Shahrzad Kamyab
San Diego, USA

Cooperative Learning: One effective method to turn passive students into active learners in Russian classrooms.

    As research on Russian classrooms indicates, the instruction in classrooms is usually a one-way process in which the teacher directly presents information and skills dictated by a textbook. Students usually remain passive throughout a lesson. Group work is not encouraged, and students are required to memorize a large quantity of factual knowledge. A Russian teacher was asked to describe the classroom environment and the process of a typical lesson taught. She responded, "The rooms are usually arranged in a traditional fashion in which long rows of students' desks face the main instructional area and the teacher's desk. The lesson usually begins with a review of the previous lesson. The teacher would then go over the pupil's homework, listen to memorized material, and then accept or reject pupil's solutions to problems previously presented. The teacher would then introduce new material and assign homework, which usually consists of materials to be read or memorized from the book. Although teachers pose many questions, almost all of the questions asked are at knowledge and comprehension levels which begin with "what" and "when." High order questions, which would promote critical thinking in children, are rarely asked (Seymore1987).
    Overall, students are not encouraged to contribute to class discussions by voicing their opinions and supporting their answers, method of teaching is a didactic one and acquisitions of factual knowledge and memorization are over emphasized. All this could make schooling look tedious, suffused with anxiety and boredom, destructive of curiosity and imagination; in short anti-educational (Thomas 1988).
    As the education system is in a state of transitioning to one that is democratic, humanitarian, and humanistic and as a result, teaching in schools is moving from a content centered philosophy to a more child-centered paradigm, Russian teachers should become more equipped with innovative teaching techniques to make the students active in the learning process and to help them develop creativity and take initiative in learning.
    One effective method that can be incorporated into the teacher-training program in Russia is cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is defined as a collection of teaching strategies that use students to help each other learn (Slavin 1990).
    One commonly asked question is: Does cooperative learning increase students' attention span in the classroom, raise their motivation level, and make all students active in the learning process? The simplest answer to all these questions is that cooperative learning works. Teachers are told that cooperative learning is one of the better researched instructional strategies, and the results of research indicate that it produces cognitive, affective, and interpersonal benefits (Johnson & Johnson; Slavin 1990).
    Compared to traditional instructions, cooperative learning strategies improve students' achievements both on teacher-made and standardized tests (Slavin 1990). Slavin attributed these improvements to increased student motivation, greater time on-task, and especially active student involvement.
    Slavin (1990) also found that students' self-esteem increased. They felt more in control of their academic success and they began to link their success to their effort, an important factor in motivation. Low achievers tend to attribute their success or failure to luck or other forces outside their control, and cooperative learning helps change this pattern.
    Cooperative learning can produce massive improvements in interpersonal relations. When groups were mixed by race, gender, and ability, the strategy resulted in improved attitude toward different ethnic groups and increased interethnic friendships. Russian teachers would benefit from implementing this technique in their multiethnic classrooms. Also, through strategically selected learning activities, teachers can help students to analyze, synthesize, problem solve, and even learn to learn.
    Cooperative learning strategies such as STAD (Student Teams - Achievement Division) & Jigsaw II can be introduced to the teacher training progress in the form of workshops through role-playing.
    In STAD, the teacher presents the content or skill in a large group activity in the regular manner such as direct instruction and modeling. Then as opposed to individual study, students are provided with learning materials that they use in groups to master the content. As students are provided with learning materials that they use in groups to master the content, the teacher circulates around the room to monitor group progress and interaction. When students are ready, a test is administered and scored by the teacher, who then uses this information to compute improvement points. These are added up for each team, and teams earning a specific number of improvement points are recognized (e.g., award, free time, or certificate of achievement [Allyn and Bacon, 1993]).
    The other recommended teaching strategy is Jigsaw II. In addition to learning basic facts, skills, and concepts, cooperative learning strategies can also be used to help the students learn organized bodies of knowledge. Jigsaw II, developed by Robert Slavin (1990), assigns students to groups and asks each student to become an expert on one aspect or part of an organized body of knowledge. These experts then are responsible for teaching other team members, all of whom are then held accountable for all the information covered by each member. One of the benefits of using cooperative learning is increased student communication skills. Because group discussions provide extended opportunities for students to talk and listen to each other, they are a powerful tool in developing students' communication skills.
    In conclusion, as the Russian school system, and especially its teacher training, is reforming itself, the instruction in the classroom must undergo a major reform. This reform should include a slow move from a didactic approach to a more interactive/conceptual teaching method. In other words, instruction in the classrooms must change from a content-centered approach to a student-centered teaching strategy. For this reform to be effective, the school curriculum must replace emphasis on acquisition of factual knowledge to emphasis on process- oriented curriculum that will teach students how to learn, organize, study, judge, and problem solve.
    Such reform should include in their pre-service programs such concepts as cooperative learning, metacognitive strategies and multiple intelligences. Multiple intelligences suggest that teachers should create learning environments in which different kinds of students can prosper. One way to do this is to provide students with choices as they learn new content. Those strategies could improve the whole instructional process in Russian classrooms to encourage students' curiosity and imaginations, to make them active learners, and as a result, make learning more meaningful and enjoyable.

References

• Bridgman, Anne. (1994). School reform Russian style. Teacher Magazine, pp. 18-23.
• Eggen, P. & Kauchak, D. (1988). Strategies for teachers: information processing models in the classroom. (2nd Edition). Englewood Cliffs, NF: Prentice Hall.
• International Encyclopedia of National Systems of Education. (2nd Edition). (1995). New York, NY: Pergamon Press.
• Johnson, D. & Johnson, R. (1991). Learning together and alone. (3rd Edition). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
• Kagen, S. (1989) Cooperative learning: Resources for teachers. San Juan Capistrano, CA: Resources for teachers.
• Kauchak, Donald P. & Eggen, Paul D. (1993). Learning and teaching. (2nd Edition). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
• Murray, Thomas R. (1990). International comparative education. New York, NY: Pergamon Press.
• Seymore, Jr., James W. (1987). The instructors and principal at a Leningrad school challenge rigidities in Soviet education. People Weekly, April 6, V27 P104 (4).
• Slavin, R. (1990). Cooperative learning: Theory, research and practice. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
• Taylor, Raymond G. (1997). The current state of education in Russia. Education, V118 N1 P157 (4).

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