[6] As part of his early work in social and organizational psychology, his student Kurt Lewin theorized that the essence of the group gestalt depends on interdependence among members, and further, it is created by sharing a common goal.
[1] Positive interdependence (cooperation) results in promotive interaction where individuals encourage and facilitate teammates' efforts to complete the task.
[3] Interpersonal interaction alone does not increase productivity or lead to higher achievement in learning groups; instead, positive interdependence is needed to produce those results.
Dividing resources and roles among team members will force the participants to share their individual information or tool to achieve a common goal, and thus promote positive interdependence.
[13] Specific strategy examples to create positive interdependence include leveraging CSCL technologies such as augmented reality role playing[14] and computer games[15] Augmented reality role playing utilizes an emotionally compelling virtual world that allows group members to assume identities and create a sense of interdependence.
[14] By designing learning projects that require role play and collaborative problem solving, CSCL builds positive identity and goal interdependence.
Each member receives an essential piece or partial resource, and is forced to interact in order to be successful, as seen in games like Chase the Cheese and TeamQuest.
And, to ensure interdependency, software tools are sequential, requiring each group member to complete part of the task in order to progress through the next phase.