Some suggestions and brief descriptions of some strategies follow. Solicit their suggestions without providing judgment on their ideas. Students learn to respect diverse opinions and to see the value of combining ideas to develop the best one. Provide students a group structure in which to learn, making students responsible for the learning of all members of the group. Teachers need to carefully determine how cooperative learning activities are assessed.
Students learn the value of teamwork and quality control.
On individual slips of paper, provide students with characteristics of a particular concept. Have students place the characteristics under the appropriate category, indicating whether or not the concept has each characteristic. Students learn the parts of a concept, using logic to identify the characteristics. This strategy assists them in developing skills for lifelong learning. The number of students may vary but no more than eight students per team are recommended.