Cooperative Education Base Group Communities

I will place citizen scholars in base group communities. The purpose of these communities is to work cooperatively on focused activities, allow for peer coaching, keep each other informed of work missed when absent, and to have a safe and comfortable classroom community. I will change the base group communities throughout the semester.

I believe that working in base groups furthers my vision of Know Your World because a major part of knowing the world is knowing how to get along with one another. Roger and David Johnson, University of Minnesota brothers and professors, who are key players in the cooperative education movement, give the following reasons for cooperative education in the 21st Century Classroom:

• The world is increasingly characterized by interdependence, conflict and rapid change.
• We live in a complex, interconnected world in which cultures collide.
• The solution to most problems cannot be achieved by one country alone.
• People need to learn to resolve conflicts within cooperative systems.