There are five basic principles fundamental to cooperative learning. Teams encourage discussion of ideas and oral summarization. Peer assistance clarifies concepts for both helper and the student being helped. Cooperative teams help students learn to value individual differences and promote more elaborate thinking. It can be built into a reward structure by assigning team points based on team averages, on members reaching a predetermined criterion, or on team improvement rather than outright grades.
Processing can be individual, team-wide, or at the whole collaborative class level.
The smallest group is two. The largest recommended is six. Generally, in smaller groups each member participates more, fewer social skills are required, and groups can work more quickly. Larger groups generate more ideas, deal better with complex ideas, and create fewer group reports to process. Formation With a few exceptions, research favors groups which are heterogeneous with regard to academic achievement, gender, ethnicity, task orientation, ability, and learning style.