Positive interdependence

The term Positive interdependence goes back to the U.S. social psychologist Elliot Aronson ( born January 9, 1932), in 1978 this principle aufstellte with its employees. This is an expansion of his concept of structuring cooperative learning that is intended primarily to reduce prejudices and the common knowledge generation. Positive interdependence is given when people are dependent on each other in a positive way in order to achieve their goals. The specific example of a learning situation, this would be comparable to a group work ( teaching ), in which each learner is a member of the entire knowledge chain. This personal commitment is required of each individual and drives the success of the group ahead. An analogous phrase would be for example "One for all, all for one! ". Imperative here is the awareness of the students for an inevitable coupling of their findings with the group to successfully incorporate their personal, subject-related knowledge acquired in the overall contribution.

Explanation of terms

The concept of positive interdependence can be derived from the Spanish " (ser ) dependiente " (his ), and the meaning of " Inter" in the sense of " at / with each other," = dependent. The prefixing the positives indicates that the operation is within the learning group, depending on the overall success of all, and not based on single fighter base. Thus, the statement " from / be dependent among themselves " very apt and obvious need for complementary cooperation in the group.

Theme: group puzzle

The Positive interdependence can be well demonstrated by using the method of the jigsaw: It is one of the methods of cooperative group work and work because of the so-called individual responsibility (positive interdependence ). The preparation of such a form of teaching begins with the decomposition of the learning material into subdomains, which are then assigned to formed groups of experts. They work out their learning objectives in order to subsequently into a new group constellation, composed of one expert each group to present the other. The meaning going to let each student take the entire subject matter in itself, to have been no expert in any field. This form trains the community and has a positive effect on the ownership of.

Amplifier

The dependence of the individual group members from each other is essential for the emergence of a positive interdependence. One way to achieve this is the common goal. Important here is the idea that everyone has to use equally targeted for the group to bring " the team " holistic success. The positive interdependence with increasing personal responsibility of the respective group members is growing. With the awareness of their own responsibility as a common identity in which shared the results obtained. This in turn reinforces the positive interdependence among group members.