Elements of Cooperative Learning

There are five elements of cooperative learning as described by the Johnsons.

1. Positive Interdependence

Students must feel that they need each other in order to complete the group's task. This can be achieved through mutual goals, joint rewards, shared materials, shared information, and assigned roles. Teacher’s interactions can, such as the teacher not answering questions of individual, can encourage greater interdependence.

2. Face-to-Face Interactions

Beneficial educational outcomes are created with interactions among students when they orally summarize, give and receive explanations, and elaborate about what is learned or how it can be applied.

3. Individual and Group Accountability

Cooperative learning groups should not consider individual success only. They should consider all individual successes the goal of the group. Students must continually assess and support each person to achieve the common goal. All must be ready to present or achieve.

4. Interpersonal or Small Group Skill

Students need to learn how to communicate, lead, trust, make decisions, motivate each other, and mange conflicts to be successful. The only way to learn social skills is through observations of people interacting and applying ideas gained from those obervations in future interactions with people.

5. Group Processing

Students must learn to analyze how they functioned as a group and how they have used the necessary social skills to achieve and maintain effective working relationships.

Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota, Johnson and Johnson

Robert Sweetland's Notes ©