A Collaborative Classroom

This study serves two purposes. The first the purpose of this study is to examine the positive impact of collaboration among elementary school students. The second purpose of this study is to examine effective strategies that teachers can use to create a collaborative environment. Therefore, this study will address two research questions: (1) How do students benefit from collaborating with their peers in the classroom? (2) How do teachers create and maintain a collaborative environment? The researcher was able to answer these two questions through the review of scholarly articles. In addition, in order to collect data, the researcher interviewed teachers from California elementary schools (kindergarten through fifth grade. The researcher found that students enhanced their critical thinking skills, self-esteem, confidence, and relationships with fellow peers through collaboration. The researcher also discovered that while teachers’ methods may vary, their successful strategies of creating a collaborative environment result in positive outcomes, including improvement in scores, focus, and positive interactions