Talking, Relating, and Achieving: Effects of Cooperative Learning and Whole-Class Instruction

Abstract

The effects of cooperative learning with the Group Investigation method on eighthgrade students in ethnically heterogeneous classrooms in a junior high school in Israel were compared with effects of the traditional Presentation-Recitation method ordinarily employed in most schools. Our study involved 351 Jewish students from Western and Middle Eastern backgrounds, with 197 in five classes taught for 6 months with the Group Investigation method and 154 in four classes taught with the Whole-Class method. Dependent variables included students' academic achievement in geography and history as assessed by tests composed collectively by all of the teachers, their verbal behavior during 30-min videotaped discussions in 27 six-person groups (three heterogeneous groups from each classroom), and the nature of their social interaction during the group discussions. All students from the Group Investigation method expressed themselves more frequently and used more words per turn of speech than their peers from classrooms taught with the traditional Whole-Class method. In groups from the Whole-Class method, Western students dominated the discussion in regard to the number of turns of speech, whereas in groups from classes taught with the Group Investigation method, turn-taking was almost symmetrical among students from the two ethnic groups. Students from both ethnic groups addressed more cooperative statements to Middle Eastern students after studying in Group Investigation classes than did students from the Whole-Class method. Finally, students' achievement scores were higher in classes taught with the Group Investigation method than in those taught with the Whole-Class method, using both aggregated classroom and individual scores. This finding was true for students of both ethnic groups.