Attitudes Toward Academic Interdependence and Learning Outcomes in Two Learning Contexts

Abstract

Research into the relative impact of alternative learning environments has revealed that, for all students, contexts featuring cooperation are more effective in facilitating learning outcomes than are those featuring competition or individualism. Of central import for the present study is research whose findings conclude that cooperative settings are particularly fertile for African American students (e.g., Kagan, Zahn, Widaman, Schwarzwald & Tyrrell, 1985; Lucker, Rosenfield, Sikes, & Aronson, 1976; Slavin, 1977; Slavin & Oickle, 1981). While some argue that such findings are attributable to reward structures (Slavin, 1977, 1983) or task structures (Aronson, 1978; Johnson & Johnson, 1974), it also seems plausible to argue that a positive attitude toward cooperation among many African American students may help account for enhanced performance in cooperative task and/or reward contexts. A positive valuation of cooperation and mutual interdependence is a recurring theme in the literature on the African American experience. For instance, Boykin, Jagers, Ellison, and Albury (1992) noted that African American college students positively endorsed an ethos that places a premium on social bonds and responsibilities, and they associated this ethos with more cooperative academic attitudes. Research on family functioning has revealed a pattern of sharing and mutual interdependence among African American families (Aschenbrenner, 1978; McAdoo, 1978; Murrell, 1988; Richmond & Weiner, 1973; Sampson & Kardush, 1965; Stack, 1974). Further, studies using gameboards have shown cooperation to be the preferred goal attainment strategies of African American youth (Murrell, 1988; Richmond & Weiner, 1973; Sampson & Kardush, 1965). Wheeler (1977) has shown a correspondence between social orientation and learning context to be important in eliciting optimal student performance among European American college students. Kagan et al. (1985) demonstrated that, relative to European American and Latino students, African American high school students tend to express the most cooperative attitudes and show the greatest academic gains when placed in cooperative learning contexts. However, no insight has been