Theoretical fundamentals and prospects of cooperative learning

Abstract

Cooperative learning incorporates ideas, principles and treatments which stem from a number of areas of pedagogical and psychological theory and practice, and which are most often reduced to four essential effects in literature dealing with this problem: Dewey's philosophy of education, psychology of group dynamics, constructivist psychology of cognition and theory of intrinsic motivation for learning. Although these areas overlap in their views, they will be treated separately to get better insight into the problem. In addition to discussion on theoretical foundations of cooperative learning, the paper gives review of research evidence for superiority of this form of learning to competitive and individual from the aspect of student cognitive and social development. Examinations of cooperative learning effects were directed to a great number of variables, four of them being singled out as most frequently studied: achievement, interpersonal relationships, social support and self-respect. Voluminous study results have been consistent for decades as to giving evidence for the effectiveness of this form of learning and no statistically significant differences were established for special research characteristics: different teaching subjects, age of examinees, instruments used and the like. Lastly, the paper discusses possible reasons for cooperative learning not being present enough in teaching practice as well as issues and problems which could be instructions for future research in this area.

Kooperativno učenje inkorporira ideje, principe i postupke koji potiču iz nekoliko različitih oblasti pedagoške i psihološke teorije i prakse, i koji se u literaturi o ovom problemu najčešće svode na četiri glavna uticaja: Djuijeva filozofija obrazovanja, psihologija grupne dinamike, konstruktivistička psihologija saznanja i teorije intrinzičke motivacije za učenje. Iako se ove oblasti preklapaju u svojim gledištima mi ćemo ih tretirati odvojeno u cilju jasnijeg sagledavanja problema. Pored toga što se u radu diskutuje o teorijskim osnovama kooperativnog učenja, daje se i pregled istraživačkih dokaza o superiornosti ovog oblika učenja nad kompetitivnim i individualnim, u pogledu kognitivnog i socijalnog razvoja učenika. Ispitivanje efekata kooperativnog učenja bilo je usmereno na veliki broj varijabli od kojih bi se mogle izdvojiti četiri kao najčešće ispitivane: uspeh/postignuće, interpersonalni odnosi, socijalna podrška i samopoštovanje. Rezultati mnogobrojnih studija dosledni su već decenijama u pogledu dokazivanja efikasnosti ovog oblika učenja, i nisu pronađene statistički značajne razlike s obzirom na posebne karakteristike istraživanja: različiti nastavni predmeti, uzrasti ispitanika, primenjeni instrumenti i sl. Na kraju, diskutuje se o mogućim razlozima nedovoljne zastupljenosti kooperativnog učenja u nastavnoj praksi, kao i o pitanjima i problemima koji bi mogli predstavljati smernice za buduća istraživanja u ovoj oblasti