Cooperative vs. Collaborative Learning

We all know the importance of working together to achieve big goals. However, have you ever checked this statement? Sometimes we believe in what people have just said throughout history, however, it is important to compare and contrast the results you get between working individually and working in groups.

For that reason, our teacher Michael Thomas prepared an activity to play in class. The objective was quite simple: to check the benefits of working together. The “Survival In The Desert” activity was astonishing! I have never realised how important working in group is! The game simulated you were in the Sahara Desert and you, individually, had to decide which things to take in order to survive during this adventure. You were given a list of objects and you had to choose 5 of them. It took me a couple of minutes to make my choice. Later, we had to do the same but, this time, in groups. After sharing different points of views, we selected 5 items. Most of them were not the same as the ones we chose individually.

Finally, the teacher gave us a table in which each object had certain points. On the one hand, we had to add the points we got individually and, on the other hand, we added the points we got in group decision. Shockingly, the experiment showed us that individually you get lower results than working in group. Now, I can claim by myself that working in group is the key to survive in our society. However, another question came to my mind: is there any difference between cooperative and collaborative work? Of course!

Many people believe that they are the same idea but named in a different way, however, there are crystal clear facts that tell us they are not the same. On the one hand, according to Surbhi S. (2021), cooperative learning is based on non-competition, in which students work together to achieve the group goal and the teacher plays an active role in the process. On the other hand, collaborative learning embraces individual work and celebrates them in the group as a whole. In other words, cooperation is related to networks, where interdependence is the key to success, while collaboration is based on joining individual efforts in order to achieve bigger results.

You, as a teacher, may want to use different techniques to achieve goals with your students. It is up to you, nevertheless, bear in mind that the process and the product are not going to be the same!

Bibliography

Surbhi S. (5th August 2021). Difference Between Collaborative Learning and Cooperative Learning. Key Differences. Retrieved from https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-collaborative-learning-and-cooperative-learning.html