1. What is cooperative learning?

Discuss why Dewey believed and support this

pedagogy.
Answer: Cooperative learning is an instructional strategy in which small
groups of students work together on a common task. It is sometimes called
small-group learning wherein students shared their knowledge and
experiences by group. This teaching method is an excellent way to allow
students work together and to increase the level of student’s performance as
a whole. Students have more opportunities to actively participate in their
learning, question and challenge each other, share and discuss their ides, and
internalize their learning. Cooperative learning also helps students engage in
thoughtful discourse and examine different perspectives and it has been
proven to increase students’ self-esteem, motivation and empathy.
John Dewey believed and support this pedagogy because it develops
the children’s personality in many different ways and makes a positive
learning environment. According to him,” an ounce of experience is better
than a ton of theory”. In fact, cooperative learning is considered a new
development in effective learning. Through this strategy, teaching and
learning are challenging because a teacher never knows his/her influence
stops and when his/her learners achieve their purpose. In a classroom, using
cooperative learning, children work on activities in small groups and they
received rewards or recognition on the things from different perspective being
able to really listen each other, communicating and informing, accepting
changes and dealing with these changes in a flexible way. Thinking and
acting in a creative manner, making use of the possibilities of individual.

2. Discuss the five elements of cooperative learning.

Answer: According to David Johnson and Roger Johnson (1999), there are
five basic elements that allow successful cooperative learning:
 Positive interdependence. Students feel responsible for their own
and the group’s effort.
 Face-to-face interaction. Students encourage and support one
another, the environment encourages discussion and eye contact
like brainstorming.
 Individual and group accountability. Each student is responsible
for doing their part, the group is accountable for meeting its goal.
 Group behaviors. Group members gain direct instruction in the
interpersonal, social and collaborative skills needed to work with
others occurs.
 Group processing. Group members analyze their own and the
groups’ ability to work together.
3. What are the four principles as basis for collaborative activities. Give example
of strategies used in collaborative approach.
Answer: There are four basic principles of cooperative learning:
 Positive interdependence. It occurs when gains of individuals and
team positively correlate.
 Individual accountability. It requires that all students are actively
involved and responsible for their own learning.
 Equal participation. In a traditional classroom, only one student
out of the entire class will be participating at any one time. By
working in team. ALL students are encouraged to contribute
allowing ALL students the chance for growth.
 Simultaneous Interaction. Cooperative learning is fundamentally a
simultaneous approach. Discussion and activities both take place
all at once.

There are many strategies to encourage effective collaboration:

 Create learning activities that are complex. Complex activities
are challenging, engaging, stimulating and multilayered. It requires
positive interdependence.
 Prepare students to be part of a team. Students often need to
learn how to work effectively with others and as a part of a team.
Teachers have to help students understand the what, why and how
of collaboration.
 Minimize opportunities for free riding. When students complain
about collaborative groups, t often has to do with the free riding of
own member who let others do all work and then benefits from the
group grade.
 Build in many opportunities for discussion and consensus.
Many group projects are based on efficiency, dividing a labor to
create a product in the most effective way possible. Rich discussion
that connect students with the experiences of others, that engage
them deeply in a shared intellectual experience, and that promote
coming to consensus are essential to collaboration.

4. Explain briefly on Dewey’s belief that teachers should take time to reflect on
observation, knowledge and experience to effectively nurture the child’s
learning.
Answer: Thinking particularly reflective thinking or inquiry, is essential to both
teachers’ and students’ learning, reflection is a meaning-making process that
move a learner from one experience into the next with deeper understanding
of its relationships with the connections to other experiences and ideas. It is
the thread that makes continuity of learning possible and ensures the
progress of individual.
 Dewey was precise in his description of what means to think
effectively. The process of reflection and the steps of observation and
description in particular, require the teacher to confront the complexity of
students and their teaching, their subject matter and the contexts in which all
these operate. Once teachers learn to think, they can teach their students to
do the same, for teachers teach best what they understand deeply from their
own experience.
For me, teachers should take time to reflect on observation, knowledge
and experience because there’s always a room for improvement. Improving
the teaching style will make the teaching-learning process more effective. I
believe that there’s no perfect teachers and we need to reflect on what we did
during the teaching process. It’s not about criticizing but rather knowing the
strengths and weaknesses. It’s also informing the necessary standards that
teachers need to meet.