Inspirasi Ku: wonderful Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is pedagogical practice that has attracted much attention over the last three decade because of a large body of research that indicates students gain both academically and socially shared goal (Johnon&johnson,2002;Lou et al.,1996;slavin,1996). More over, when students work cooperatively together, They show increased participation in group discussions, demonstrate a more sophisticated level of discourse, engage in fewer interruptions when other speak, and provide more intelectually valuable contribution (Gillies,2006;Webb&Farivar,1999)

By interacting with others, children receive feedback on their activities, they learn socially appropriate behaviours, and they understand what is involved in cooperating and working together (Dewey 1940,1966).

By working cooperatively, student develop an understanding of the unanimity of purpose of the group and the need to help and support each other's learning which, in turn, motivates them to provide information, prompts, reminders, and encouragement to others' requests for Help or perceived need for Help (Gillies,2003a;Gillies&Ashman,1998)

In a review of sixty studies of cooperative learning conducted in elementary and secondary schools between 1972 and 1987, Slavin (1989) found that while cooperative learning may be an effective means of increasing student achievement, opportunities for learning can be maximized only if group goals and individual accountability are embedded in the cooperative method used.

In the student team learning approach advocated by Slavin, all group members are required to learn the information assigned to their achievement level (i.e. high, medium or low achievement) and are able to earn rewards for their group on the basis of being able to do so. Motivation to achieve is enhanced because children are competing against others from the same achievement level and not against those from different achievement levels.

In effect, group rewards and individual accountability may be used to enhance academic achievement by creating peer norms and sanctions that encourage children to learn.

Motivation plays an important role in the development of social skills and the facilitation of interactions between peers.

Good cooperative lessons challenge children to work together to achieve common goals. Most cooperative activities described in the literatureinvolve groups of four or more.

For activities that are more structured (e.g. playing a game with rules), involve a deﬁned end-point (e.g. matching blocks to a pattern), or require high levels of academic skills (e.g. composing a role-play), it is best if young children work in pairs,so that each child has to co-ordinate activities with only one other person (Watson et al. 1988)

students in the cooperative condition were rated by the observers as having a stronger sense of group centredness or group feeling than their peers in the competitive groups.

childhood can develop positive attitudes towards school and learning, and towards peers, and can provide abundant opportunities for learning how other people think, for developing language skills, and for learning how to solve interpersonal problems.

At the same time, one of the goals of using cooperative learning is to facilitate children’s development by giving them opportunities to solve problems on their own

For example, struggling to solve an interpersonal problem in a cooperative learning activity can provide young children with the opportunity to learn why rules are necessary and later, with teacher guidance, help them to decide for themselves what they need to do to get along better with one another (DeVries and Zan 1994).

One of the rationales of grouping children up in the classroom is that each children has some particular strength and that will be brought out by the wide variety of tasks that are assigned to the group. In the way, the thinking goes, students who are good at one skill can be a leader in that area, while another child, who has different strengths, will take over in a different area. Knowing that she / he can contribute to the group that perhaps the others don't have. Sometimes students want a break, sometimes they want to coast. Cooperative learning practices help to bridge the gap.

Ideally, teachers are trained to take their existing lessons and restructure them to be cooperative. Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning (Johnson et al. 1998a, b, 2002).

Any lesson in any subject area for any age student can be done cooperatively. There are three types of cooperative learning formal, informal, and cooperative base groups.

formal cooperative learning

Formal cooperative learning consists of students working together, for one class

period to several weeks, to achieve shared learning goals and complete jointly specific

tasks and assignments (Johnson et al. 1998a, b, 2002).

Informal cooperative learning

consists of having students work together to achieve

a joint learning goal in temporary, ad-hoc groups that last from a few minutes to one class period (Johnson et al. 1998b, 2002).

During a lecture, demonstration, or film, informal cooperative learning can be used to focus student attention on the material to be learned, set a mood conducive to learning, help set expectations as to what will be covered in a class session, ensure that students cognitively process and rehearse the material being taught, summarize what was learned and pre-cue the next session, and provide closure to an instructional session.

Cooperative base groups

are long-term, heterogeneous cooperative learning groups with stable membership (Johnson et al. 1998b, 2002).

A great strength of cooperative learning is that it provides teachers with many opportunities to instruct children in the social, emotional or moral domains at a time when such instruction is immediately relevant. Howes and Ritchie (2002) compare such embedded instruction or support to coaching and present convincing evidence of its effectiveness in the early childhood classroom. Embedding instruction in the context of ongoing classroom learning is similar to the ways that nurturing parents instruct children in the social and moral domains, and is likely to be more effective than decontextualized lessons in good character or social skills (Noddings 2002; Watson in press)

Cooperative learning is gaining popularity for a number of reason. Evidence incidates that it raises achievement, promotes positive self concept, and raises regard for others. It appears to be especially useful for students from racial minority and low socio-economic groups who have not excellend to the same degree as middle income majority-culture pupils in the traditional competitive classroom. Cooperative learning may also help to lessen the fatalistic attitude toward schooling that is often found among students from minority groups and those who have experienced repeated failure in the schools. When these students notice the value of their input and effort, a more internal locus of control and belief in one's ability is fostered.

Implementing full-scale cooperative learning is not a simple task. Teachers may wish to start with periodic lesson of units and build from there. The effort expended is probably well spent as "...What we know about effective instruction indicates that cooperative learning should be used when we want students to learn more. Like school better, like each other better, and learn more effective activities an ideal vehicle for teachers to structure the environment for successful peer interactions and to provide students with the coaching and support they need to develop their social and emotional skills and understanding.

When cooperative groups function well, children learn from one another, and come to like and respect one another, yet at the same time they learn to think for themselves and to explain the reasons for their opinions. Shy children can become contributors to the group, assertive children can learn to solicit the opinions of others, and all group members deepen their understanding of what it means to collaborate, negotiate and compromise to achieve fairness for everyone (Watson et al. 1988)