groups. We would all choose our friends to work with if given the choice. Friends often get off-task. Students need to develop positive working relationships with all class members. Randomly assign students to groups. Change groups often enough so no-one gets stuck for long periods with a difficult class member.

5. Not doing cooperative activities often enough for students to develop cooperative skills. Have students do something cooperative at each class session to reinforce positive cooperative habits. If nothing else, have them share what they learned with a partner.

6. Not planning cooperative lessons with care. Many teachers confuse group work with cooperative learning. They put students in groups, tell them to work together, and wonder why the groups aren't successful. But cooperative learning groups have five essential elements (positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face promotive interaction, social skills and processing) built carefully into every lesson to teach the students to learn well together. Learn how to include them in each cooperative lesson.

7. Assuming that cooperative groups can handle complex tasks before learning how to complete simple ones successfully. Students must be taught how to learn together. Start with short, simple activities and progress to longer and more significant ones as your students are successful. Have frequent class discussions on what helps the groups do well.

8. Emphasizing paper or project completion as a group goal. With completion as the only goal, there's nothing to stop one student from doing the work and the others from "hitchhiking." Assignments should ensure individual accountability is possible (a test taken individually, a class presentation, a follow-up assignment that is completed alone).

9. An unclear learning goal. A clear group learning goal is one whose achievement is easily measured. Example: You are finished when every member in your group can explain the work and/or pass a quiz.

10. Assuming that students will magically develop needed social skills. You must teach them how to coordinate their work with others and keep everyone included in the learning. Do this by helping them see the need for skills, showing them exactly what to do, having them practice under your eagle eye, then giving them feedback and coaching until their cooperative skills are automatic.

11. Not understanding the power of positive relationships on achievement. Start every group session with a get-acquainted or relationship-building question, such as "What is your partner's name, and what's their favorite flavor of ice-cream?" Build in initial success by giving review or easier assignments, then slowly increase the difficulty of the tasks as students gain confidence in their ability to work together.

12. Not carefully monitoring the groups while they are working. This is TEACHING time. Be among the groups - correcting misconceptions, helping students understand, and reinforcing good teamwork skills. Monitor the groups carefully by observing interactions and encouraging appropriate learning and teamwork skills. Help the groups ensure mastery by every student. Keep individuals on their toes by asking them at random to explain their group's work.

13. Giving group grades. Give group grades only when absolutely necessary, absolutely fair for each member, and when you have taught the students how to work together. Assess learning with individual quizzes or papers. Avoid having students grade each other - that can turn into a popularity contest. Have students assess their own learning by comparing what they can do with criteria.

14. Using Jigsaw with material that is too difficult for individuals to learn. The jigsaw technique is one where each student learns part of the material and then teaches it to their group members. If individual students can't learn the material they need to teach, your students are not ready to do jigsaw with that lesson. Instead, use cooperative guided practice and check learning with individual quizzes or assignments.

15. Not eliciting parent support. Teach parents the difference between cooperative learning and group work. Let them experience a cooperative learning group on back-to-school night and/or send a letter home explaining the differences and what cooperative learning can do for their child.

16. Assuming that implementing cooperative learning is easy. Cooperative learning is complex, procedural learning, like learning to play a new sport. Plan on several years of on-going training and practice in cooperative learning to achieve intuitive, wise use.

Cooperative Learning Outside Of North America

Internationally, we have been back to Hong Kong, Norway and Columbia this year and added Barcelona (Spain), Beruit (Lebanon), and Trento (Italy).

The Cooperative Learning Center, Far East (e.g., Hong Kong), directed by Dean Tjosvold, has had a productive second year. David conducted a three-day training in January. Faculty at seven Hong Kong Universities as well as faculty from several Universities in Mainland China have been trained.

If any of you are traveling in Norway, get in touch with Aage Ackervik in Namsos, or visit Bergen and have Sven Erik Fjeld (Assistant Director) arrange classroom visits. We had about 150 enthusiastic people in training in January.

It is always good to see Georgio Chiari at the Uiversita degli Studi di Trento and watch his enthusiasm work in getting teachers together to work on Coop Lng. It is also fun to be in a part of Italy that has a castle on every hill and vineyards everywhere you look. We had excellent translation available there and enjoyed our work with teachers.

In Barcelona, we worked with a group of faculty from the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya who were primarily concerned with teaching engineering. Javier Bara hosted the training and also gave us a tour of the "old Roman" parts of Barcelona.

Edye made another trip to Bogata to work with Juan Pablo Aljure at Colegio Rochester School. If you are in the neighborhood, contact Juan Pablo, and Sister Tierney Trueman at Colegio Santa Francisca Romana (next door) where several staff members have been through Leadership Training.

We spent about 10 days at American University in Beruit working with faculty and a large group of science and math teachers from schools in the Beruit area. Fouad Abd-El-Khalick who has been trained in Coop Lng here and Saouma BouJaoude (Director of the Science and Math Education Center) did an excellent job of organizing our work (and play) while we were there. We were impressed with Lebanon, the history, the people, the rebuilding of the city, and the education system. In addition, we presented cooperative learning to UNESCO workers from all over the Middle East.

We have a deep interest in these sites and the other places where cooperative learning is being implemented (New Zealand, Australia, Saudi Arabia, several International Schools, etc.). We wish them well.

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 David or Roger at the Cooperative Learning Center (612) 624-7031.

Area Code Change

The Area Code for Interaction Book Company (and David and Linda) has changed from 612 to 952.

Summer Leaders Conference

2001 Leaders Conference: July 20 - 22, 2001. Anyone who has taken our Leadership Training is invited to attend this conference. Call Linda for details. (952) 831-7060; FAX: (952) 831-9332

Interaction Book Company

7208 Cornelia Drive

Edina, MN 55435

(952) 831-9500

FAX: (952) 831-9332

( JOHNSON & JOHNSON