In cooperative learning, you have a purposeful, meaningful, and authentic context in which children can sharpen their communicative skills.

Communicative skills develop when there's something meaningful for children to communicate about-when they are taking an active role.

When children are truly involved in the scientific process they gain understanding, knowledge, and life skills. They deepen their awareness of what's going on around them and how others contribute to their well-being.

When a teacher tries to teach something to the entire class at the same time, chances are, one-third of the kids already know it; one-third will get it; and the remaining third won’t. So two-thirds of the children are wasting their time.

Science is a particular way of thinking about things.

Experts generally agree that taking all opportunities to read books and other material aloud to children is the best preparation for their learning to read. The pleasures of being read to are far more likely to strengthen a child's desire to learn to read than are repetitions of sounds, alphabet drills, and deciphering uninteresting words.

In both cooperative learning and project work, the teacher encourages children to talk to one another. This helps them pay attention to each other's efforts and ideas. Children take to these kinds of exchanges very readily, but the teacher really needs to encourage this interaction.