The Effectiveness Of Peer Interdependence In The Classroom

Classrooms are designed to facilitate teaching and learning. Children are seated in a fashion that they can see the board where the teacher will be doing his/her instruction and receive the knowledge he/she is imbedding in them more effectively. They are decorated with brightly colored posters that show acronyms for learning, classroom procedures and rules for conducting themselves as safe, productive members of the school community. However, classrooms aren’t always designed with cooperation, teamwork and social development in mind; that’s where cooperative learning takes over. Cooperative learning is a type of collaborative learning that takes place within the classroom with students working together face to face on a designated task. Each student is responsible for their own success but also the success of the group. Cooperative learning techniques have been shown to have a positive impact on classroom function while increasing student participation, motivation and classroom moral. Cooperative learning is a type of collaborative learning and collaborative learning can be traced back to ancient civilizations. According to …show more content…
Their research explored the relationship between the quality of peer experiences and the impact that had on student development. In the early 1960’s David Johnson, a professor at the University of Minnesota, started educating his students about the importance of cooperative learning. Johnson was instilling the values of cooperative learning in a entirely new generation of educators. In 1987, Johnson, with his brother Roger Johnson co-founded the Cooperative Learning Center to further the awareness of the effectiveness of social interdependence. They continue their work and efforts today and much of the information we now have on cooperative learning comes from the efforts of these men and the knowledge they have collected and