Cooperative Learning

“Working cooperatively in teams is a wonderful experience for students and provides opportunities for
students to develop social and life skills that will serve them well throughout life.”

– Dr. Spencer Kagan

Why Teams of Four?

• Allows for Pair Work
• Avoids Odd Man Out
• Increases Variety
• Optimize Cognitive and Linguistic Mismatch

Double the Lines of Communication

Major Types of Teams

• Heterogenous Teams
• Random Teams
• Student-Selected Teams
• Homogeneous Teams

Heterogeneous Teams

• Basic Characteristic of Cooperative Learning
• Remain intact for 6 Weeks
• + Peer tutoring & Support
• + Cross-race and Cross-gender integration
• + Classroom Management is easier
• 1 High Achiever per group= 1 teacher aide per group!

Handling Extra Students

• 1 Extra - Team of 5
• 2 Extra - 2 Teams of 3
• 3 Extra - 1 Team of 3

Handling Absent Students

• 1 Absent - No change
• 2 Absent - Pull a student from another group
• 3 Absent - Move remaining students to smallest team

StandUp-HandUp-PairUp

Quiz Quiz Trade

Fan-N-Pick

Kinesthetic Symbols

AllRecord RoundRobin