25
higher achievers can teach the lower achievers, and the lower students get the new information from the higher students.
37
c Implementing cooperative learning can provide students with the
knowledge, concepts, skills, and understanding they need to become happy and contributing members.
38
d Cooperative learning helps students to learn respect for one another‟s
strengths and limitations and to accept these differences. It is very important if the clasrroom is diverse.
39
e By applying cooperative learning in the classroom, the teacher hopes that
students can be more encouraged to think about their learning process, identify the limitations of their knowledge, and learn to seek help when it
is necessary.
40
From the explanations above, the writer would like to summarize that there are many benefits of cooperative learning in the classroom. Cooperative
learning helps students to learn respect and they can more encouraged in studying, the students need to become happy, and cooperative learning can
build the students‟ cooperation.
6. The Limitations of Cooperative Learning
There are nothing perfect in methods or approaches when the teachers teach the lessons, and nor are in cooperative learning. Because attempting to use
cooperative learning does not guarantee that your students will learn it. In fact, cooperative learning has also the following specific limitations. Below are the
limitations of Cooperative Learning based on Roy Killen: a
Some of the students do not like to learn cooperatively and some of the students prefer studying alone to studying in groups.
37
Richard I. Arends, Learning to Teach 7
th
edition, New York: Mc Graw Hill Inc., p. 345.
38
Robert E. Slavin, op.cit., p. 15.
39
Killen. loc. cit.
40
Killen, op. cit., p. 185.
26
b The values and practices of the cultural, socio-economic and educational
worlds that students experienced prior to being involved in cooperative learning may create conflict for some students.
c Although cooperation is a very important process of learning for students
to master, many of life‟s activities are based on individual effort, therefore the students have to learn to be self-reliant as well as learning how to
corporate it.
41
. According to the explanations above, the writer agrees that each of
approaches or methods has limitations, and nor are in cooperative learning. Thus, to reduce the weakness of cooperative learning, the writer gives some
suggestions in order cooperative learning can be implemented well in the classroom. Firstly, when the students did not want to study together with their
friends, the teacher must be patient and recognize that the learners may be anxious workings in groups. In this case, the teachers help them to become
flexible in their approaches to learning.
42
Secondly, when the group has a conflict, the teacher has to observe that group and find out the solution. The
third, the teacher has to emphasize to the students that working in group are more effective than doing alone and when the teacher gives the tasks, the teacher
has to let their students to do individually.
7. Some Variations of Cooperative Learning
There are some variations of techniques in cooperative learning. Those are Student Teams- Achievement Divisions STAD, Teams-Games Tournament
TGT, Team Accelerated Instruction TAI, Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition CIRC and Jigsaw. Below are the brief explanations about some
variations of Cooperative Learning that can be used by the teacher to teach in the classroom:
a. Student Teams- Achievement Division STAD probably the most popular
type of cooperative teaching strategy, STAD uses four or five member
41
Killen, op. cit., p. 187.
42
Ibid.
