What does cooperative learning involve?
Felder and Brent (1994) provide a list of the elements of cooperative learning: • Positive interdependence. Team members are obliged to rely on one another to achieve the goal. If any team members fail to do their part everyone suffers consequences. • Individual accountability. All students in a group are held accountable for doing their share of the work and for mastery of all the material. • Interactivity. While some of the group work may be parceled out and done individually, some must be done interactively with team members providing each other with feedback. One of the most important aspects of cooperative learning is that students teach and encourage each other. • Appropriate use of collaborative skills. Students are encouraged and helped to develop and practice team skills such as leadership, communication, and conflict management. • Group processing. Team members set group goals, periodically assess what they are doing well as a team, and identify changes for working together m
