Advantages Of Cooperative Learning

After asking a student if they prefer working alone or working with a group, the child will most likely say he or she would rather work with others. But is taking part in this type of learning style diminishing the development of the individual student? Competitive teaching, also known as individualistic learning, involves the students studying alone and completing their own assignments while tests and quizzes measure their progress. On the other hand, some teachers choose to divide their classes up into groups and encourage the students to complete activities together, such as reading out loud to each other, peer editing papers, and working on large projects; this process is known as cooperative teaching. Cooperative learning is commonly confused …show more content…
The group’s work reflects each of the child’s grades, resulting in false evaluations in progress of each individual student. This can lead to an unfair evaluation by the teacher on how the individual students are performing. A group can be very successful in an area of study, making the teacher believe every student fully understands the material; however, she could be unaware of the lack of effort a certain student put in or the lack of understanding for the information. Due to the overall performance of the group, individuals can be overlooked or over credited. The group’s grade assesses the group’s output, but does not showcase feedback for each team member on his or her own skills. Not only does this unfairly score students, but it also does not help the individual improve his or her own weaknesses because he or she has not received accurate criticism; the individual student also will not be able to shine or experience his or her own mistakes. When a teacher notices a student struggling in a specific area of study, she may cater to that student to provide materials or extra help to assure they will succeed; however, with group work, the student’s struggle is shadowed by the overall group’s work ethic. Not all students are well suited to work in an environment in which they must rely on others to complete his or her work. In 2007, 67% of the public voted that public schools should be responsible for dealing with behavioral, social, and emotional needs of students (Alters). Individualistic learning helps students set their own goals for success and helps determine what resources and activities will help guide them to meet their goals (Cubukcu). In order to efficiently do so, teachers must acknowledge the individual requirements to be able to be successful in the