Pros
Students engage with their peers to discuss ideas and clarify their misunderstandings rather than just passively receive information.
Explaining concepts to others will help your students deepen their own comprehension and correct there misconceptions
Success in cooperative learning depends on both the individual students contribution and the groups success by promoting responsibility and support for one another
When students take of leading roles they will feel more invested in both the process and outcome.
Through the use of role assignment and strategic grouping the teacher can meet diverse levels of readiness and meet several different student interests.
Cons
Designing effective roles and the tasks of each individual while monitoring the progress of every groups progress will take significant planning and class time
More times than not there will be certain students that will dominate the work while others may sit back and contribute less
Without clear structure sone groups may drift from the task or struggle not being sidetracked by off topic talking
Some students might prefer independent work or will feel anxious about working in social settings