Cooperative+Learning

1. Providing students with the opportunity to interact with each other enhances their learning. 2. Groups based on ability should be done only as necessary. 3. Group size should be small in order to be effective (3-5 students per group) 4. Be careful not to overuse this strategy.
 * Overview of the Research**

**What Does This Look Like in the Classroom?** 1. The criteria used to group students should vary -- 2. Project-based learning, collaborative projects and writing assignments, classroom wikis and blogs are some 21st century examples of this. 3. Combine this strategy with other successful classroom practices. 4. Informal (short term -- a few seconds to a class period), formal (project work -- several days to several weeks) and base groups (long term {semester or year] -- support groups) should be used. 5. Students need to be taught HOW to work successfully in groups -- interdependence (sink or swim together), f2f interaction, individual/group accountability, interpesonal skills in a small group setting, and group processing (reflecting on progress).

**How Does Technology Fit In?** Multimedia projects [|Webquests]: online template for making your own OR search the online database [|Skype] [|Google Docs] [|Google Calendar] [|del.icio.us]: shared bookmarking of your favorite sites, music, books, etc. [|ePALS] Microsoft Word for peer editing using the Notes function wikis: Wikispaces, [|pbwiki] [|(APGovernment example)], [|Wetpaint] [|Moodle]: free course management [|Cooperative Learning Rubric] [|Ning] -- online social networks