While at Antioch I studied for a year at Eberhardt-Karls University in Tubingen, Germany. No matter how well a lab is designed or a lecture delivered, if a student doesn't enjoy it, or find something of interest in it, then I have wasted my time. My final aim is to have students learn biology as 'science'. People need to understand that science has its own ways of discovering answers, and that the answer today might not be the same tomorrow. Co-operative learning, as I use it, is intended to get students to work together for their common good, both in learning biology and learning the benefits of cooperation.
Students work in cooperative groups alot in discussion sections, but also in labs and in lectures.
Sometimes there is a group grade, sometimes and individual grade, and sometimes both. In order to understand what science is, students need to do some scientific work on their own. Of course all of this is written up, since presenting information to others is also a very important part of doing science. They have in their hands specific objectives for each lab. Thus students know why they are doing each thing they do during a lab.