Social Interactive Model: Cooperative Learning

During class we discussed the five elements of Cooperative Learning:

1. Positive Interdependence
2. Individual & Group Accountability
3. Group Processing
4. Social Skills/Face-to-Face Interaction
5. CL Lesson Plan Structure

We got into groups and each picked one of the five elements above and then formed an "expert" group where we worked together to make a powerpoint presentation on our element. I chose to talk about Social Skills and Face-to-Face Interaction. When I got in my expert group, we all seemed to have a general understanding of what social skills and face-to-face interaction entailed. We each typed up a few general slides and read through the information Dr. Smirnova gave to us on this element.
Check out our presentation!! 
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OqlgNEd2b5FHhupP04VzDYnv1UjK9TOny4DjK3xnluY/edit?usp=sharing

I learned about the 4 stages of skill development:
1. Awkward
2. Phony
3. Mechanical
4. Integrated

A lot of the information about social skills was very self-explanatory and was easy to follow. There are many traits that entails good social skills like keeping eye contact, open gestures, asking questions, leaning forward, etc.

With face-to-face interaction, students are helping, supporting, encouraging, and praising each other’s efforts to learn. This creates a mutual goal of both academic and personal support among students.
A few examples of what F 2 F looks like:

• A student orally explains how to solve a problem.
• One group member discusses a concept with others.
• A group member teaches classmates about a topic.
• Students help each other connect present and past learning.

Not only did I learn a lot about social skills & face-to-face interaction, I also learned about positive interdependence, individual & group accountability, group processing and CL Lesson Plan structure through the other expert groups' presentations. Each presentation was presented in our original groups and we all got to interact with each other and learn about the rest of the elements of Cooperative Learning. This was a great way to learn; I enjoyed it a lot!!