Without any
formal training in education they knew how to run a class. They created a
joyful and energetic classroom, functioned as a team – assertive, interactive, and engaged. The leaders stood in front of their peers
unwavering in confidence, encouraging everyone to be in the mix, complimenting
them on their offerings.
This would not surprise professors
David and Roger Johnson from the University of Minnesota, who did a
meta-analysis of three hundred seventy-five studies spanning ninety years. They
found students in cooperating classrooms performed at about two-thirds of a
standard deviation above those that were in competitive classrooms. What
impressed me, too, about their finding was that cooperative learning resulted
in frequent use of higher-level reasoning, generation of new ideas and
solutions, and greater transfer of knowledge. Having students performing these
cognitive functions was a career goal when I became a teacher.More... click
photo: Ashs-students-laughing wikipedia
