Collaborative Learning Essay PDF

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Discuss the role of collaboration in learning. Collaborative learning in the classroom is a topic widely debated by educators and policy makers. If planned out correctly and carried out with clear intentions, collaborative learning can enhance academic success by improving the social skills of the students and allowing them to have more responsibility over their own learning. Collaborative learning can have clear benefits to learners; however, it can be difficult to supervise in order to ensure meaningful learning is taking place and that the group discussions remain relevant to the task. This essay will consider the role of collaboration in learning by discussing individual factors which may hinder a student’s ability to work appropriately in groups. It will also discuss social constructivism as an important learning theory to consider when looking at child development and how children learn. Pantiz (1999) defines collaborative learning as a personal philosophy as opposed to a classroom technique. He states that collaborative learning respects and highlights individual group members’ abilities and contributions. Furthermore, Pantiz goes on to say that collaborative learning includes a sharing of authority and acceptance of responsibility among group members for the groups’ actions. When looking at literature surrounding collaborative learning, the term co-operative learning commonly appears and can cause confusion for readers. The difference between the two terms are frequently debated as they are very similar, and it can be difficult to differentiate between the two. Bruffee (2010) argues that one must consider the level at which the learners are at in order to decide between using collaborative and co-operative learning, as more advanced preparation would be expected from groups in collaborative learning. Bruffee’s (1995) earlier research highlights that foundational knowledge, which is the basic knowledge we must learn based on socially justified beliefs we all agree on such as correct spelling and grammar, mathematical procedures and history facts, would be best learned using co-operative learning structures for younger students. He then suggests that non-foundational knowledge, which is derived through reasoning and questioning, as opposed to memory, would be best learned through collaborative learning techniques as it requires skills such as judgement and quality listening skills. Therefore, co-operative learning can be used to learn more basic information and processes whereas collaborative learning can be used to extend this information using reasoning and critical thinking skills. Collaborative learning can be beneficial for learners and has become popular amongst educators globally, most likely because of the amount of research which has demonstrated the positive impacts it can have on a pupil’s academic success. Webb (2010) agrees when he stated that small-group work can have

positive outcomes on student achievement, in comparison to other forms of instruction that have less social interaction between peers. Departments of education and national research organisations now mandate the utilisation of small-group work. Linden (2000) has also recognised the popularity of using collaborative group work amongst educators and emphasises its importance because it mirrors the need for collaboration in a functional society. He also highlights the importance of students playing a more active and constructive role in their learning, which collaborative learning activities often facilitate. However, although it is clear to see that collaborative learning techniques can help students to learn and develop different critical skills by taking more responsibility for their own learning, it is important to understand that the learning has to be organised in order to ensure that the learning goals are met. Webb (2010) says that researchers agree that simply placing students in small groups does not guarantee that meaningful learning will take place. The quality of the discussions taking place in the groups and the nature of student participation will determine the success of the group work. In order for successful collaborative group work to be taking place, students must be giving and receiving help, building on each other’s ideas, justifying their own ideas, recognising and resolving contradictions between their own and their peers’ perspectives. Teachers must meet the individual needs of the students in their class by differentiating tasks and recognising when activities may not benefit certain learners. For example, children with additional support needs may not be able to participate in collaborative group work. In order for a teacher to recognise which learning activities will help their students to reach their learning goals, they must know their pupils individual needs and understand peer relationships, as children must be able to interact socially and appropriately with their peers in order to benefit from the group work. Children can find it difficult to work in social groups for a plethora of different reasons, as stated by Lightfoot and Cole (2018) who recognise that peer relationships can often be conflicting in school years, as children have to make a place for themselves in a social group and have to deal with the possible outcome that they may not always be liked. Children can assert dominance over the social group by seizing control of resources, such as equipment, toys, play spaces, activities and decision making. This could also be the case when working on a collaborative group task, which would then cause conflict and hinder the learning experience for the individual and for the other members of the group. Different personalities and social status in children may make group work less successful for them as they find it hard to participate socially with other children. For instance, rejected children, who are actively disliked by their peers often because they are shy and withdrawn, are usually aware of their social failure which can cause them to be lonely and

distressed about participating in a social group. Therefore, teachers should be creating tasks and differentiating learning in order to meet the individual needs of the students in their class. Understanding the peer relationships and the social insecurities of their students would help the teacher make informed adjustments to collaborative learning activities in order to suit the learning goals of the class. Webb (2010) recognises the importance of teachers fostering group work in order to help their students reach their learning goals. He makes suggestions of how teachers could best help their students participate well in collaborative learning tasks, such as, helping to develop students’ skills that will help them contribute in a group setting. These skills include taking turns speaking, listening skills, making and asking for suggestions, brainstorming ideas, answering and asking questions, explaining and evaluating ideas, arguing and counter arguing, using persuasive talk, summarising ideas and suggestions. These skills are essential for students to put their best foot forward in their group tasks. Teachers can include activities into their lesson plans that will demonstrate different kinds of helping, such as showing, telling, guiding, and understanding different distinctions between each. Moreover, teachers can also prepare specific tasks in order to help students learn how to give explanations and help-seeking skills, for instance, giving explanations rather than answers and asking clear and precise questions. It is important that educators don’t simply arrange for children to complete tasks in small-groups and assume that they are creating a collaborative learning activity. Collaborative learning tasks have to be intentionally designed and structured to ensure that the students are benefitting from the group work and that the task wouldn’t be better completed individually. These small groups then have to be supervised by teachers to ensure that the task is being completed and that the students are keeping discussions relevant to the work assigned. Social constructivism is a learning theory which supports collaborative learning and illustrates the positive impact social interaction between students can have on academic success. Oldfather (1999) defines social constructivism as a particular view of knowledge, where in which learning is constructed through interactions with others which take place in a specific socio-cultural context. She emphasises the importance of student-centred, active learning when she discusses how teachers should help children understand that they are coconstructors of their own knowledge and that they can make sense of things themselves. Furthermore, Oldfather (1999) states that children have the power to seek knowledge and attempt to understand the world. This will allow the pupils to gain a sense of their own intellectual agency and develop their active roles as producers, not only consumers of knowledge. Therefore, this emphasises how collaboration and active learning activities can be beneficial to

a child’s education, by allowing them to pursue an active role in their learning by contributing to discussions and expanding on their knowledge with less interference with the teacher. Lightfoot and Cole (2010) deem Vygotsky’s concept of the Zone of Proximal Development as one of the most important contributions to the studies of children and the ways they develop and learn. The ZPD is the gap between what children can accomplish independently and what they can accomplish when interacting with others who are more competent. This further demonstrates the importance of social interaction and how it is instrumental to the way in which children learn and develop. This applies to collaborative learning as it shows that children can learn through social interaction, such as in small groups rather than being left to complete a task individually and possibly retrieve less knowledge than they would when working with a peer. Furthermore, Lightfoot and Cole (2010) show another way in which Vygotsky’s study relates to collaboration in learning as they highlighted that to help a child appropriately, the adult must know what the child is trying to do and be sensitive to the child’s abilities and signals. This would be the responsibility of the teacher when creating collaborative learning tasks as they must ensure that it is to an appropriate level of understanding for all groups in the class to be able to complete. It is also important that the teacher supervising the collaborative learning task know what signs of the group would indicate when to intervene when necessary. Webb (2010) provides guidance for teachers as to when they should appropriately intervene on small-group work and how they should do so. He states that when no group member can answer the question, when students exhibit communication problems and when students dominate group work without allowing true dialogue, the teacher should intervene. Moreover, he suggests that teachers intervene by asking open ended questions in order to prompt and re-direct the discussion to guide the group in the correct path. Teacher intervention and interaction with the small groups often leads to improved group functioning, as proven by research and empirical evidence. Teachers may be better equipped to prepare and supervise collaborative learning tasks and small-group work if they were able to identify different types of talk in groups. Mercer (2008) looks at three different kinds of group talk. Disputational talk, where there is lots of disagreement and criticism in the group with little attempts to make it constructive. This atmosphere is competitive which would highlight a need for teacher intervention to encourage a team effort to work together. Cumulative talk, where everyone largely accepts and agrees with each other without evaluating knowledge or using critical discussion skills, which would also highlight the need for intervention in order

to ensure the children are actually benefitting from the task. Finally, Mercer explains exploratory talk, where an active discussion is taking place with peers asking questions, challenging ideas and there is a sense of shared purpose. This would be the perfect example of collaborative learning and wouldn’t require intervention from the teacher. In conclusion, collaborative learning has proven to aid the academic success of students, as seen in research and praised by departments of education globally. Social constructivists theorise that collaborative learning can be more beneficial for students, in comparison to other ways of learning that involve less social interaction between peers. Teachers retain importance when students are working in small groups, as they must prepare and supervise the learning to ensure that meaningful learning is taking place and to identify groups who may be struggling. When a group is not coping with the task, the teacher must know when and how to intervene, so the discussion can be re-directed, and the individuals can all benefit from the task.

References Barohny, E. (2017). The zone of proximal development as an overarching concept: A framework for synthesizing Vygotsky’s theories. Educational Philosophy and Theory. 51(1). 18-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2017.1421941 Bruffee, K (1999). Collaborative learning. Higher Education, Interdependence, and the authority of knowledge. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Bruffee, K. (1995). Sharing Our Toys: Cooperative Learning Versus Collaborative Learning. NASPA- Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education Journals. 27. 12-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.1995.9937722 Lightfoot, C. and Cole, M. (2010). The Development of Children (8th ed). Worth Publishers. Mercer, N. (2008). Three kinds of talk. http://thinkingtogether.educ.cam.ac.uk/resources/5_examples_of_talk_in_group s.pdf Oldfather, P. (1999). Learning Through Children's Eyes: Social Constructivism and the Desire to Learn. American Psychological Association (APA). Pantiz, T. (1999). Collaborative Learning: A comparison of the two concepts which will help us understand the underlying nature of interactive learning. ERIC. van der Linden J., Erkens G., Schmidt H., Renshaw P. (2000). Collaborative Learning. Springer Link. 37-54. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47614-2_3 Webb, N. (2010). The Teacher’s role in promoting collaborative dialogue in the classroom. The British Psychological Society, 79, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1348/000709908X380772 Wilkerson, K. Perzigian, A. & Schurr, J. (2014). Promoting Social Skills in the Inclusive Classroom. The Guilford Press....