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COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Ladislav Bognar
; Filozofski fakultet, Osijek, Hrvatska
Sažetak
The term “cooperative learning” was first introduced by American authors as an answer to “competitive learning” which dominates traditional teaching. Among the most influential was Kurt Lewin’s research on authoritarian and democratic leadership in group
dynamics.
As group work (in addition to frontal and individual work) had already been established in European didactics by that time, cooperative learning is now used as a synonym which stresses the quality of group relations that should be nourished in group work.
In the institutions of higher education there is still a strongly rooted belief that lectures should be given ex cathedra, and that it reflects its high scientific level. It has long been held that didactic findings apply only to school and not to university settings. These
misconceptions have been broken down and more effort is put into overcoming the non-productive lecturing. This is particularly important for colleges that train future teachers, as students should experience modern teaching methods, so that they could use them in their own teaching.
We have been using cooperative learning in didactics classes for years. Results of research conducted with 167 students indicate a positive attitude of students towards teaching after the first semester. 80% of students are very interested in this course, 19% do
not have a clear attitude, and 1% are not interested as they do not see themselves as teachers in the future. 85% of students have said that there is a comfortable emotional climate during classes, and out of the 15% who feel uneasy, 12% feel so because they are
concerned about the problems they will be facing when they start teaching. Students feel that such classes teach them more than traditional lectures, that they support creativity and positive social relations, develop self-assurance and competence for their future profession.
Cooperative learning is one of the possible ways of modernizing teaching at universities.
Ključne riječi
cooperation; competition; cooperative learning; group work; achievement; social competences; self esteem; teaching at universities; teaching didactics
Hrčak ID:
25020
URI
Datum izdavanja:
4.6.2006.
Posjeta: 5.513 *