Which approach to instruction involves students working in small groups to achieve a common goal?

The concept of cooperative learning centers around students collaborating in small groups towards a shared learning objective. This approach fosters interpersonal skills and promotes the exchange of diverse perspectives among students, which can enhance the overall understanding of the material being studied. Each member of the group is typically assigned specific roles or responsibilities, ensuring that everyone contributes to the group’s success.

Cooperative learning differs from other instructional strategies in that it emphasizes joint effort and encourages students to work interdependently while contributing individually to the group goal. This method actively engages students, allowing them to learn from one another, build teamwork skills, and often achieve deeper comprehension of content compared to working in isolation.

In contrast, independent study focuses on students working alone, while direct instruction involves a teacher-centered approach where the instructor directly teaches rather than facilitating group work. Collaborative learning, while it shares similarities with cooperative learning, can involve less structured group work and may not emphasize specific roles within the group as strongly as cooperative learning does.