Cooperative Learning – The Way Forward
Cooperative learning is when people work together in groups toward a common goal. Some say that cooperative learning is not effective, seeing that people’s personalities differ and this leads to them, sometimes, not seeing eye-to-eye.
The benefits of cooperative learning
This is a very effective method if applied correctly. First, cooperative learning helps members of a group to work to their strengths. Not only does this lead to a better end product or result, but it also establishes cohesion among members. Second, cooperative learning gives people a wider mindset, learning to see a situation from another person’s perspective. This also helps to make better choices and enhances problem-solving skills, for it is easier to solve a difficult situation if you can understand and interpret the other person’s ideas.
Other benefits include building social skills, undergoing personal growth, and meeting new people. Specifically for introverts, working together in a small group can be useful to meet new people and build their own social skills and expand their social circle. Seeing that introverts do not easily go out on their own to meet new people, sometimes not even at all, this offers a way to force them, gently, to meet new people through work that has to be done.
Mostly, cooperative learning is implemented in a workplace or in a degree that is being studied at a university or college. This means that the people you are working with have, more or less, the same interest and mindsets as you. Say for example you are working in a group of five people, chances are you will make at least one new friend and several acquaintances in the process.
Group work can be a bit nerve-wracking for some, but for others, it is much easier. That doesn’t distort the fact that this method is a fantastic way to produce much better results than that of the individual. It works to the advantage of everybody and offers personal growth and the chance to meet new people.
Cooperative learning is the way forward.