COLLABORATIVE LEARNING: AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT IN STUDENT-

CENTERED INSTRUCTION
By Lourdes M. Ferrer

Current education reforms promote student-centered instruction that develops

thinking, encourages active participation, and arouses interest to explore concepts. In
reality, these goals are rarely achieved because the classroom learning environment
puts heavy premium on lectures and class discussion. In an earlier study by Ferrer
(2011) on student-centered instruction in science, the elements of collaborative
learning, which include group participation; exploration, and choice, were not regularly
observed in teaching. This paper presents various strategies used to address the
inadequacy in the use of collaborative learning in the classrooms. Twenty teacher
candidates in the methods practicum course and their students served as participants in
this study. Science was taught for six weeks using various collaborative/cooperative
learning strategies in the elementary schools in Guam. A developed and validated
group participation instrument composed of 10 items was administered to the
elementary students at the end of the teaching period. The overall ratings from the
evaluation instrument indicate the teacher candidates‘ engagement of K-5 students in
active collaborative learning. All the strategies used obtained very high ratings for
frequency of occurrence. The interaction skills developed in these strategies enabled
groups to function effectively. The strategies used in this study broadly encompassed
the essence of learner-centeredness, which fundamentally emphasizes the act of
learning together. Some research studies found out that collaborative learning actually
increases the science achievement of students. This is yet to be proven in this study.
Thus, the effect of collaborative learning on student achievement is underway as part of
a broader study on collaborative learning.

Collaborative learning plays a big part in the teaching-learning process. Some

may say that it is more authentic if we practice the individual performance but there is
something in the collaborative learning that brings out the best of a student. It can
generate ideas and promote creativity when they do brainstorming in a certain topic. It
also promotes critical thinking or their metacognition among the students because they
will think about their thinking. This kind of collaboration embeds knowledge more
powerfully through listening and sharing. A student is more likely to remember
something learnt with and from a peer than something learnt through discussion. The
dialogue and discussion over new ideas and approaches to solving the task set make it
more memorable and require a deeper level of skills.

Submitted by:
Mathel Mae A. Pastrana
CLED 2
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