Base Groups

1. Have heterogeneous membership.

2. Last for the duration of a class.
3. Meet regularly.
4. Personalize the work required and the learning experiences.

Class Base Groups: function as a support group for members.

1. Giving assistance, support, and encouragement for mastering the course content and skills, and
providing feedback on how well they are being learned.
2. Giving assistance, support, and encouragement for thinking critically about the course content,
explaining precisely what one learns, engaging in intellectual controversy, getting the work done on
time, and applying what is learned to one’s life;
3. Providing a set of interpersonal relationships to personalize the course and an arena for trying out
the cooperative learning procedures and skills emphasized in the course; and
4. Providing a structure for managing course procedures, such as homework, attendance, and
evaluation.

Base groups meet twice a week or more to:

1. Congratulate each other for showing up with all their books and materials and check to see that none
of their members are under undue stress.
2. Check to see whether members are keeping up with their work in their classes or need help in doing
so. Periodically, can be given a checklist of academic skills and assess which ones each member needs to
practice more.
3. Review what members have read and done since the last meeting.
4. Get to know each other better and provide positive feedback by discussing such questions as “What
do you like about each other and yourself?” and “What is the best thing that happened to you this past
week?”

Informal Cooperative Learning Groups: temporary, ad hoc groups that last for only one discussion or one
class period.

The following procedure helps to plan a lecture that keeps students more actively engaged
intellectually. It entails using focused discussions before and after the lecture and interspersing pair
discussions throughout the lecture. Two important aspects of using informal coop. learning groups are
to make the task and the instructions explicit and precise and to require the groups to produce a specific
product (such as a written answer).