theory into practice all they did was speak with less able children. There are two important observations to make of this particular issue. Firstly, there is that sense that is captured in the commonly held notion that if you really want to understand something then you should try teaching it. Implicit within this is the element of practice that allows children to engage with tasks or information more than once and from more than one leader of learning, whether adult or child. New information that is elaborated (restructured and related to existing knowledge) is more easily retrieved from memory than is information that is not elaborated. A particularly effective means of elaboration is explaining something to someone else.
Principles: The Big Picture
Secondly, there is the teacher’s understanding of Vygotsky’s assertion that “good learning’ is that which is in advance of development” (Vygotsky 1978: 89). The role of the adults in the classroom whilst the more able children are explaining their thinking, if that is what a particular cooperative learning structure requires them to do, is to intervene and support their coaching conversation so that they are presented with new information and new skills as they explain their thinking. Most structures do not require pupils to explain knowledge or skills already acquired to their less able peers. But if they do, then research tells us that the more able pupil must be challenged and supported during these structures.
Effect on Social Relationships In most studies pupils exposed to cooperative learning were more likely than pupils who learned under competitive or individualistic conditions to name a classmate from a different race, ability group, ethnic group,
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or social class as a friend or to label such individuals as “nice” or “smart.” In some studies the friendships that were formed were deemed to be quite strong.