Cooperative Controversies in the Classroom

Abstract

In competition, one wins and others who play the game lose. For losers, common outcomes are high num bers of casualties, anger and resent ment, low self-esteem, sabotage, and in many cases, low productivity (Baron 1988; Fouriezos, Hutt, and Guetzkow 1950; Johnson and Johnson 1985a, 1987; Stover 1988). On the other hand, we can promote cooperation in the classroom. After all, few people have ever made it to the top without the help and support of others. Perhaps the most important lesson for students in any discipline today is the knowledge and skill of how to get along and work with others. With a shift in paradigm from a competitive model to a cooperative one, the college classroom can become a laboratory in which beneficial group learning takes place (Astin 1987; Bruf fee 1987; Johnson, Johnson, and Smith 1988; Smith 1985). Slavin (1987,8) de fines cooperative learning as instruc tional methods in which students of all performance levels work together in small groups toward a group goal. The essential feature of cooperative learn ing is that the success of one student helps other students to be successful.