I agree with your statement. I am currently studying spanish with Rosetta Stone. It is essential to practice those skills with others to retain the new words that I learn each week. This also goes along with strategies used in Whole Brain Teaching. One of the their strategies has students turn to each other and teach each other about what they just learned.
Learning is ultimately social. In the learning process, students need to engage in social and individual learning. People need to be able to work with others to create solutions to problems. As stated above, many companies require people to work together to get things done. We have all experienced the satisfaction that comes with solving problems collectively, not to mention the community building affects it has on those working together. People skills and collaboration skills are essential. However, there should be a bit of a balance with group and individual work. As teachers I believe that collaboration is important, but I also believe that there is a time and place for incorporating it into our teaching. Collaboration, reflection, note taking, and summarizing are all proven to increase retention of knowledge (Marzano, 2007). Reflection is an important step in the learning process and is best done independently and followed by sharing collectively if the teacher desires. Collaboration is obviously a social activity. Our students also have different personalities and learning styles. Collaborative activities should be incorporated in our teaching alongside independent activities to promote deeper learning. Students should not be sitting in rows and work silently and independently all day. Students need change and meaningful learning opportunities through collaboration and more.
Marzano, Robert J. The Art and Science of Teaching. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2007. Print.
The key word in this statement is all. I do not believe that ALL learning is done is social situations. According to webster's dictionary learning is defined as this: "to gain knowledge or understanding of or skill in by study, instruction, or experience." With all of the resources online (videos, articles, how-to instructions, etc.), learning is not always done in a group or social environment. With more resources online, we are able to learn more independently. While I believe that learning can be reinforced by social interaction and the sharing of ideas, I do not believe that all acquiring of knowledge is done socially. For example, when my co-teacher and I plan lessons together we may pull lessons from units other teachers have written or from instructional books. While we do this cooperatively, in order to do a great job with the lesson I need to read those lessons so that I fully understand them and am able to teach them well. My co-teacher and I will not sit down and read them together, that is the independent learning experience.
