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Cooperative Learning Guide 19

COOPERATIVE LEARNING GUIDE FOR

GROUPS AND SMALL TEAMS

Recent research in education indicates that instruction is more effective when students work in

cooperative learning groups (small groups of three or four students) rather than in situations where

competition and individualistic learning are emphasized. Many of the assignments in Business

Communication Today are designed for small teams. These activities help students learn how to share

ideas and information with one another, appreciate the contributions of others, engage in constructive

WORKING WITH COOPERATIVE LEARNING GROUPS

The cooperative learning group is based on the belief that all group members are capable of

understanding, learning, and performing the activities needed to complete a task. Typically, a cooperative

learning group is composed of three or four randomly selected students who work together to complete an

assigned task. The most effective groups are heterogeneous in background, skill level, physical capability,

and gender. Moreover, they have no assigned leader (leadership emerges naturally as group members

alternate performing leadership tasks when appropriate).

Give students the following list of tips during your discussion of the process prior to beginning group

work:

• Use the names of your fellow group members.

• Encourage others in your group to talk and participate.

• Acknowledge the contributions of others and express your appreciation (“Ellen and Sam did the

research on marketing in Spain,” “Thanks, good idea,” etc.).

While students are working in cooperative learning groups, the instructor becomes the facilitator and

mediator. When students are working in groups during class, the instructor rotates among the groups to

WORKING IN DYADS

A dyad is a two-student form of the cooperative learning group. Dyads are useful for giving information

and for stating and clarifying opinions, feelings, and attitudes. By participating in dyads, students have an

opportunity to learn and practice the art of active listening and to express their thoughts.

Dyads can be used as a method of stimulating thought prior to class discussion, helping students

formulate or define opinions both before and after a discussion, and initiating the work of a cooperative

learning group. Implementing the process is fairly easy:

2. Give each partner a specified amount of time to speak about the topic or question. Initially, students

3. Inform students that while one member of the dyad is speaking, the partner is responsible for listening

4. When the specified time for talking is over, the partners switch roles—listener becomes speaker and

speaker becomes listener.

6. Following the discussion in dyads, the class can proceed with a large-group discussion either about

the topic or about the cooperative learning groups. In this follow-up discussion, give each member of

the class an opportunity to share his or her feelings, attitudes, or opinions about the topic and the

process.

WORKING WITH THE JIGSAW PROCESS

The jigsaw is a variation of the cooperative learning process that is useful in helping students understand

and process information that is assigned for reading. Textbook chapters and lengthy articles are examples

1. Divide the assigned chapter or article into easily digestible sections. This separation can be done by

2. Divide the class into groups. The number of students in each group must equal the number of sections

Cooperative Learning Guide 21

in the assigned chapter or article. If there are extra students, assign them to groups already having a

full complement rather than forming any groups with fewer students than sections of reading.

3. Assign each student in a group one section of the article or chapter so that all the sections will be read

5. After all students have read their assigned sections, they form “expert groups,” meeting with other

6. After meeting with expert groups, students break up into their original groups and teach the other

members about the sections they have read. Sharing in the original group should be done in the

Note

1. Selected portions of this material were adapted from Dee Dishon and Pat Wilson O’Leary, A

Guidebook for Cooperative Learning (Holmes Beach, Fla.: Learning Publications, 1984), 57.