Cooperative learning is a teaching strategy for organizing classroom activities. Grouped into small teams, pupils work together to achieve shared goals. This structured group is an effective tool to address learning, organizational and communication problems at school.
The early forms of cooperative learning appeared in the 18th century when pioneered by English educators Joseph Lancaster and Andrew Bell. The Common School Movement in the United States in the early 19th century laid a strong emphasis on collective learning methods. The promotion of cooperative learning in the 20th century was marked by the work done by John Dewey, and later Alice Miel and Herbert Thelen.