Cooperative learning, sometimes called small group learning, is a teaching strategy that utilizes and emphasizes small learner groups as a core unit that must work together and complete tasks collectively in order to achieve the desired academic goals while providing the learner members with both academic and social learning experiences. Groups typically consist of two to four members. Each learner in a group is responsible for his or her own learning as well as the learning of his or her group mates, creating an atmosphere of cooperative achievement.

Cooperative learning has been described as structuring positive interdependence. Cooperative learning can be conceptualized as placing learners on a team in which the goal is for all members to achieve academic success. This entry explains the differences between ...