23 3
Face to face Promotion Interaction Principle
Cooperative learning gives opportunity to every member of the group to come face to face with and give information to each
other. Face-to -face interactions will provide valuable experience for every member of the group to work together, respect each
difference, make use of each member’s advantage, and take up the slack of each member.
4
Participation Communication Principle
Cooperative learning trains the students to be able to actively participate and communicate. These two abilities are very
important as a stepping-stone to the future of life in the community. Therefore, before performing cooperative learning
teachers need to equip students with the ability to communicate. Not every student has the ability to communicate, for example,
the ability of listening and speaking, while the group’s success is determined by the participation of each group member.
To be able to perform in the learning activities, students need to be equipped with communication capabilities, i.e.
expressing disapproval, refusing the opinions of others in a dignified manner, and conveying good and useful ideas.
Teaching communication skills indeed takes time. Students may not be able to master it instantly. Therefore, teachers need to
24 continue to train and train, until eventually every student has the
ability to be a good communicator.
d. Advantages and Weaknesses of Cooperative Learning
1 Advantages of Cooperative Learning
According to, Wina Sanjaya 2012: 249-250, advantages of cooperative learning as a strategy are as follows:
a Through cooperative learning method, the students do not
depend much on the teacher, but they can increase the confidence in their own ability to think, find information
from a variety of sources, and learn from other students. b
The cooperative may develop the ability to express ideas verbally and compare them to others’ ideas.
c Cooperative learning can help learners to care for others, be
aware of their own limited capabilities, and accept all the differences.
d The cooperative can help empower all the learners to take
more responsibility in learning process. e
Cooperative learning is a strategy that is powerful enough to improve academic achievement as well as social skills,
including developing their self-esteem, positive interpersonal relationships, time management skills, and positive attitude
toward school.
25 f
The cooperative may develop the ability of learners to test their own ideas and understanding .
g Cooperative learning can enhance students ability to use
information and the ability to learn abstract becomes real. h
The interaction that takes place during the cooperative learning process can improve students’ motivation.
2 Weaknesses of Cooperative Learning Model
In addition to some of the advantages mentioned above, cooperative learning also has some disadvantages, as follows:
a It takes a long time to grasp and understand the philosophy of
cooperative learning. For learners who have excess will likely feel hampered by learners who lacked ability as a group.
b In the absence of an effective peer teaching, if it is compared
to the direct teaching of teachers, the learning process done by cooperative learning method cannot achieve what should
be studied and understood by the learners. c
The assessment given to the students in cooperative learning is based on the results group work, but it should be noted that
the actually expected outcomes is the performance of each individual.
d The success of cooperative learning in an attempt to develop
group awareness requires a relatively long time, so it is
26 unlikely to be achieved in one or two times of the
implementation of this strategy. e
The cooperative learning emphasizes more on the ability to work together, but students should also build their own self-
confidence. To achieve both of these in a cooperative learning is considered difficult.
3. Cooperative Learning Model Type
Snowball Throwing
a
.
Definition of Cooperative Learning Model Type
Snowball Throwing
Kisworo 2008 suggests that
Snowball Throwing
is a learning method that begins with the formation of a group representing a leader
of the group to get the task from the teacher. And then, each student makes a question in a sheet of paper and rolls the paper into a ball
shaped like. Finally, the student throws the ball to the other students that students receiving the balls have to answer the questions
obtained.This throwing activity will make the group dynamic, because the students are not only required to think, write, ask, or speak.
However, they also conduct a physical activity that is rolling up the papers and throwing them at other students. Thus, each member of the
group has to be well prepared because in turns they have to answer the questions obtained in the ball. In this
snowball throwing
learning model, teachers strive to provide opportunities for students to develop
skills inferring message content or information they obtain in the real
