Talk:Foundations and Assessment of Education/Edition 1/Foundations Table of Contents/Chapter 10/10.5.2

I love, and dislike cooperative learning. I love it because it is actually an effective strategy for getting students to work together, yet still have individual accountability. On the other hand, I dislike cooperative learning to a certain extent because it involves students working with other students. This is not to say that I am against students working with their peers because I am not. Whether they want to or not, there are going to be situations where students will have to work with people they may not like or are uncomfortable with. It does not make them abnormal or anti-social, but it is a lesson they will have to take with them once they graduate from high school. The reason I dislike students working with other students, no matter how much individuality is involved, is that some students simply do not like working with other students. I would know, because I am one of them. I work very well with others, however, I strongly prefer working alone. So I understand how some students might feel the same way. Therefore, it is a very beneficial that cooperative learning’s advantages significantly outweigh its disadvantages because of the individual accountability. Although it is somewhat of a new strategy, I plan on using cooperative learning significantly in my classroom. Adart001 (talk) 03:16, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Cooperative learning is a very helpful method for teaching in the classroom. It is a nice alternative to the typical bookwork assignment or worksheet. Cooperative learning requires full participation from the entire class. A lot of cooperative learning activities require students to get up and move around the classroom. This movement stimulates cognitive processes and helps students to reinforce concepts in new ways. I agree that sometimes students want to work alone or they do not want to participate in a group activity. However, it is good sometimes to push students at an appropriate level to get outside of their comfort zone and to participate in a cooperative learning activity. Mbrowder (talk) 18:53, 16 August 2009 (UTC)