Many people consider positive interdependence to be the most important CL principle. As we will discuss later in this course, CL has many strategies for increasing students’ feelings of positive interdependence within their small group of two, three, or four members. At the same time, wouldn’t it be great to spread this feeling beyond the small group to the entire class and beyond the entire class to the entire school? And, wouldn’t it be even nicer if students felt positively interdependent with other people whom they have never even met, in the same place they live, in their country, or in any other country? Maybe positive interdependence can even expand to include other species, such as penguins living near the South Pole, polar bears near the North Pole, and tigers living in jungles in the tropical regions of the world.

The CL principle of cooperation as a value involves such expansion of positive interdependence. Do you remember that we discussed positive interdependence as a feeling? Actually, positive interdependence is usually a fact, but too often people do not recognize that all of our outcomes are positively correlated. An example is hunger. Sadly, hundreds of millions of people in poor country do not have access to sufficient quantities of nutritious food. As a result, their education and their work suffer, and their potential contributions to the welfare of everyone decreases. In contrast, if the amount of nutritious food increases, the amount of education and people’s contributions to the world’s welfare increase.

Many more examples of positive interdependence beyond the small group exist. The CL principle of cooperation as a value encourages students to appreciate that “One for all and all for one” applies not just to a small group in a classroom but also to people throughout a class, a school, a town or city, a country, and around the world. Cooperation as a value can be included in lessons in many different subject areas: from language to history to biology to mathematics. And, isn’t it nice when people everywhere can rejoice in victories for people and even other species anywhere? For instance, when rainforests are saved from destruction, the animals who live there benefit and so too do humans everywhere, because forests reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Reflective Break

Please give your own example of how students and teachers can implement the CL principle of cooperation as a value.

Sample Response

Service Learning (in which students combine service to others with learning important knowledge and skills) offers a great way to bring to life cooperation as a value. One example of service learning could be students teaching IT skills, such as how to use a mobile phone, to seniors in their community. The seniors benefit by becoming better-functioning members of society, and the students benefit by learning about how to teach others, not to mention feeling good about themselves for being of use to others. Plus, the seniors can teach the students about what life was like when they (the seniors) were the same age that the students are now.