Alejandro Cremaschi
University of Colorado at Boulder
alejandro.cremaschi@colorado.edu
Cooperative Learning is an educational approach whereby students rely on each other to learn. It involves students working together as a group towards an identified common goal, sharing resources, knowledge, information and ideas. Cooperative Learning activities are structured in such a way as to encourage student cooperation, transforming individual competition into a detrimental attitude that obstructs the attainment of specific group goals. As opposed to the traditional competitive approach to education, where "your loss is my gain; and your gain is my loss," cooperative leaning emphasizes a framework where "my gain is your gain; my loss is your loss."
Group activities where students help one another is not a novel idea in the field of class piano. Good piano teachers have been using the group approach for many years, either in a loose, intuitive way, or in more carefully structured versions. Cooperative Learning is a highly structured subset of the general group approach that has been developed and researched only recently, during the last 25 or 30 years, by the leading education theorists David and Roger Johnson (University of Minnesota), Robert Slavin (Johns Hopkins University), and Spencer Kagan (University of California). Cooperative Learning has since proven a successful vehicle for learning in a variety of different fields. The purpose of this article is to introduce the basic elements and benefits of the Cooperative Learning Model, and to provide some examples of how this model can be applied to particular activities in class piano teaching.
In the Cooperative Learning Model, learning is inherently a social constructive process. Group work is in its foundation. It provides opportunities for the students to talk, listen, share, and to teach each in an active mode, to develop higher-order thinking and to apply what they are learning in a safe, peer-to-peer environment. Through cooperative activities, the student becomes an active part in his or her learning process, rather than a passive recipient of information. The instructor is often transformed from a lecturer and information deliverer into a facilitator of learning.
There are five social elements that must be present in all group activities for Cooperative Learning to take place successfully. These elements are:
1) Positive interdependence. Positive interdependence encourages cooperation within the group. It is the opposite of negative interdependence, which encourages competition. Positive interdependence is achieved when the students need each other to complete the group's task, and when the group goal can only be accomplished by the full participation of its members. The slogan usually used to describe positive interdependence is "swim or sink together." There are four ways to establish positive interdependence: by setting up mutual goals ("learn and make sure all other group members learn"), joint rewards (such as group points in a tournament), shared resources (such as dividing the task into as many parts as there are members in the group and assigning a part to each student), and by assigning member's roles (summarizer, leader, encourager of participation, etc).
2) Face-to-face interaction. For cooperative work to be successful, the instructor must make sure to provide opportunities for students to discuss, listen, agree, disagree, and teach each other individually and independently. The instructor must temporarily relinquish his or her teaching authority to become the activity planner, and the facilitator or moderator of peer interaction. The effectiveness of this type of face-to-face interaction is based on the premise that the best way to learn something is by teaching or showing it to someone else ("talk to me and I will just listen, involve me and I will learn")
3) Individual accountability. Individual accountability in group work is essential to avoid "free-riders" and "social loafers" within the group. It can be accomplished in several way: by frequently assessing the students individually and giving the results to both the group and the individual; by making each member in the group responsible for contributing a unique and fundamental part to the group's whole; by asking the group to file periodic reports with the contributions of the members outlined.
4) Interpersonal cooperative skills. In order for the learning groups to function well, teachers must show these skills purposefully. Students should be taught and encouraged to develop social cooperative skills such giving praise, taking turns, disagreeing in an agreeable way, coping with multiple and conflicting points of view, resolving conflict, accepting criticism and using time efficiently. Though forcing this kind of interaction may seem at first artificial and awkward, it should be done until it becomes natural.
5) Group processing. This is one of the most important elements of the Cooperative Learning model: at the end of the task, the members of the group examine and assess how well they have functioned together. The students should periodically review their rate of success in achieving the goals and maintaining effective working relationships. By recognizing flaws and possible improvements the students become more involved in their learning and make a commitment to improve themselves as individuals and as a group.
Some of these elements are already present in class piano teaching in several shapes and forms, as well as in many other types of music activities in general. For instance, positive interdependence and individual accountability are particularly evident when working with music ensembles --whether in class piano, band, choir, or other ensembles. In this setting, the work, effort and cooperation of the individual contributes toward the achievement of a common group goal (positive interdependence), and the individual is supposed to take responsibility for its own role in order for the group to be successful (individual accountability).
On the other hand, other elements of the cooperative model are present only in some occasions. How many band conductors, for instance, give their members a chance to experience face-to-face interaction to solve performance problems? In class piano, however, this desirable kind of interaction is not uncommon, and should be highly encouraged. An example of this kind of interaction is when students are grouped with peers after each of them has worked on a problem individually --such as a harmonization exercise--, to share what they have learned, to show the solutions, and to acknowledge other ways. Or when the groups are given autonomy to make their own decisions and to assume specific roles to tackle the performance of ensemble music.
Far less common in class piano is the fifth element, group processing, whereby the groups analyze their outcomes and modus operandi, and perfect themselves. Group analysis is highly desirable when working with long-term, well established groups. It should be done by each group or each individual, privately or publicly. This analysis may consist of a written group self-evaluation of outcomes and attitudes. The instructor may provide a specific set of guidelines to generate group self-awareness, by asking questions such as "name three things that the group did well today," "name one thing that would make the group better," "as a group, list three ways in which the members help the group," or "individually, tell the group members something effective they did to help you."
Cooperative work as a tool can be applied with different intensity, ranging from sporadic and occasional subgrouping, to classes entirely taught using long-term groups. Occasional groups, also called informal groups, are usually formed "ad hoc." They are small and their member's roles are not pre-assigned. This type of groups is usually suitable for specific problems and tasks that can be solved quickly, in 2 to 5 minutes (answering a question, checking the spelling of a chord sequence, checking fingering, etc.). Group processing is usually not an issue in this type of setting, since informal groups are sporadic and tend to change. Formal groups, on the other hand, are groups that remain bonded for a longer period of time, with a more complex goal in hand. Usually, their member's roles are assigned or encouraged by the instructor. These groups are generally the most useful in class piano settings; they can deal very effectively with a longer project such as creative group improvisation or arranging, preparing an ensemble piece, or polishing repertoire for performance. This type of group work is usually enriched by post-task processing, and needs more regular guidance and monitoring from the instructor. The third and most complex type of groups, the base group, is a group that has been built and "solidified" throughout a longer period of time, such as a semester or quarter. These groups start taking a personality of their own, and work very efficiently together. There is deep trust in cooperation, and group interaction occurs naturally and spontaneously. This type of groups are the most difficult to form, and occur only in rare occasions.
There are a number of structured techniques that have proven effective in Cooperative Learning. The following paragraphs show a few examples of practical applications of these techniques. They are presented just as models, and can be transferred to other situations.
Harmonizing a new melody that does not feature chord
labels.
Clef tournament
Chord progressions in different keys
Improvising and polishing variations as a group.
Improvising and polishing "question-answer" in pairs
Fingering jigsaw
Polishing repertoire. Coach-discuss-practice
(adapted from Johnson, Johnson & Holubec)
Goliger, Joseph M. Implementation of a program of cooperative learning in an urban secondary piano laboratory. Ed. Doctoral Dissertation. Columbia U. Teachers Coll., 1995.
Johnson, D. W., and Johnson, F (Eds.). Advanced Cooperative Learning. Edina: Interaction Book Company, 1988.
Johnson, D. W., and Johnson, F. Joining together: Group theory and group skills. Edina: Interaction Book Company, 1987.
Johnson, D. W., and Johnson, F. Learning Together and Alone: Cooperative, Competitive and Individualistic Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1987.
Johnson, D. W, Johnson, F, and Holubec, E. J. Circles of Learning: Cooperating in the Classroom (2nd ed.). Edina: Interaction Book Company, 1990.
Kagan, S. Cooperative Learning Resources for Teachers. San Juan Capistrano, CA: Resources for Teachers, 1989.
Kaplan, Phyllis, and Sandra L. Stauffer. Cooperative Learning in Music. Reston: MENC, 1994.
Slavin, R. E. Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research and Practice.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1991.