Why Cooperative Learning doesn’t Work at Many Schools: A Critical Analysis for Teacher`s Approaches

Cooperative learning is a way to make students gaining greater achievements. Students have potential knowledge and basic values that they need to be developed through interaction in group community. A good interaction in learning process by using cooperative learning will help students to identify their own passion and try to construct their abilities by exploring themselves to make something useful for them and for their environment.

Bransford (1999) said that the use of cooperative learning groups in instruction is based on the principle of constructivism, with particular attention to the contribution that social interaction can make. In essence, constructivism rests on the idea that individuals learn through building their own knowledge, connecting new ideas and experiences to existing knowledge and experiences to form new or enhanced understanding.

Students will build their own knowledge to satisfy their willingness as human being. In this term, cooperative learning takes as part of control aspect for the all students` desires. It means that for being someone in the future, students should more consider people needs than individual needs. They will have awareness and It will be nice to build good character in education.

For ensuring this way, teacher is a central figure in designing classroom learning process. Teacher has authority to decide what kind of models, strategies or methods is used in his or her class. To implementing cooperative learning in a classroom, teacher should have to be aware that learning is part of the interaction process. Every student has different competencies and comes from different back grounds. Based on differences, teacher must support positive interdependence of students to learn together because each of them is unique and they can grow up in togetherness. Johnson (2014) “Cooperative learning is characterized by positive interdependence, where students perceive that better performance by individuals produces better performance by the entire group”.

The problems come when teacher failed in organizing of learning process. In many schools, cooperative learning is rarely implemented by teachers. I want bravely to explain why cooperative learning doesn’t work at school based on my observation and experience on teacher approaches. In this writing, I don’t want to blame students because they need our helps as their teacher. 

These lists are obstacles factors in implementing cooperative learning based on teacher approaches: (1) Teacher doesn’t understand the learning outcomes. Some teachers don’t understand about learning outcome that they should gain during learning process. They just focus on how to make sure that they have been teaching all materials. Sometimes, they are confusing about students reactions such as boring and laziness. One of the learning outcomes is social competency. It means that students have to know about their peers and how to treat them well; (2) Time management is being a big problem for teacher. When we talk about cooperative learning, almost all teachers say that it doesn’t enough time. They think with conventional teaching method the problem done; (3) Teacher doesn’t believe to his or her students. Students are treated as listeners that only move when teacher said to move. They don’t give students believing to grow together with their peers. When students try to discuss something new, teacher avoids them; (4) Teacher doesn’t creative in searching resources and methods. In cooperative learning, teacher has to be active and creative because every single class activity, he or she must be involved directly. Teacher should find many resources to make group enjoying learning process; and (5) Teacher`s back ground in organization is nothing. This is a new thing. Teachers who didn`t have experience involved in organization, generally will rigid in teaching. If we see in many schools, teachers that jumped in campus organizations or extra campus organizations when they were university students will successful in teaching. They like group so much because they learn from their experience. They know that in organization, they shared the ideas each other to develop their thinking, their social values and their movements. So, they have desire to practice to their students in group learning.

The conclusion of this matter is pedagogical experience and social competences needed by teacher to present cooperative learning at school. Teacher should try to think from students` perspective. Students are part of community that they need to share and grow to gain their future live.

References:

Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., and Cocking, R.R. (Eds.) (1999). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., and Smith, K.A. (2014). Cooperative learning: Improving university instruction by basing practice on validated theory. Journl on Excellence in College Teaching 25, 85-118.