Cooperative learning is the best strategy at primary school level

Cooperative learning is a method of promoting learning through student cooperation rather than competition. It is an instructional method effectively using student groups in a classroom, says the newsletter DPEP Calling.

 It is imperative that the teacher and students understand cooperative learning for making the technique to be a success in the classroom. Certain skills need to be learned before implementing cooperative learning, these include the pro-social skills of listening, taking turns, asking questions, offering suggestions, speaking positively about others and helping others. Assessment of these skills combined with levels of academic learning linked with continuous improvement has been found to be the most effective use of cooperation in learning, especially at the primary education level.

When cooperation is taken as a value for classroom organization it results in the following advantage.

• Provides opportunity for all students to learn and use pro-social skills;

• Allows the use of the other students as learning resources;

• Enhances students’ ability to view situations from other’s perspective;

• Develops more positive, accepting and supportive relationships with peers;

• Increases the possibility of academic achievement of students

Another important element to foster cooperation in the classroom is in the form of peer tutoring. It is a method of offering individual or one-on-one instruction in the classroom using peers to teach other students or tutees. The tutor help the tutees learn, practice, or review an academic skill. Among the other advantages of peer tutoring are that the tutor models appropriate academic and non-academic behaviour for the tutee, and the relationship between the two students offers both opportunities to build social relationships within the classroom.