Johnson & Johnson Cooperative Learning

By:Clemencia ToroClass: Curriculum and Instruction

Robert and David Johnson Brothers and fellow professors in the College

of Education and Human Development, Roger and David Johnson are the nation’s leading researchers on cooperative learning. They direct the Cooperative Learning Center which focuses on making classrooms and schools more cooperative places and on teaching cooperative skills: leadership, communication, decision making, trust building, and conflict resolution.

Three basic ways students can interact as they learn: They can compete to see who is "best"; they

can work individualistically on their own toward a goal without paying attention to other students; or they can work cooperatively with a vested interest in each other’s learning as well as their own.

There is a difference between "having students work in a group" and structuring students to work cooperatively. There needs to be an accepted common goal on which the group will be rewarded for their efforts. 

Collaborative Learning Collaborative Learning: An instruction

method in which students work in groups toward a common academic goal.

The active exchange of ideas within small groups not only increases interest among the participants but also promotes and enhances critical thinking.

Critical-thinking Items: Items that involve analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of the concepts. 

How Cooperative Learning Works: After more than 20 years of research on more

than 80 research studies, and reviews of existing research on cooperation and learning, Roger and David Johnson have no doubts: cooperative learning works on favor of students, teachers, schools, and communities. As Roger Johnson says, “Human beings learn more, flourish, and connect more when they’re cooperating and less when they’re competing or working in an isolated fashion.”

Five Key Components of Cooperative Learning: Positive interdependence : Each individual depends on

and is accountable to the others, a built-in incentive to help, accept help, and work for others.

Individual accountability: Each person in the group learns the material.

Promotive interaction: Group members help one another, share information, offer clarifying explanations.

Social skills: Leadership, communication. Group processing: Assessing how effectively they are

working with one another.

Two Heads Learn Better Than One

This is an article written by the Johnson brothers, in 1988, based on many researches done on cooperative learning.

Comparing student-student interaction patterns indicates that students learn more effectively when they work cooperatively and data shows:

Students are more positive about school, subject areas, and teachers or professors when they are structured to work cooperatively.

Students are more positive about each other. Students are more effective interpersonally In

a cooperative learning situation. Interaction is characterized by positive goal

interdependence with individual accountability. 

According to Johnson and Johnson (1986), there is persuasive evidence that cooperative teams achieve at higher levels of thought and retain information longer than students who work quietly as individuals.