Meaningful Learning: Collaboration

Growing up in school I was mainly taught to do my work on my own, and to not discuss ideas with my neighbors. It was considered "cheating" to share ideas. I can't count the number of times I was hushed in school and told to "do my own work". However, I believe that we can learn MORE through collaboration with peers. Whether the cooperation occurs in the classroom or over the Internet, I believe it is a very important aspect to include in teaching. Through collaboration we get all different types of views and solutions from different people that can open our mind to different perspectives. This also allows for discussion of the problem which will help engage students, and make them more likely to remember the information. Now, there is a fine line between cheating and relying on one person, and collaboration. But if all team members work together on assignments I believe that they will have success and retain more from the assignment. I also believe that through collaboration students are also able to learn more about each other, which prepares them to accept all types of people in a diverse society. We live in a country that is a melting pot of cultures, and through collaboration students learn to deal with different types of people that will help them in accepting others in the future. I believe that collaboration is very important in the classroom, and I sometimes wonder what more I would have learned if there had been more collaboration in my classes.