Abstract

Active learning and increased motivation to learn are common benefits of time spent in laboratory during a science course. Hands-on learning is an important aspect of the laboratory experience and increases comprehension of material learned during the lecture portion of college science courses. When the content of a course is extensive, such as that often found in biology courses, students may respond by increasing their study time or by feeling helplessly overwhelmed by the material (Woolfolk 1990). Group work can serve both of these types of students by providing an additional means of study as well as support and motivation (Caprio 1993). Cooperative group learning also provides students with an opportunity to use many aspects of their intellect not often accessed in typical lecture courses or ‘‘cookbook’’ labs. Specific abilities that can be exercised include social interaction skills within teams and small groups, exploratory time, teaching skills, and creativity. Literature on cooperative learning is abundant for the elementary and secondary school levels (Slavin 1990), but is more limited at the college level (Purdon & Kromrey 1995), especially in the biological sciences (Caprio 1993; Tewksbury 1995). To a vertebrate zoologist, the opportunity to explore and compare the anatomy of the major vertebrate groups (jawless fishes, bony fishes, cartilaginous fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) is a particularly instructive and enlightening experience. However, traditional laboratory exercises in courses that have a component on comparative vertebrate anatomy rarely provide such opportunities

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