It is not enough to have children working side by side on an activity. For example, when two children are playing with building blocks together but working on different parts of a structure, they may not be trying to accomplish the same goal. Children who try to achieve a shared objective will find it helpful to discuss their ideas about the problem and agree on a strategy. Teachers can promote real cooperative activity by encouraging collaboration during the activity-planning stage. Ensuring That the Goal Is Intrinsically Interesting.
Young children are likely to pursue a goal only if they find it interesting.
Quite often, when teachers present problems that they see as important, they inadvertently fail to consider the children's degree of interest in solving the problem. One effective approach for maximizing the child's intrinsic interest is to involve children in activities in which they can determine their own objectives, that is, activities with several possible goals or which offer several ways of reaching the goals. Making It Possible for Children to Achieve Their Goal Through Their Own Actions. Through acting on objects and observing the effects, young children receive feedback, which helps them adapt their differing perspectives when working cooperatively. Rolling a ball down a ramp to hit a target, for example, provides many opportunities for adapting the actions involved.