Cooperative Learning in Math Class

I've been conducting an inquiry in my middle school level classes on the topic of cooperative learning. I teach mathematics, and my hope is that through cooperative work, students can gain confidence in their abilities and some anxiety that is commonly associated with mathematics may be alleviated. Working with the ever "connected" generation inspires me to create opportunities for them to cooperate and collaborate outside of the classroom. I'm interested in seeing how having a virtual support system for the students and having them be a part of an online community will affect their willingness to participate in cooperative situations. However, I'm finding that students are hesitant to cooperate; in fact, I'm noticing that many/most of them are competitive learners. I'm wondering how I can create, promote, and encourage a cooperative environment where students see the benefits of working together that we as educators see.

In my on-going quest to find instructional strategies that encourage and support student cooperation, I've come across the following articles that have been useful to me. Feel free to check them out (sign-in may be required using university ID), comment, or leave suggestions for all of us teacher inquirers out there!

• Supporting Whole-class Collaborative Inquiry in a Secondary Mathematics Classroom (Staples, M.) http://proxy.lib.sfu.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=31229180&site=ehost-live

• Cooperative Learning in the Secondary Mathematics Classroom (Whickerm K., Bol, L., Nunnery, J.) http://proxy.lib.sfu.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ592345&site=ehost-live