Cooperative Group Work Research Articles

The Effects of Cooperative Group Work Versus Independent Practice on the Learning of Some Problem‐Solving Strategies

The Effects of Cooperative Group Work Versus Independent Practice on the Learning of Some Problem‐Solving Strategies

Conceptual change strategies and cooperative group work in chemistry

AbstractThis study conducted at a suburban community college tested a method of conceptual change in which treatment students worked in small cooperative groups on tasks aimed at eliciting their misconceptions so that they could then be discussed in contrast to the scientific conceptions that had been taught in direct instruction. Categorizations of student understanding of the target concepts of the laws of conservation of matter and energy and aspects of the particulate nature of gases, liquids, and solids were ascertained by pre‐ and posttesting. Audiotapes of student verbal interaction in the small groups provided quantitative and qualitative data concerning student engagement in behaviors suggestive of the conditions posited to be part of the conceptual change process (Posner, Strike, Hewson & Gertzog, 1982). Chi‐square analysis of posttests indicated that students in treatment groups had significantly lower (p < 0.05) proportion of misconceptions than control students on four of the five target concepts. Students who exhibited no change in concept state had a higher frequency of verbal behaviors suggestive of “impeding” conceptual change when compared to students who did change. Three factors emerged from qualitative analysis of group interaction that appeared to influence learning: (a) many students had flawed understanding of concepts that supported the target concepts; (b) student views towards learning science affected their engagement in assigned tasks, (c) “good” and “poor” group leaders had a strong influence on group success.

The Nature of Teacher‐Pupil Interaction in the Active Tutorial Work Approach: using interaction analysis to evaluate student‐centred approaches

Active Tutorial Work (ATW) is one of a number of secondary school curriculum initiatives which encourages pupils to become more personally and independently involved in their own learning. This paper reports upon quantitative research, which examines the nature of the interaction between teachers and pupils within the ATW strategy. It concludes that, although there is a greater use of cooperative groupwork, the teacher still remains at the centre of the interaction, whenever present in the group. Comparison is made with a similar analysis of transcripts from the Humanities Curriculum Project (1970).

Groupwork with computers

Abstract The researchers will develop a programme of computer‐based groupwork in two clusters of four‐six primary/middle schools. This will be improved and modified in the light of the first year's experience. Research techniques will also be piloted during this developmental phase. A series of studies will then be planned over 2 years as a coherent programme, involving both teacher researchers and university‐based researchers. These will investigate relationships between context variables, group processes and pupil attitudes and learning. Special attention will be given to the effects of varying the computing environment and the learning task, to pupils' psychological characteristics and their variance or invariance, to group size and competition, to gender effects, to teacher intervention strategies, and to the effect of prior training in cooperative groupwork and/or experience of groupwork off the computer.

Book Review: Taking Mayo and McGregor Seriously

Managerial Engineering: Techniques for Improving Quality and Productivity in the Workplace Ryuji Fukada Managerial Engineering: Techniques for Improving Quality and Productivity in the Workplace, by Ryuji Fukuda, is a clear and valuable description of Japanese industrial management strategy and methodology, and, by implication, a useful commentary on interrelations of technical, organizational, and human resources in the workplace. Managerial engineering is essentially a blending of classical industrial engineering techniques with human relationstype managerial emphases on leadership styles and cooperative work group contribution. None of this is especially novel. What is distinctive, however, is the apparent extent to which this strategy has been institutionalized in the managerial systems Fukuda describes.

Co-operative group work in primary classrooms

This article is indicative of some of the encouraging movements in “co-operative group work” — at two levels. Children in classrooms are seen to be given skills and techniques to enable them to set tasks and share responsibility: ‘group work’ is seen to be a genuine possibility rather then rhetoric. On another level, teachers, with the support of their L.E.A., can see the possibilities of a “critical community”, collaboratively examining and assessing what happens in their classrooms.

Contemporary Pima House Construction Practices

ABSTRACTA description of contemporary Gila River Pima house construction techniques with particular reference to the structure and recruitment of cooperative work groups.

Material didático em EAD: a importância da cooperação e colaboração na construção do conhecimento

O artigo aborda a importância do desenvolvimento de atividades cooperativas e colaborativas, previstas em material didático, com competente mediação pedagógica docente, e relata uma experiência de grupo de alunos localizados em diferentes cidades brasileiras, na elaboração de um trabalho em grupo cooperativo, para a produção de material didático, realizada na disciplina de Produção de Materiais Didáticos, ofertada no Mestrado em Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação na Formação em EAD pela Unopar e Universidade Federal do Ceará. A intensa utilização da internet e das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação – TIC está possibilitando que a aprendizagem colaborativa e cooperativa seja contemplada mais constantemente nos processos educacionais, oferecendo, assim, um suporte cada vez mais seguro e amigável para o desenvolvimento de atividades em que alunos e docentes cooperem entre si, sem limitações de distâncias temporais e geográficas.