A Study Of Relationships Between Peers In Cooperative Learning

Nowadays, to go with the trend of global cooperation, cooperative learning becomes a learning strategy that embodies the viewpoints of Humanism and Social Interactionism. The writer defines cooperative learning as a set of teaching strategies, which is learner-centered, and organized by interactions between learners. Its aim is to spur learners, who are organized in heterogeneous groups on to completing cooperative activities by forming cooperative environment. Among the studies on cooperative learning, most of them are focusing on its from and its implementing. Few of them are on the relationships between participants, that is, peers in cooperative learning, though it effects much the achievement of the cooperative activities. In the classroom today, how are the relationships between peers in cooperative groups? What traits on peers with different characteristics influence such relationships? How do teachers group students to facilitate positive cooperative relationships, and to avoid negative ones with the purpose of forming cooperative environment as the result of the overall improvement of students? All of these are attempted to be indicated and discussed about in the six chapters of this thesis.Chapter 1 is the introduction of the definition, specific property and manifestation of cooperative learning. Significance and method of the study are also briefly indicated. Chapter 2 presents a review of literature. Humanism, Social Interactionism and a social constructivist model are expounded here as the base of this study. Chapter 3 includes objects, procedure, subjects and instruments of the study. Some detailed questionnaires, such as Character Measurement, and the elements of Cooperative Activities Questionnair (ECAQ), etc. are presented. Chapter 4 makes an analysis of the traits on relationships of peers with different characteristics, including gender, language competence, characters and personality steadiness in cooperative activities. Chapter 5 elaborates several aspects what the writer ponders over the study. First of all, components of group constitution include the psychological function of a group, and the psychological components of group constitution. The second aspect is about the mutual relationships between a group and individuals in it. Then the grouping principles are expounded according to the first two aspects. The fourth aspect shows the relationships between peers of teachers and their students, while the last one shows the relationships between student peers. Furthermore, the writer poses the ways to develop positive relationships between peers: making negotiations and cultivating students' ability of empathy. And the ways of avoiding negative relationships, such as the Group Pressure, the IndividualCommunality and harmful competitions are posed finally. Chapter 6 is the conclusion, in which the writer puts forward to a viewpoint of motivating better cooperative Telationships between peers to create a better classroom environment, and eventually, to achieve the goals of the cooperative learning successfully.