Cooperative and Collaborative Learning as a Strategy to Facilitate Learning

by Open Science Repository Education
(August 2013)

Abstract

Six groups of students enrolled in the Organic Chemistry III Teaching-Learning Unit (LTU), were divided in two sets, in order to evaluated their learn style and knowledge construction. In the first set of three groups, the transmission of knowledge was conventional in traditional blackboard lectures given by the teacher in which the students were receivers and took notes, while in the second set of groups, a cooperative and collaborative group learning strategy was applied so that the students worked together to solve common problems designed by the professor. This research was carried out over an academic year, involving a total of 150 students. The results obtained in the evaluation showed a failure rate of 65% for those groups in which conventional teaching techniques were used in contrast to 17% for the students who worked together in solidarity. The student response presented here is discussed in function with techniques involving the socialization of knowledge, learning amongst peers and collaborative learning, new forms of constructivist socialized knowledge and the contrary effects of the traditional teacher-centered method.

Keywords: learning styles, strategy, collaborative learning.

Full text

Cooperative and Collaborative Learning as a Strategy to Facilitate Learning