Development of Socio-emotional Skills through Cooperative Learning in a University Environment

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents the results obtained on the socio-emotional variables arising from a cooperative learning project conducted in the university classroom. The idea of using this type of methodology comes mainly from the experience of university lecturers with regard to the routine difficulties encountered by students in groupwork sessions. For this research project, a Likert scale questionnaire was used on a sample of 103 undergraduates reading degrees in Pre-School Education and Primary Education, in order to evaluate a possible improvement in the students’ acquisition of socio-emotional skills. Once the research was completed in a cooperative learning classroom, the results reflected greater empathy and assertiveness among group members, as well as greater cohesion and confidence in reaching agreements and accepting views which differ from their own. Therefore, we can establish a positive relationship between the use of a cooperative methodology and an improvement in the socio-emotional skills of university students