Cooperative Learning Skills

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Introduction of the Topic
One of the most important purposes of an educational environment is to promote social interaction among users located in the same physical space (Kaufmann, 2003).

In the future, children must enter a workforce in which they will be judged on their performance. They will be evaluated not only on their outcomes, but also on their collaborative, negotiating, planning, and organizational skills (Bell, 2010).

Educational researchers and practitioners have long been advocating equipping students with collaborative learning skills, which are key skills for the workforce of the 21st century. In collaborative classrooms, groups of learners and their teachers routinely work in more complex configurations than lecture-based …show more content…

From a sociocultural perspective, the role of the teacher is significant in the enhancement of productive collaboration processes (Hämäläinen & Vähäsantanen, 2011).

Through interaction and feedback, students learn from each other and help each other to improve on the quality of ideas during the construction and re-construction of knowledge (Looi et al., 2010).

Decades of research illustrate the benefits of inquiry-based and cooperative learning to help students develop the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful in a rapidly changing world (Barron & Darling-Hammond, 2008).

Teachers should create classroom environments to meet individual students’ interests and needs, design curriculum to ensure open-ended activities, and utilize real-life contexts for assessing and reporting learning outcomes. These strategies help students not only become more versed in creative thinking, but also situate them in an environment that fosters creativity (Hong et al.,2009).

Knowledge can be built through the development of collective understanding. In a community of learners, the main activity is participation in a collaborative process of sharing and distributing expertise; learning by generating, maintaining and expanding a community of research practice (Romero et …show more content…

Common features promoting creativity steadily focus on flexibility in the physical and pedagogical environment, learners having control of their learning and ownership of the activity, varied physical environment at school and elsewhere, such as museums, flexible use of time (including time beyond the school and curriculum boundaries), and allowing pupils to work at their own pace without

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