"Collaborative Learning and the Conversation of Mankind" by Kenneth Bruffee looked at the idea of whether or not we should have collaborative learning in the classroom, looking at the psychological and philosophical views. The main idea asked whether knowledge for us as humans is an innate gift, bred within us, or is it something we recieve by interacting with others? Brufee develops the essay by thoughts and how we are able to attain knowledge.
We have the capacity for thought- if we didn't have this gift of reason, we would be animals with instricts and desires but no fuel. Reason gives us the process for thought and why we make the decisions we make in our lives. Brufee tells us that thought is inbred in us, and gives us the ability to come up with our own thoughts.
In this article, Bruffee says knowledge is the product of a social interaction between humans. We aren't able to come up with this information unless we work with other people as well. He gives the example of a doctor with med. students, attempting to diagnose a patient. Each student try to determine what is wrong, but then the doctor tells them to work as a team to discover it. Relating to students, we each put our thoughts together to form one idea, comparing their ideas together to get a better picture. None of us know everything and it is great to learn from one another to collaborate to have better ideas and get a bigger, better picture.
Ariel, do you think that collaborative learning is a tool to help you learning or is it the only way to learn? I felt that Bruffee overstated his point and that all people need to talk to others to learn. I feel that it is not for everyone but is simply another tool to help us. :)
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