Collaborative learning leads to…

• deeper level understanding
• critical thinking
• shared learning
• long term retention of the material
• opportunities to develop social and communication skills
• developing positive attitudes toward group members and learning material
• building social relationships + group cohesion

Several factors (group size, group composition, nature of tasks, learning styles, etc.) influence the effectiveness of collaborative learning; however, all factors involve a key element: social interaction. Several studies have supported this statement: it appears that social interaction is the necessary condition for collaboration. If there is collaboration than there is social interaction, if there is no social interaction then there is no reals collaboration.