Welcome back!  We close this four-part series by looking at four essential elements that are critical for the success of true cooperative learning. These elements don’t just show up when you put a group of students together. So how do you activate these essential elements? Structure the activity in such a way to support students in each of these areas.

Spencer Kagan, the guru of cooperative learning, names 4 basic principles essential to doing cooperative learning well: Positive Interdependence, Individual Accountability, Equal Participation, and Simultaneous Interaction.

If you have the time, I highly recommend reading the articles linked to each of the 4 basic principles, but if you are short on time, we will identify these principles in action in a fun activity you can use to introduce your students to cooperative learning.

For several years I used this activity with seventh and eighth graders, but it can easily be adapted all the way down to the primary grades.

Whenever I switched seats in my classroom and moved students into a new group (4-5 students), I immediately put them to work in a really fun activity. I did this for a couple of reasons.  First, I wanted them to immediately generate positive feelings working with new team members. Second, I wanted them to have success at working cooperatively with a new team. This is not the only way to use an activity like this, but it made sense in the context I was using it.

You can modify this activity in a ton of different ways, once you see the internal structure that makes this activity truly cooperative.

A Cooperative “Winter” Project

Team Challenge:

Your team is to design and create a picture, on the theme of ‘Winter’, using construction paper shapes. Let’s see how creative you can get!

Team Materials:

 1 pair of scissors
 1 glue stick
 4 different colors of construction paper (1/2 sheets)
 1 large sheet of white construction paper (11×17), used as the blank canvas to create your picture

Task Guidelines:

 Write each team member’s name on the back of the white construction paper.

 Each team member chooses only one shape (circle, square, diamond, triangle, rectangle, oval). The team must select 4 different shapes. For example, student A – circle, student B – square, student C – triangle, student D – diamond.

 Each team member can cut out/rip only the shape he/she chose.

o Your team may use as many of each shape that each team member chose, and in any size you like.

 Each team member may use any of the colors of construction paper. However, each team member must glue his/her own shapes to the white construction paper.

o For example, student A – can only glue circles to the white paper, student B – can only glue squares to the white paper, student C – can only glue triangles to the white paper, student D – can only glue diamonds to the white paper.

 Your team is allotted a total of 30 minutes to discuss a design and create a picture on the theme of ‘Winter’.

 Your team will present your picture to the class, with each team member answering one of the questions below:

o What is your favorite part of the picture and why?

o Why did you choose the images you did for the theme of ‘Winter’?

o Provide an example of how your team worked cooperatively to complete the task. How did you overcome a challenge?

o What would you do differently next time?

 In order to be successful, you must work together cooperatively.

Limiting resources and assigning shapes requires team members to rely on each other to complete the task (positive interdependence). Requiring each team member to complete his or her part and then publicly presenting the final picture while answering one of the questions supports individual accountability. Each member of the team is working to achieve the task at the same time, each with a specific part to contribute (equal participation and simultaneous interaction). The time limit helps keep students focused on the task at hand.

As long as you keep these principles in mind and apply them to the teamwork in your classroom, you can have true cooperative learning. This activity can be adjusted by season, or can be adjusted by content. For example, you can have students summarize a historical event, or even a concept in science or math. What about having students create a critical scene from a novel they are reading? There are a lot of different ways to adapt this activity to fit your content.

We’ve come to the end of this series on cooperative learning. I hope this has been helpful and you have a much better understanding of the distinction between cooperative learning and group work.

What have been your greatest successes with true cooperative learning?