Team Working and Cooperative Learning

A team is a small group of people with complimentary skills working together to achieve a common goal. Team working refers to work in a group like in cooperative learning, collaborative learning, problem-based learning with different teamwork skills such as leadership, decision making, trust building, communication, collaboration, conflict management, pairing and sharing etc.

Cooperative learning is one of the method of team working where everyone is accountable to achieve common goal and all members of team must cooperate to complete task. It is an instructional technique in which, students’ participation is high and promote positive peer relationship while learning. There are basically two types of learning group: formal and informal, which depends on its way of formation. Some essential elements for cooperative learning are listed below:

Ø  Positive Interdependence
Ø  Individual Accountability/Personal Responsibility
Ø  Equal Participation
Ø  Simultaneous Interaction
Ø  Heterogenous

In this 21^st century era, the traditional method of teaching and learning can’t prepare students to meet the challenge of rapidly changing world. So, to bridge the gap, team working and cooperative learning techniques are applied in teaching learning in higher education. It is really challenging to initiate such new techniques but proper strategies can give a fruitful result. The following methods work as the strategies for teamworking and cooperative learning:

Ø  Jigsaw: Students become "experts" on one part of a topic and then teach it to their small group members.

Ø  Think-Pair-Share: Individual students ponder a question, then discuss it with a partner, and finally share their combined thoughts with the larger group.

Ø  Team-Pair-Solo: Students first work together as a team to solve a problem, then in pairs, and finally individually.

Ø  Write-Pair-Share: Individuals write down their thoughts on a topic, then discuss them with a partner, and finally share with the larger group.

Ø  Round Robin: Each student in a group takes a turn sharing an idea or answer to a prompt in sequence.

Teamworking and cooperative learning are essential strategies to foster deeper understanding, interpersonal skills, and academic engagement among students. These approaches not only enhance content mastery but also prepare learners for collaborative roles in real-world settings.