Historical perspective of the cooperative learning: A long and winding road across four centuries

This work is a summary of interaction process as an element of instructional activity. Four boundaries can be postulated in the development of cooperative activity in the classroom. The origins are the French humanist movement of XVI century that leads, after a troubled trip, to the mutual education of Pestalozzi, the first step in intra-classroom cooperation.

After a reflexion period centred on post-Roussonian movements and the beginning of scientific psychology it runs into Deweys functionalism and the modern concept of cooperative learning, after an enrichment with social psychology contributions. The last historical step can be determined by the integration of genetic theories of Piaget and Vygotsky in a unique system.

 

Key Words: History of education, cooperative learning, peer-interaction.