The impact of collaborative learning to critically thinking

Abstract

Active learning and teaching today aim to actively involve all participants in the colaborative interaction. So far, the students were passive listeners who are just absorbing information from teaching materials and teachers. They were not included in collection of information, commenting and analysis. In active learning, the role of students is significantly changed because they need to take responsibility for their learning. Active learning is learning that encourages and stimulates the development of thinking by adopting reallife situations, as well as imaginary situation in simulated area. Baseline information is a goal that needs to be analyzed and solved by students critical thinking. Students develop personal skills and positive attitude towards learning. One of the concepts of active learning is collaborative learning. In today's modern way of teaching, teachers and students are combine intellectual efforts to explore, understand and solve the problem. They generate ideas, and finally create a product. Collaborative learning has a strong influence on critical thinking through discussion, debate and assessment of diferent conclusions. In collaborative learning it is very important to set terms. For example; forming an ideal group of students, selecting members according to mutual interests and viewpoints. At each stage of learning and common interaction the teacher must give students right to opinion. Each member of the group must be responsible for their own work (Individual responsibility, Slavin, 1980). On the other hand group is responsible for each member. Collaborative learning has a role to reduce the feeling of individual loneliness. When a group of students are working together they develop a sense of belonging. The aim of this paper is to indicate the advantages and disadvantages of collaborative learning and specify a need to make this type of learning with maximum results and the development of specific skills. A comparison of collaborative learning with passive learning is in order to prove that the learning in groups give much better results. Students are more independent, happier, less lonely, have sense of belonging and thus enhance learning and encourage personal development.