Giving Compass' Take:

· Lauren Barack explains that student collaboration and teamwork are effective ways to help students build skills and learn, but it can only be successful when implemented the right way.

· What is the best way teachers can encourage collaborative learning? How can funders help support collaboration in the age of COVID-19? 

· Read about ways to model collaboration and partnership in the classroom.

The benefits of collaborative learning are numerous, yet educators find team building exercises can sometimes yield unideal results. A few students participate while others don’t, for instance, or disagreements can devolve into frustration. It’s understandable that teachers sometimes find the effects of team building exercises not as fruitful as they'd initially hoped.

But when students work together successfully, magical things can happen in a classroom. A 2011 study, “Benefits of collaborative learning,” found the upside of collaborative learning (CL) to be extensive. From developing speaking skills to giving teachers the opportunity to observe a child’s strengths and weaknesses, CL can also lead to self-management and student ownership centered on what they’ve learned. In other words, children feel more passionate about what they’ve discovered.

Read the full article about student collaboration by Lauren Barack at Education Dive.