Making Cooperative Learning Work in the College Classroom: An Application of the ‘Five Pillars’ of Cooperative Learning to Post-Secondary Instruction

English Version

Abstract

Cooperative learning is viable yet generally underutilized method of instruction at the college level (Paulsen and Faust, 2008). This paper highlights the work of teacher educator Dr. Paul J. Vermette in his implementation of cooperative learning based practices in a graduate level Multicultural education course. In analyzing the ‘Five Pillars’ of cooperative learning as outlined by Johnson, Johnson & Smith (1991), this article will high light Vermette’s implementation of cooperative learning structures to this theoretical framework. Through narratives of Vermette’s actual teaching, the authors will provide suggestions for implementing cooperative learning in the college classroom.

The purpose of this study is to share a model of cooperative learning based practices at the college level. The authors studied the pedagogy of Dr. Paul J. Vermette, author of the book Making Cooperative Learning Teams Work in K-12 Classrooms (1998), throughout a four week Multicultural Education course during summer 2007. The goal was to examine how he uses cooperative learning structures as his students’ primary means of knowledge acquisition. Through key learning experiences in this Multicultural Education course, the authors of this paper will examine how Vermette’s model of cooperative learning aligns with a pre existing model, the Johnson, Johnson and Smith ‘Five Pillars’ (1991) for cooperative learning in the college setting.

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