Whether you are using individual learning, competitive learning, group work, or cooperative learning, it is important to be intentional. Always select the best learning structure that will best serve the needs of students in the context of what they are learning.
In Part 2 of this series, we will take a closer look at the characteristics of each learning structure so that you can make a sound choice when it comes to selecting what is most appropriate for your students for the current lesson.
| Individual Learning | Competitive Learning | Cooperative Learning | Group Work | |
| Teacher Involvement | Teacher directs the learning and manages the class of students working independently; Students ask the teacher questions | Teacher has to actively manage small or large teams of students; Students ask the teacher to referee | Teacher manages groups of approximately 4 students; Students ask their cooperative learning group questions first and ask the teacher only if the group cannot answer the question | Teacher manages groups of students who are working independently, in the same space; Students ask other students questions, who may or may not help them, as well as ask the teacher questions. |
| Potential Challenges | While helping one student, other students may get off task; Teacher cannot get to all students quickly | Competitive games can result in negative social consequences if students are allowed to form their own teams (i.e. those with social power against those without social power) | Students have not learned or practiced enough to be successful at the skill of cooperation | While helping individual students within groups, other students may get off task; Teacher cannot get to all students quickly |
| Individual Learning | Competitive Learning | Cooperative Learning | Group Work | |
| Potential Student Frustration | Students may have to wait a significant amount of time before they can get help from the teacher | Students may get frustrated when teachers do not enforce the rules of the game, do not keep score accurately, or allow other students to take over | Limited because each student is responsible for contributing to the final product. It is to the group’s benefit to work together and help each other learn the material; if someone chooses not to do their part, no one else’s grade will suffer | The high achiever ends up doing all the work while others do some or none of the work |
| Individual Learning | Competitive Learning | Cooperative Learning | Group Work | |
| Student Grades
|
Students are graded on their own work (individual accountability) | Teachers tend to give “points” to the winning team (no individual accountability) | Students are graded on their own work as contribution towards the group’s learning goal (individual accountability) | Students are given a group grade (no individual accountability); Parents do not like their child’s grade dependent on another student nor do they like their child always pulling the weight for everyone else in the group |
| Best Situations to Use this Structure | When students are practicing something they have already learned | When teams are balanced with high, medium, and low achieving students, with a variety of students with differing levels of social power, and have the opportunity to confer with their teammates to answer questions. Another way to use competitive learning is to have students compete with their own selves (i.e. do better than their last score) | When students are previewing new content, learning new content, or practicing new content; When students are preparing for summative assessments | When a task needs to be accomplished quickly and you need a leader to step forward within the group. When completion of the task does not translate to a grade. |
| Individual Learning | Competitive Learning | Cooperative Learning | Group Work | |
| Positive Interactions Among Students | N/A | Only among teams and dependent upon the make-up of the team | Yes | No (typically) |
| Individual Accountability of Students | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| All Students Equally Participate | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Opportunity for All Students to Participate at the Same Time | Yes | No | Yes |
Yes (but does not typically happen because one student tends to take over to get it done well) |
The pros and cons surface quickly when comparing these different learning structures side by side, especially when looking at the positive interactions among students, individual accountability of students, equal participation among students, and the opportunity provided for all students to participate at the same time.
In Part 3 of this series we will look specifically at cooperative learning as one of the best approaches because it meets these four criteria.
What is most surprising to you as you compare the different learning structures? Leave a comment below.