Cooperation among pupils in the classroom : pupils' voice about cooperative learning in a purposefully selected primary school in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Cooperative learning as a model of the cognitive social approach to teaching aims at encouraging the overall development of a child in both academic and socio-emotional aspects. In the classroom developing towards inclusion, cooperative learning has been seen as a scaffolding method which promotes interaction among pupils who differ in level of mastery, socio-ethnic and language background, individual and special needs. This research thesis focuses on the issue of cooperative learning perceived from the pupils’ point of view based on their personal experiences. The study was conducted among 44 pupils in 4th and 8th grade in a purposefully selected primary school in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aim was to investigate how the pupils perceive cooperative learning, by letting them write an essay related to eight aspects of cooperative learning. In order to gain more in depth information about the same topic, but from a different angle, three pupils with high level of mastery and three pupils with different special needs were interviewed. Document analyses were partly used in order to review background information in the study. Thus, this is a mainly qualitative study with a quantitative component. It is based on an essay approach combined with additioned interviews and document analysis. It was targeted to investigate and describe cooperative learning voiced by pupils. The study was grounded on theories that emphasize the role of social interaction and mediation in the child’s learning and development such as Vygotsky’s social constructivist theory (the proximal zone of a child’s development, 1978), Rogoff’s (1990) socio-cultural concept of apprenticeship and Feuerstein’s theory of mediated learning (1979) in order to support the findings and make the study clear. The overall findings in this study showed that cooperative learning was perceived positively and satisfactory related to all of its eight aspects. The research has also shown in general that consistently applied cooperative learning enables the creation of a considerable efficient teaching and learning process for pupils with different levels of mastery based on support and mediation of classmates. The study indicated that pupils with special needs were active participants in different learning activities inside and outside classroom, receiving help according to their pace of learning and personal needs. Friendship and care for each other seemed to be what pupils like most with cooperative learning while non-communicative skills and self-oriented pupils were perceived not so popular traits. In order to improve several aspects of cooperative learning perceived as dislikes, the pupils gave priority to joint decision making, active listening and respecting rules. It was suggested that teachers should acquire more knowledge about cooperation in order to be even more skilled and flexible in organizing cooperative teaching approach.One main conclusion is that the pupils’voices should be applied in further teaching and learning processes with focus on cooperation, which is recommended for all; teachers, parents and other persons. Keywords: pupils’voice, cooperative learning, mediation, classroom toward inclusion.