Cooperative learning is one of the new learning methods emphasized and promoted by the national basic education curriculum reform. It is a bright spot in the new curriculum reform, and it is also one of the teaching methods that are widely used by the majority of primary and secondary school teachers in their teaching practice. . However, with the continuous deepening of curriculum reform and the gradual promotion of cooperative learning methods, new problems have arisen. Due to the long-term influence of traditional learning methods, the majority of elementary and middle school teachers do not have a deep understanding of the form and essence of new learning methods. At the same time, they have insufficient research and exploration of new learning methods in the process of reforming learning methods, thus teaching in classrooms. There have been many problems in the process, such as excessive pursuit of the form of learning methods and underestimation of the effect of learning, too much use of a single cooperative learning method and underestimation of the elements of the cooperative learning method, too much emphasis on group cooperative learning and underestimation of other Cooperative learning forms, etc. This over-simplistic understanding and application of cooperative learning methods makes cooperative learning in the current basic education curriculum reform appear to be “nameless”, making cooperative learning methods misunderstood by some elementary and middle school teachers. The author discovered this problem in the course of listening to classes in elementary and middle schools, and carried out a study of classroom journals in cooperation with frontline teachers on this problem.
The form of cooperative learning
Cooperative learning is a teaching theory and strategy system that emerged in the United States in the 1970s and attracted worldwide attention after the 1980s.
The so-called cooperative learning refers to “in order to complete common tasks in a group or team, students have a clear division of responsibilities for mutual aid learning.” It is aimed at the organizational form of learning under teaching conditions, and is relatively “individual” Learn”. Therefore, according to the level and content of cooperative learning observed in classroom research, the author divides cooperative learning into three types: the first level is the mutual assistance and cooperative learning between peers (such as cooperative learning between the same table in the classroom, Cooperative learning among good friends in spare time, etc.), group cooperative learning (such as group discussion learning in class, research group learning, interest group learning, etc.), full-member cooperative learning in the process of teaching activities (also known as cooperative teaching , Such as discussion and learning during class teaching, role-playing activities, etc.).
Among the three levels of cooperative learning, group cooperative learning is most familiar to primary and secondary school teachers. This is because group cooperative learning is the most basic and effective learning method, and on the other hand, it is because group cooperation is the most basic and effective learning method. Learning can more effectively solve the contradiction between the teaching system of large classes and the requirements of new curriculum learning methods faced by teachers. Insufficient attention and research are paid to peer-to-peer cooperative learning and full-member cooperative learning, so that group cooperative learning has become an embellishment of traditional teaching methods, and has not become an effective learning method. The basic education curriculum reform requires teachers to become researchers and researchers must conduct professional guidance. This creates good conditions for the development of cooperative learning action research. Professionals and primary and secondary school teachers conduct special action research on cooperative learning, which can observe, describe and explain classroom journals from different levels, [3] enable teachers to have a deeper theoretical understanding of the essence and characteristics of cooperative learning , And then change some misunderstandings and simplifications of cooperative learning in practice.
- The essence of cooperative learning
In practice, many teachers often think that cooperative learning is to organize students into groups according to certain standards, and then ask a group to solve a problem or complete a task. But in fact, simply arranging students together is not cooperative learning. Real cooperative learning must have certain elements. Well-known foreign cooperative learning research experts believe that in any form of cooperative learning, five elements are indispensable: positive mutual dependence. Students are required to know that they are not only responsible for their own learning, but also for the learning of other peers. Facilitating face-to-face mutuality. Students are required to communicate face-to-face and learn to promote each other’s academic performance. Personal responsibility. Students are required to undertake certain learning tasks, and to master the assigned tasks, with clear division of labor and individual responsibilities. Social skills. Teachers are required to teach students certain social communication skills and carry out high-quality cooperation. Self-evaluation. Cooperative learners are required to regularly evaluate the situation of cooperative learning and review the methods and effects of cooperative learning. Among these elements, the author believes that there are two key elements: positive interdependence and personal responsibility. The so-called positive interdependence is actually a psychological tendency. Different learners perceive that in order to complete a task, they must cooperate with each other. The success of an individual depends on the success of others or the entire group. If others or the group fails, they themselves fail. , So that learners recognize and experience the importance of cooperation with others or group members. The so-called personal responsibility means that each learner and others or group members perform their own responsibilities during the learning process and must contribute their own strength to others or group members, and this responsibility and contribution must be confirmed and evaluated. Different learners, or two, or a group, or a collective, as long as there is a positive psychological tendency to rely on each other, and the individual responsibility of each member can be realized, cooperative learning can be carried out; on the contrary, if Without these two key elements, any form of learning cannot be called cooperative learning. In the author’s classroom research, it is found that because of the lack of these two key factors, many problems have arisen in peer-to-peer cooperative learning, group cooperative learning, and full-staff cooperative teaching in the classroom.
