Collaborative Learning: What is it and What Are Its Benefits?

The times they Are a changing. Young people carry mobile phones and are born with an iPad under their arm, developing a level of self-learning and independence never seen before. Well, with teaching and especially in schools, exactly the same thing happens: there is also this constant interconnection to learn.

Collaborative learning is a rising trend in which primary school students learn to manage their tasks cooperatively, thus reducing the burden and authority that fell exclusively on the figure of the teacher.

What is collaborative learning?

Nowadays, the work and professional world requires more and more work and team dynamics, work groups and structures that are more horizontal than hierarchical. In this way, schools have been emphasizing the values ​​of collaborative learning for years to ensure, among many other purposes, that future generations are prepared for the new labor market.

Collaborative learning is based on a teaching model which has been applied in classrooms for almost a decade, and basically consists of the cognitive development of students between the ages of 7 and 15, making this learning a gradual development of interaction between people.

Furthermore, collaborative learning can enhance integration between students from different cultures religions and customs due to the multicultural character that modern societies are increasingly acquiring around the world.

Benefits of this learning method

Below, you can find the 7 advantages that collaborative learning can offer.

1. Fight anxiety

Often the personality and confidence of students has been undermined by the imposing authority of the teaching staff and the archaic models of teaching especially primary school, which is where people absorb the most information and begin to show concerns.

By involving children from an early age, it helps to enhance their greater self-confidence and self-esteem, allowing for greater personal development that will be beneficial in the long term.

Thus, collaborative learning helps reduce doses of anxiety because it allows students relax and work in a harmonious environment where they find enough time to think, rehearse and generate feedback among themselves, since the support of their colleagues is a fundamental element of this method.

2. It allows you to optimize teaching

Due to the low teacher-student ratio that exists today (as a result of overcrowded classes), collaborative learning allows educational centers maximize all the resources they have to optimize the teaching process.

3. Develop independence

As we have seen previously, these learning dynamics They considerably reduce the dependence that students have on the teacher since, when faced with any problem or doubt to be resolved, colleagues offer each other the type of necessary assistance that was previously the exclusive task of the teaching staff.

Likewise, among the members of the cooperative group, a code of conduct, subject adequacy, vocabulary and even communication resulting from feedback between the students themselves can be developed. This does not mean that in a specific case, the figure of the teacher does not intervene as much.

4. Boost critical thinking

As long as students work and develop their activities in a collaborative environment, They will also learn to project their own thoughts and concerns with more freedom and boldness, promoting reflection and development of metacognitive skills.

5. Individual responsibility

As part of a team or work group, each member is considered individually responsible for contributing in the same direction to achieve the collective’s objectives.

At the same time, the participation of each individual It must be with equal opportunities, in an equivalent manner and with the same degree of responsibility and protagonism as the rest of the members. Only in this way can we achieve the elimination of a thought and make it individualistic.

6. Contributes to positive interdependence

This has directly to do with the objective or final goal that the group in question pursues. It is directly related to the individual tasks of each member who, knowledgeable of collective interest you have to do everything possible to help and respond to the requests of other members when they need it.

In all groups there are better prepared and worse prepared students. But the latter can take advantage of the knowledge of the former, while the more advantaged can also enrich and strengthen their capacities and abilities.

7. Responds to a heterogeneous and multicultural society

Societies are changing, customs evolve and acquire an increasingly complex character. Collaborative learning can take advantage of this type of diversity and turn it into a powerful educational resource.

In this way, it is possible to take positive advantage of the variety and richness of experiences that the educational center can provide, thus allowing the evolution of intellectual abilities enhancing the ability to express and communicate, as well as increasing the ability to understand verbally.

Where some see difficulty in managing a class of children from different cultures causing school ghettos in some cases, cooperation becomes a necessity to respond to the “problem.”