What Is Cooperative Learning?
Cooperative learning is more than just group learning or group work. It is strategies built with the express purpose of ensuring all students participating share the work equally and have a vested interest in succeeding. Through collaborative learning structures, students are able to hold one another accountable. This happens all while working on embedded social skills and achieving a common goal. In short, cooperative learning activities are a model for real-life work experiences. They require participants to work together collaboratively with positive interdependence.
What Is Competitive Learning?
Competitive learning is a traditional style of learning in which students are competing to participate in an activity. The most prevalent example of this would be when a teacher poses a question to the whole class and students raise their hands. This style of learning allows only one student to participate at a time. This leaves other students to become unengaged or frustrated.
How Do I Get Started?
There are a million and one cooperative learning strategies. I would recommend beginning with a partner strategy such as turn and talk as your first strategy.
Let’s look at the same situation discussed above where a teacher poses a question to the class. This time, instead of having students raise their hands and only one student answer try this:
- Give all students silent think time to formulate an answer.
- Have students share their answer with a partner.
- You can achieve this with a table partner or by finding a partner with another method.
- After sufficient time has passed as one student to share out what their partner said.
This method gives all students a chance to answer the question. It also provides positive simultaneous interaction among many students and frees the teacher up. This way you can listen in on student conversations and support students who may need it. This is what I call a win-win.
By having students share what their partner said it ensures they were actively listening to their partner. I would encourage asking several students to share their partner’s answers before you discuss the answers as a class.

What More Should I Know About Cooperative Learning Strategies?
If you are looking for more information about cooperative learning basics check out this post where the how and why of cooperative learning strategies is discussed. This is a great resource if you are having to explain to a parent or administrator why you have chosen to include cooperative learning activities.
For an even more in-depth approach to cooperative learning check out this Ultimate Cooperative Learning Guide which is updated with new information and posts as it becomes available. This is a great source for the why and how to use cooperative learning strategies. It also has a list of structures that I have written about.
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