KAGAN© COOPERATIVE LEARNING STRUCTURES
In a traditional classroom, pupils are actually happy when they see another child
fail.
Is it any wonder why some pupils never put their hand up when the odds of being
picked are stacked against them
Group’ work just recreates the inequalities of ‘whole-class’ teaching.
This structure is ‘Whole Class Question Answer’.
THERE IS ANOTHER WAY!
Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures for Active Engagement
Cooperative learning is one of the most extensively researched educational innovations
of all time.There are approximately one thousand research studies which document
its effectivenes and show that Cooperative Learning produces gains across all content
areas, all grade levels, and amongst all types of students including special needs,
high achieving, gifted, urban, rural, and all ethnic and racial groups.(
Cooperative Learning Benefits
)
Among the most strongly supported findings:
Cooperative learning improves:
- Academic achievement among students, especially for low achieving students.
-
Race relations among students, including frequency of cross-race friendship choices.
-
Social skills and relations, including empathy, diversity skills, leadership skills,
caring, sharing, helping, and feeling cared about.
- Self-esteem among students,
including intellectual/academic self-esteem, and peer self-esteem.
- Class climate,
including liking for class, content, and teachers.
- Higher-level thinking, including
questioning and synthesising diverse viewpoints and data.
In their recent book,
Classroom Instruction that Works
, Robert Marzano, Debra Pickering, and Jane Pollock (2001) advocate Cooperative
Learning as one of the most proven approaches to increasing achievement. See also
Chapter 3 ,
Cooperative Learning
(1994).
Cooperative Learning is a key element in Accelerated Learning.