Effective teachers provide opportunities for students to participate in flexible groups that collaborate on meaningful tasks, and respond to questions that support achievement of learning goals.
Strategy Overview:
What is it?
Collaborative (or cooperative) learning occurs when students work together in small groups and everyone participates in a learning task. There is a range of collaborative learning approaches, each involving different kinds of organization and tasks (Education Endowment Foundation, 2015). With a focus on meaningful learning, the teacher uses strategies (such as cooperative learning strategies and strategic selection of groups) to establish an atmosphere of cooperation and collaboration. Collaborative learning is supported by designing meaningful tasks and inviting group responses to questions. Collaborative learning relies on students actively participating in negotiating roles, responsibilities and outcomes. Their collaboration may involve projects undertaken by the whole class, such as an environmental project in the school or a community survey.
How effective is it?
Hattie (2009) found an effect size of 0.59 for cooperative learning. A 2013 meta-study found an effect size of 0.54 (Kyndt et al, 2013). The Australian Teaching and Learning Toolkit cites an average effect size of 0.41 (Education Endowment Foundation, 2015). Studies show that variations in effect size for collaborative learning are associated with the learning area, students’ ages and their cultural backgrounds (Kyndt et al, 2013). Some analyses indicate cooperative learning has a much stronger effect on achievement for adolescent children than for younger children (Nunnery et al, 2013).
Considerations
Group selection and composition is an important consideration. Group membership should vary according to the activity’s purpose and individual learning goals. Team building skills are taught explicitly so students learn to collaborate, negotiate and contribute to joint assignments. Group members experience sharing roles, responsibilities and ownership of outcomes. Group learning activities are specifically designed so that student collaboration is necessary to accomplish the task.
This strategy is demonstrated when the teacher:
regularly sets group tasks and establishes ground rules about how groups operate
explicitly teaches students to work as a team by assigning different roles within groups so that students take responsibility for particular aspects of tasks
differentiates learning by assigning group content based on student readiness
designs tasks that require sharing expertise and ensuring each student’s contribution is valued by other students
promotes interactions by organizing students in flexible groupings in which group membership varies and may be based, for example, on friendship, mixed academic ability or common interests.
This strategy is not demonstrated when the teacher:
dominates class discussion
allows a few students to dominate discussion
gives students few opportunities to interact with, and support, each other.
This strategy is demonstrated when students:
understand the protocols for working collaboratively
accept individual responsibility for participating and contributing to group tasks
are skilled at providing feedback to each other.
Examples that illustrate the strategy:
Example 1: Teachers in a rural school wished to encourage and develop collaborative learning in their 5th and 6th grade classes. After consulting their students the teachers decided to participate in the Victorian Solar Boats Challenge. The Solar Boats Inquiry Unit provides opportunities for all students to collaborate, negotiate and contribute to a real life assignment. Teachers structured participation around achieving clear goals and success criteria which included working collaboratively in groups. They used explicit teaching to teach collaborative learning skills, including negotiating and jointly contributing to the assignment. Expert mentors, including engineers and electricians from the school community, were invited to participate in the project and share their expertise, knowledge and skills. Thanks to these practices, students were supported to work collaboratively, and with success in mind. Throughout the unit, teachers continually monitored their students’ learning and progress. They modified practice when necessary and evaluated success of the unit by reference to data which showed improved quality of student learning. As a result of the scaffolding and guidance, the students organized themselves into small groups that functioned effectively, and they experienced sharing roles, responsibilities and project ownership. At the end of the unit all students had contributed to designing and constructing their team’s solar powered boat, with each group approaching the task by negotiating roles, responsibilities and outcomes. Students reported they learned to value the contributions of all group members, as everyone contributed to achieving their common goal.
Example 2: A History teacher introduced a unit on the Chinese Revolution. To engage students, the teacher used questioning to elicit prior knowledge, stimulate interest, and connect learning to real world experiences. She set challenging goals, including understanding the causes of the revolution, and developing cooperative learning skills. The assessment and performance requirements were made clear. The teacher had tried group work in the past but students were resistant and groups did not function effectively. Reflecting on those circumstances, this time the teacher decided to use the explicit teaching model. She explicitly taught her students to work as a team on an activity specifically designed to require each student to contribute, share their expertise and collaborate to successfully achieve the learning goals. Using the Jigsaw Strategy, she organised students into ‘home’ groups, and each home group member was assigned a different text. Students then reformed into ‘expert’ groups to work with other students allocated the same text. Together they researched and discussed until they became experts on one issue. Finally, students returned to their home groups where they shared their knowledge with other group members. Students were responsible for learning their own parts and for teaching it to other group members. Learning goals of independence and interdependence became clear as students synthesized information from multiple sources and built their collective knowledge of the topic. The Jigsaw Strategy allowed the teacher to scaffold a large task into smaller chunks. It also provided for differentiation of content as the teacher allocated different texts to each home group member. Peer tutoring provided opportunities for students to become content experts, creating positive interdependence and mutual respect.
Continuum of Practice:
Emerging
During lessons, teachers allow students to share and reflect on their ideas with their peers. Occasionally, teachers structure learning activities in small groups.
Teachers engage in professional conversations to investigate the evidence base for collaborative learning and share examples of their practice.
Evolving
Teachers work together in PLCs to build their knowledge of, and skills in, collaborative learning. Teachers collaborate to design group tasks that help students work and learn together on specific learning goals.
Teachers collaboratively develop and implement protocols for group work that build student understanding of how effective groups operate.
Embedding
Teachers consistently structure learning around differentiated group tasks that require students to work collaboratively.
Teachers support students to provide feedback to each other using feedback protocols.
Teachers observe experienced colleagues, trial new strategies, and seek feedback to support changes to their practice.
Excelling
Cooperative learning is embedded in classroom practice. Students understand the protocols for working collaboratively and they are skilled at providing considered feedback to each other.
Students design challenging and differentiated individual or group tasks to achieve identified learning goals.
Teachers collect data, including feedback from students, to monitor and evaluate the impact of collaborative learning strategies
Resources:
Jigsaw cooperative learning: http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/ using-jigsaw-cooperative-learning-30599.htm
AITSL videos:
A collaborative learning space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X58leKRgi3A
Managing student learning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-XIdeotfq8
Evidence Base:
Evidence for Learning: Teaching and Learning Toolkit – Australia. http://evidenceforlearning.org.au/the-toolkit/
Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Milton Park, UK: Routledge.
Kyndt, E., Raes, E., Lismont, B., Timmers, F., Cascallar, E. and Dochy, F. (2013). ‘A meta-analysis of the effects of face-to-face cooperative learning: Do recent studies falsify or verify earlier findings?’ Educational Research Review, 10, 133-149
Gillies, R. M. & Boyle, M. (2010). ‘Teachers’ reflections on cooperative learning: Issues of implementation.’ Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(4), 933-940 • Greenwood, C. and Parket, R. (2013). ‘Academic benefits of peer tutoring: A meta-analytic review of single-case research.’ School Psychology Review, 42(1), 39-55.
Igel, C. C. (2010). ‘The effect of cooperative learning instruction on K-12 student learning: A meta-analysis of quantitative studies from 1998 to 2009.’ PhD thesis presented to the Faculty of the Curry School of Education, University of Virginia (UMI No. AAT 3435906).
Nunnery, J. A., Chappell, S. and Arnold, P. (2013). ‘A meta-analysis of a cooperative learning models effects on student achievement in mathematics.’ Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences, 8(1), 34-48.