Kagan Cooperative Learning
Cooperative Learning is a successful and thoroughly researched educational approach in which small teams or pairs of students work together towards a learning goal.
The use of Cooperative Learning Structures creates a classroom atmosphere of achievement where all students are actively and simultaneously engaged in learning.
Kuluin is strategically committed to the implementation of a wide variety of Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures in the teaching and learning process in order to maximise student engagement. Our aim is to become a Kagan School of Excellence.
What are Co-operative Learning Structures?
Structures are simple, easy to learn, step-by-step instructional strategies that are content free. Some are designed to engage and develop specific types of thinking, others to engage and develop specific social skills, others to develop different intelligences, others to foster mastery of different types of academic content. All Kagan Structures are designed to increase student engagement and cooperation.
What are the Benefits?
There are many well researched benefits of the use of Cooperative Learning.
Cooperative efforts result in students striving for mutual benefit so that all group members:
-
gain from each other's efforts
-
recognise that all group members share a common goal or fate
-
know that one's performance is mutually caused by oneself and one's team members
-
feel proud and jointly celebrate when a group member is recognised for achievement
-
promotes
critical and higher-order thinking
-
involves students actively in the learning process
-
classroom results improve models appropriate student problem solving techniques
-
can facilitate 'Deep Learning'
-
helps in student motivation
-
develops learning communities
Psychological Benefits
-
increases students' self-esteem
-
cooperation reduces anxiety
-
helps develop social skills
-
helps develop positive attitudes towards peers, teachers and learning itself