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December 30, 2005
2nd grade in 1975 (collaborative writing 39/50)
Johnson, D.W., and Johnson, R.I. Learning Together and Alone: Cooperation, Competition, and Individualization. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1975.
1 sentence summary: all 3 modes--cooperation, competition, & individualization--have their place in the classroom as effective learning tools; the key is learning when & how much to do each.
passages:
2. "knowing how and when to structure students' learning goals cooperatively, competitively, or individualistically is an essential instructional skill all teachers need. each way of structuring interdependence among students' learning goals has its place."
14-15. "cooperative learning is the most important of the three ways of structuring learning situations, yet it is currenctly the least used. in most schools, class sessions are structured cooperatively only for 7 to 20 percent of the time....the research indicates, however, that cooperative learning should be used whenever teachers want students to learn more, like school better, like each other better, have higher self-esteem, and learn more effective social skills."
169. "students often feel helpless and discouraged. giving them cooperative learning partners provides hope and opportunity. cooperative learning groups empower their members to act by making them feel strong, capable, and committed. it is social support from and accountability to valued peers that motivate committed efforts to achieve and succeed."
(yes, those overly general observations are all this mid-70s textbook has to offer. it's very encouraging, but very general--they're talking about "students" as everyone from kindergarten through college, learning anything at all--& so not very informative.)
Posted by ttobryan at December 30, 2005 12:20 AM