ABSTRACT
This chapter defines what represents mutual peer interactions for learning and explains the social and educational relevance of peer interactions, as well as the principles that promote it. We will present the main characteristics of cooperative and collaborative learning. We propose to take ‘cooperative learning’ as an umbrella term useful for teachers willing to structure mutual peer interactions in their formal learning in the classroom at primary and secondary schools as well as in higher education. Further, in order to help teachers use cooperative learning in their classrooms, examples of methods are synthesised as pedagogical designs to deliberately promote cooperation. Finally, this chapter presents a brief summary of the evidence supporting cooperative learning through results of meta-analyses and reviews of research.
