Cognitive Theoretical Background of Cooperative Learning

commit to user working together to accomplish shared goals” Johnson Johnson in http: www.co-operation.orgpagesCLandD.htmlnature . Within cooperative activities individuals seek outcomes that are beneficial to themselves and beneficial to all other group members. Within cooperative learning students are given two responsibilities: to learn the assigned material and make sure that all other members of their group do likewise. In cooperative learning situations, students perceive that they can reach their learning goals only if other students in the group also do so http:www.co- operation.orgpagesCLandD.htmlnature . This does not mean, however, the competitive and individualistic efforts should be banned in schools. Students should learn how to compete appropriately for fun and enjoyment, work individualistically on their own, and work cooperatively as part of team. Cooperative learning, then, should be used in the majority of the school day.

b. Cognitive

Constructivist views learning is constructed. It is elaborated by Spipey as cited in Brown 2000: 11 as follows: An emphasis on active process of construction of meaning, attention to texts as a means of gaining insights into those processes, and an interest in the nature of knowledge and its variations, including the nature of knowledge associated with membership in a particular group. Furthermore, the constructivist theory views that learning is constructed. New knowledge is built using what the students already know. http:stemnet.nf.ca~acahve~maj_index.htmlational technology. commit to user From a couple theories above, it can be drawn out that learning as the result of mental construction. Needing either understanding or insight, students are actively constructing their own understanding by fitting new information together with what they already know. That is, their prior knowledge influences what they construct. Learner autonomy and initiative is accepted and encouraged that is not like traditional model. There are many different schools of thought within this theory, all of which fall within the same basic assumption about learning. The main two are social constructivism and cognitive constructivism. Vygotsky is well- known in social constructivism while Piaget is well-known in cognitive constructivism. Vygotsky’s social developmental theory has also been termed social constructivism. The primary assumption of the social developmental perspective is that interaction among students increases the mastery of the concept in the task. Vygotsky 1978: 57 as available at http:stemnet.nf. . argues: Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people inter psychological and then inside the child intra psychological. The writer concludes that learning first takes place in interaction among students before it becomes mental processes for the individual. On the contrary, Piaget gives more emphasises on “the importance of individual cognitive development…….social interaction was claimed only to trigger development at the right moment in time” Brown, 12: 11. It commit to user seems that Vygotsky and Piaget are little bit different in the extent of emphasizing social context. Vygotsky maintains that social interaction emerges first that becomes foundation in cognitive development, while Piaget maintains that individual cognitive development emerges first as well as emphasizes that social interaction as an additional factors which appear at the right time.

3. Types of Cooperative Learning