.
Another area in which cooperative learning acts as an important tool is in the culturally diverse classroom, where a teacher may have many different ethnic backgrounds. Initially students may feel uncomfortable with the variety of cultures, but through group activities, the gap is often closed. This is because the students are able to work together, and see their similarities, rather than their differences. Sharon quotes Johnson and Johnson (1985).
peer-interactive nature of cooperative learning also appeals to educators as fulfilling an important function in the socialization of students. Teachers frequently voice concern about the socialization of our youth but often do not know how to cultivate the students" social skills as part of their instructional procedures. In the case of the ethnically heterogeneous classroom, for example, the socializing role of cooperative learning is particularly prominent in filling an obvious need (p.287).
The role of the teacher must be changed if cooperative learning is to be successful, and Blake has quoted the National Commission on Teaching for America's Future (1996) when she says "the role of the teacher has changed over time from the "imparter" of information to a facilitator of knowledge enabling the child to master the skills necessary to tackle problems" (p. 1). Consequently if a teacher stands in front of thirty first graders, and expects to lecture to them for the bulk of the day, he or she will have considerably more discipline problems, then if they were to include some form of cooperative learning. The reason for this is that a teacher, elementary especially spends six hours a day, five days a week with their class, and young children have only a limited attention span.
Therefore the problem is obvious, the role of the teacher must be one of a facilitator, not a lecturer if they expect their students to learn, and be excited about learning.
