Collaborative Learning and "The Conversation of Mankind"

I believe that knowing does require contact of some kind with another intellect. If there were only only one person in the world, and they were left to make observations and inferences about everything in nature, it would take them quite a long time for them to get anywhere. Considering all of human history, it's taken us a long time to get to where we are as it is. Without another being to have a conversation with, to bounce ideas off of, it's hard to make sense of things. The only way great new things get discovered are by reading the work of another great thinker, and wondering what they're missing or what doesn't make sense. Once you realize that you can form your own opinions about the subject the next person can analyze what you think.
Merely taking ideas from your own head won't get you anywhere. And simply taking in your surroundings and writing about them won't achieve anything either. It's only when you combine your own opinions with outside influences like another intellect or the environment that you can come to a radical new conclusion. If humanity never started thinking like this the Scientific Revolution would have never happened and we would know much less than we do today. There needs to be debate among intellects to keep ideas alive and keep students learning new ideas.
Collaborative learning is a good way to teach someone because allowing students to talk things out amongst themselves creates the opportunity to have a subject explained many different ways. If a teacher cannot explain an idea in a way that makes sense to everyone, perhaps at least one student can take the idea and rework the argument so it makes more sense to the students. Peer tutoring can also be beneficial, if both parties know their jobs. If the student looks to the tutor for everything they learn nothing. And the tutor can not assume that they are a teacher or an expert. Both sides of the pair must work together to stimulate learning and knowledge.