Cooperative Learning to Reduce Inequalities: Instructional Approaches and Dimensions

Abstract

This manuscript deals with how cooperative learning in pre-school and primary education can be dimensionalized in terms of reducing gender differences and inequalities. In this study, formulated through instructional approaches delivered in four medium- to very high-complexity schools (the number of students with an immigrant background ranging from 30% to 100%), 376 pre-service teachers and 43 qualified teachers were asked to analyze the instruction that they gave to 1658 pre-school and primary students over two consecutive years. Instruction was defined in terms of contextualized physical education challenges that included cooperative psychomotor physical challenges, guided discovery activities and psychomotor problem-solving. The analysis was based on reflective narratives on both gender differences and inequalities, which evinced 792 comments regarding gender (618 by the pre-service teachers and 174 by the schoolteachers) and 627 comments for inequalities (363 by the pre-service teachers and 264 by the schoolteachers). The analysis produced categories based on critical reflection—on both individual and classroom scales—from the pre-service teachers and the schoolteachers. Each of the cooperative learning dimensions, i.e., positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, social skills, and group processing, were investigated to produce a set of principles and competencies that best promoted education for sustainable development. The research produced 42 principles that operated under the tenet of leave-no-one-behind, with positive interdependence and promotive interaction providing the higher number of principles that are best suited to tackle, through cooperation processes, equity and inclusivity issues in pre-school and primary education classrooms.

Experiencia socioformativa empleando Recursos Educativos Abiertos como apoyo al aprendizaje cooperativo en tiempo pospandemia

“…Con relación a las figuras 1 y 2, una posible explicación de esta experiencia en el incremento de los componentes de habilidades sociales, procesamiento grupal, interdependencia positiva e interacción promotora en el Post-Test, es lo señalado por Cañabate et al (2021), quienes indican que las actividades realizadas en equipo promueven el contacto entre personas diversas y fomentan el desarrollo de habilidades sociales en un ambiente flexible y abierto.…”

“…Una posible explicación de dichos resultados es que los estudiantes que experimentan el contacto con otros en un ambiente seguro y con apertura social consciente, tienen la posibilidad de desarrollar habilidades sociales tales como la empatía, tolerancia, comprensión y escucha activa y de promover una perspectiva abierta y flexible (Cañabate et al, 2021).…”

“…Asimismo, se ha demostrado que los REA son medios que permiten generar ambientes de aprendizaje positivos, pues al emplearlos, se comparte, utiliza y reutiliza el conocimiento; sin embargo, hay ciertas necesidades de estudio señaladas por algunos otros teóricos (Cañabate et al, 2021;Fernández-Río et al, 2021;Johnson y Johnson, 2018;Leal et al, 2015;Van et al, 2020) que deben ser atendidas, entre ellas, profundizar si la interdependencia positiva, la responsabilidad individual-grupal, la interacción promotora, el procesamiento grupal y las habilidades interpersonales, se relacionan con el desarrollo de habilidades socioemocionales fundamentales para la adecuada relación de los estudiantes con sus compañeros, de manera que logren generar aprendizajes significativos basados en la metodología del AC.…”

Correlational study on cyberbullying and social abilities in intercultural teenagers

“…These skills are related to the ability to know how to say no and end interactions; with the expression of social rights; with the ability to defend their own rights; with expressing anger and disagreement; with making requests; and with the ability to know how to initiate interactions with the opposite gender (Cycyk and Hammer, 2018;Canabate et al, 2021;Hyun et al, 2021); its absence can lead to social isolation (Du et al, 2021;Osborn et al, 2021). Fundamental aspect by which its promotion in young immigrants or ethnic, cultural, or racial minorities is justified (Becker and Klein, 2021;Cadenas and Kiehne, 2021;Crooks et al, 2021) in which the academic and social integration is the end of actual education (Dennison and Geddes, 2021;Matejko et al, 2021;Sidler et al, 2021) based on the education of democratic values and a culture of peace.…”

Cooperative Approaches and Academic Motivation towards Enhancing Pre-Service Teachers’ Achievement

“…Instruction and experimentation for PSTs occurs at different time stages, for example. Therefore, this study is to determine how contextualized physical cooperative challenges (CPCCs) [40] developed by PSTs, first in the university classrooms and then in the primary school classrooms, may be linked to motivation developed at three stages: students' motivation during preparation, prior to the implementation of the CPCC, the students' motivation during the practical sessions in the schools, and the students' motivation during the final stage, where students reflect on the pedagogical instruction. Furthermore, this study also analyses teachers' actions when providing students with the basic needs of autonomy support, structure, and involvement, which may also be time dependent.…”