Why use Cooperative Learning ?

Students and Teachers need strategies for helping them turn diversity into a positive force .

Cultural and linguistic diversity in the student population has profound implications for education. The learning climate of the classroom is affected by the nature of the interactions among students. In a culturally diverse classroom, students reflect a variety of attitudes toward and expectations of one another's abilities and styles of behavior. Without structures that promote positive interactions and strategies for improving relationships, students remain detached from one another, unable to benefit

from the resources their peers represent. Teachers and students need strategies that manage cultural and linguistic diversity in positive ways, strategies that channel peer influence into a positive force for improving school performance. Furthermore , to reach students from diverse cultural backgrounds, teachers need multiple alternatives to the prevalent pattern where teachers do most of the talking and directing in the classroom .

As for language acquisition , students need the maximum amount of time possible for comprehending and using a language in a low-risk environment in order to approach the language proficiency level of their peers.

Cooperative learning provides the structure for this to happen. Teachers should consider the question, "What is the best use of my students' time?" With approximately thirty students in a classroom who can interact and negotiate meaning, a teacher needs to take advantage of this environment for language acquisition. Reading and writing answers to questions can be done at home, thereby providing more time in the classroom for interactive, cooperative structures in which students are learning from each other.

Thus, all students can receive maximum practice in language and interpersonal skills necessary for participation in higher education or the job market.