Collaboration has become a 21st century trend. CL is clearly a shift from the typical teacher-centered or
lecture-centered setting to a collaborative state in which other processes that are based in students’ discussion
and active work with the course material, other than entirely lecturing/ listening/note-taking process, take place.
Teachers who apply CL approaches tend to think of themselves as designers of intellectual experiences for
students-as coaches or midwives of a more emergent learning process, not just as transmitters of knowledge to
students (Smith, & MacGregor, 1992). It has been accepted that higher levels of thought follow learning in
teams and also the achieved information maintains longer than when the learners work individually (Johnson, &
Johnson, 1986). Samuel Totten (1991) says that: The shared learning gives learners the opportunity of
participating in discussion and taking responsibility for their learning, to become critical thinkers. Proponents of
CL claim that the active exchange of ideas within small groups, increases interest among learners and also
encourages them to think critically (Gokhale, 1995).