Collaborative learning…is it for you?

Collaborative learning for anyone that doesn’t know is, when two or more people learn something together. Which is basically a study group but sometimes teachers are involved, everyone has to contribute and learn. Collaborative learning involves solving a problem, completing a task or to create a project. This type of learning is basically a social act with a purpose, where it gets students or individuals get together and talk amongst themselves about a common interest. In collaborative learning environments the learner have the option of talking with peers, present or defend ideas, exchanging the beliefs and engaging with others. Most people learn more when talking to others about subject they don’t know anything about, so say you get into a group and there talking about politics, maybe half the groups are for Republican and the other Democrats, you will probably learn more about politics.  As you can see collaborative learning doesn’t have to be in a classroom, it can be lectures, or be study research teams that can last the whole school year. Some teachers get small groups together and work on specific subjects or task, others prefer a more spontaneous agenda that will develop the students interest, which will make them want to ask questions. Cooperative learning is the more structured part of collaborative learning, Cooperative learning is more about developing the interpersonal skills of the student, and as important as any other type of learning , it can also help some students with social settings, say there’s a teacher with a student that doesn’t talk much, if the teacher put him or her  in collaborative learning that student might be more apt to talk then if he or she wasn’t in the group, just really depends on the student at hand.