Cooperative and Experiential Learning

Cooperative Learning

- Cooperative learning allows many opportunities to develop learners interpersonal

skills give them experiences on how they can properly interact with the others
and at the same time learn from their groupmates. Cooperative learning is also a
type of constructivist teaching allows the creation and movation of knowledge
through group interaction and active participation of each member.

Cooperative learning has the following features:

1. Students are actively engaged, thus, developing in each member a cooperative

spirit.
2. Each member is challenged to give his or her best because it can create a
healthy and competitive spirit
3. It allows learners creativity and innovation because thery inneract with people
their ages peers, or classmates
4. It develops positivity like open-mindedness humility, and give and take attitude,
as well as listening skills
5. It reduces pressure from work and creates a positive classroom atmosphere.

Cooperative Learning is an instructional method in which children/ students work in a

small groups to accomplish in a common learning goal.

So in this type of instructional strategy, it is important to have a proper guidance to

students, such as giving clear instructions so that students can easily understand the
things that is needed to comply and not waste any time during activities.

1. Teachers assign learners to group.

2. Tasking is a vital component of cooperative learning.

3. The working time and task collaboration should be an active process.
Experiential Learning

- Actual hands-on activities are still the most effective means of learning.
Experiences that are direct and purposeful are still the learners best opportunity
to master a concept or a skill. Direct and purposeful experiences are rich
experiences that the senses bring from which ideas, concepts, generalization are
constructed. (Dale, 1969)

Examples:
• Learning a new language
- The best way to learn a new language is to immerse yourself in it, such as by
traveling to a country where the language is spoken.

• Science Experiments

- Students can learn about the scientific method and how to test hypotheses.

Constructivism is the theory that says learners construct knowledge rather than just
passively take in information. As people experience the world and reflect upon those
experiences, they build their own representations and incorporate new information into
their pre-existing knowledge.

When lessons are properly planned along the spectrum of constructivism, the following
are obtained:

1. Learners do not fear situations where there is problem solving involve. They get engage
through cooperative learning techniques to consider different perspectives as a team.

2. Learners also develop flexibility in thinking. They do trial and erroe techniques.
Discovery and experimentation also come as a part of exploring for possibilities.

3. All previously learned knowledge is important because they connect and associate
them to their current or recent life experience.