The Power of Collaboration: Cooperative Learning Strategies for Enhancing Primary Level Students' Social Skills

This research was conducted with the intention of finding out the role of cooperative learning strategies, which foster students' collaboration, communication, and empathy, on the development of social skills in children at the primary level. The study aimed to assess students' social skills as perceived by teachers, identify cooperative learning strategies used at the primary level, and examine the relationship between these strategies and students' social skills in Kotli, AJ&K. The population of the study consisted of 79 teachers from all the government primary schools of Kotli, AJ&K. A universal sampling strategy was administered in this research. The researchers designed a five-scale questionnaire to measure the set objectives. The researchers personally gathered data from every primary school in Kotli, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. For the purpose of data analysis, SPSS software was utilised. Students develop interpersonal skills by working in small groups; researchers analyzed data using frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviation, and correlation. The findings revealed that most respondents concurred that teachers' effective cooperative learning strategies included group discussion, peer tutoring, and the Jigsaw technique. Additionally, teachers perceived that they were good at performing social skills in the classroom. However, respondents disagreed that teachers could use the "think pair share" activity in the classroom. Furthermore, there was a moderate and positive relationship between teachers' cooperative learning strategies and students' social skills. It is recommended that teachers focus on tone, body language, and active listening, and use empathy-building exercises to foster deeper understanding and effective connections with students.