The Equity-in-Cooperative-Learning-Groups method was originally created specifically to handle hidden classroom dynamics, hierarchies, and social differences. Therefore, developing Connectedness and Valuing people is not just a “byproduct” of the activity, but the main pedagogical goal of the method.

Developing Valuing people:

The development of the Valuing people skill is based on that students recognizing and respecting the values inherent in others, understanding that diversity is an advantage, and being able to overcome prejudices and social/academic hierarchies. This is ensured by group work, open-endedness, and the diversity of required knowledge, experience, and skills (complexity): 

• Role rotation: A ranking (status hierarchy) forms in every class. The ideas of good students or dominant, (noisy )students are automatically accepted, while the ideas of weaker or disadvantaged students are often ignored. The assigned and continuously rotated roles break this ranking. When the “passive/low status student” becomes the Little Teacher and the “good student’s” task is to quietly provide materials (Materials Manager), children are forced to look at each other with respect from a new perspective. They learn to value the other person in a position they have never seen them in before.
• The principle of “Diversity of Abilities”: The implementation of the tasks used by this method do not require the knowledge of only one thing (good at numbering), but rather demand spatial awareness, drawing skills, empathy, problem solving and critical thinking, organizational skills, manual dexterity. The teacher makes the group aware of this in advance: “No one is good at everything, but everyone is good at something.” When the group gets stuck and the task is solved, for example, by a student with dyscalculia who has excellent spatial awareness or drawing skills, the other students learn to recognize and value the different kind of talent within that student.
• Assigning Competence: When the teacher notices that a “low status” or often marginalized student has a good idea, and praises this loudly and specifically in front of the group (“Notice how cleverly Laci grouped these data, this is a huge help for the task!”), it immediately changes the group’s value judgment. The peers get the message that this student is valuable and smart. By doing this, students learn how to look for and value the positive in every single person, instead of focusing on their shortcomings.

Developing Connectedness: 

The development of Connectedness with this method is based on students feeling part of a supportive community, experiencing a sense of belonging, and being able to build a network of trust with their peers.

• Positive interdependence through open-ended tasks: In traditional education, students work next to each other, but isolated (or competing with each other). In this method, tasks are complex so that they must be solved together. The successful joint completion of the task psychologically unites the group. They experience that they are “rowing in the same boat”.

• Delegating control: The teacher consciously steps back, and students are forced to turn to each other for help. If the group gets stuck, the teacher does not solve the problem, but students do it together with their peers.
• Continuous dialogue and joint thinking within the group create deep, real connections. The more the group discusses and talks about the task, the stronger their cohesion and the learning experience.
• Rotation of standard roles: This guarantees that quieter or marginalized children cannot “hide,” and dominant children cannot suppress them. When an anxious students’ experiences that the group needs their work and their peers listen to them (because the method obliges them to), their attachment to the group and the class drastically increases.

In summary, the technique clearly develops primary the valuing people skill but also the connectedness. This active learning technique is not just about mastering the curriculum. Structured cooperation, the sharing of power (control), and the inclusion of multiple abilities force students to rely on each other and value each other.