Cooperative Learning Experiences Research Articles

La termodinámica en los estudiantes de tecnología: una experiencia de aprendizaje cooperativo

Se describe el uso de la estrategia de aprendizaje cooperativo en la resolución de problemas basados en la primera ley de la termodinámica. Participaron 33 estudiantes de las carreras de Tecnología Mecánica y Mantenimiento Aeronáutico de la Universidad Simón Bolívar. Se describe la estrategia en función de dos indicadores (calidad en la resolución y trabajo grupal). Los estudiantes lograron en promedio resolver en más de un 70,90% los problemas de sistemas mecánicos y aeronáuticos planteados, y en 69,09% consideraron satisfactorio el desempeño en el trabajo grupal. Las respuestas mostraron dominio de las nociones básicas del tema, conceptos asociados y la habilidad para aplicarlos en un contexto relacionado con su área de formación. Se concluye que con la estrategia los estudiantes participaron activamente en la presentación de soluciones y auto-evaluaron su dominio del tema. Es ideal para trabajar con un gran número de estudiantes y minimizar el solapamiento de responsabilidades cuando se trabaja en grupos.

Using Blogs to Improve Students' Summary Writing Abilities.

The research compared students’ summary writing ability before and after they were taught through blog, a new medium or tool for written communication and interaction in many different languages around the world. The research design is a kind of one group pretest posttest. Participants were 33 first-year students who studied EN 011 course (English in Action) in the first semester of the academic year 2012 at Bangkok University. They were divided into six groups. Five or six students in each group created a blog; www.blogger.com, and they worked together for fourteen weeks to produce six pieces of summary written work. Each member in the group worked through providing comments, editing and revising on the blog until the group got a final summary paper and submitted that to the teacher for grading. The instruments used in this study were (1) two summary writing tests (2) a questionnaire surveying students’ attitude toward learning through blogs, and (3) postings on blogs to reflect their learning experience. The results revealed that after the students worked together on weblogs, their English summary writing mean score of the posttest was higher than that of the pretest, and they had positive attitudes towards using weblogs in learning. Regarding cooperative learning experiences through using weblogs, most students thought that it was interesting, a new experience to work with their friends on the weblogs.

Influence of Cooperative Learning on Students’ Self-Perception on Leadership Skills: A Case Study in Science Education

The aim of this study is to assess the self-perception of pre-service teachers on leadership after getting involved into a Cooperative Learning approach. For that purpose, a pre/post-test has been applied to 57 undergraduate students enrolled in a unit course on Natural and Social Science Education, compulsory in the curriculum of a degree in Primary Education. The inventory of the questionnaire included scales referring to the skills of teamwork, self-understanding, communication, decision making and leadership, regarded as essential for their future professional development. Results show that students perceive higher levels in all of them after a Cooperative Learning experience, which suggests the positive impact of cooperative student-centered teaching strategies to develop such important skills.

Student's Perceptions on Benefits Gained from Cooperative Learning Experiences in Engineering Mathematics Courses

The implementation of cooperative learning (CL) as an alternative technique is to enhance learning in Engineering Mathematics courses at University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). It can promotes and develop engineering student's generics skills and help lecturers to have a better understanding of students’ perceptions of their experience gained from the learning activities. The objective of this paper is to highlight the responses of the benefits they gained from the experiences of CL activities, which are based on three areas, individual involvement, team dynamics and skills development. A Likert scale questionnaires was given to Year I and Year I students; and the data were analyzed, ranked and compared. Analysis revealed that Year I students tends to prefer working individually and less likely to work in group, meanwhile Year II students shows their interest in teamwork. Hence, this study revealed that the maturity of the students formed as a result of cooperative learning experiences, specifically, the formation of positive social skills, such as, improvement in student's behavior and interpersonal relationship.

Adding Constructive Competition to Enhance a Cooperative Learning Experience

This article reviews a classroom application titled “The Quest for Kudos Challenge,” which is a long-term, multitask, large group competition to attain a reward that was designed to adhere to the recommendations for creating a cooperative learning experience while maintaining the elements of a constructive competition. The application was implemented in a course mid-semester, allowing for a comparison of the results before and after the introduction of the Kudos Challenge. Furthermore, the outcomes for the classes that participated in the Kudos Challenge are compared with classes from a previous semester that did not implement the application. Results show that students in the Kudos Challenge classes received higher exam scores, increased classroom participation, and made more voluntary contributions than the Comparison classes from the previous semester. Qualitative feedback from the Kudos classes was overwhelmingly positive. Furthermore, several positive instructor outcomes resulted from the implementation of the Kudos Challenge, including positive feedback from the students, colleagues, and school administrators; higher student evaluations; and an innovative teaching award.

An Entrance to Exit Polling: Strategies for Using Exit Polls as Experiential Learning Projects

AbstractEngaging students in the design, administration, and postelection analysis of an exit poll can be an excellent experiential learning activity. Lelieveldt and Rossen (2009) argue that exit polls are a “perfect teaching tool” because they provide students with a cooperative (rather than competitive) learning experience; help students better connect theory, methodology, and course substance; and allow students to move outside of the classroom by branching out into the community. As professors at the University of Colorado, Denver (UCD), we have organized student exit polling during the 2008 and 2010 elections in the Denver area for research methods and elections classes. Although we have found these exit polls to be rewarding experiences for instructors and students alike, the reality is that conducting an exit poll with a group of polling neophytes, in the confines of a single semester, can be challenging. In this article, we discuss strategies and issues for instructors to consider when using an exit poll as an experiential learning exercise.

Application of Subjectivity Education Theory in Sports Teaching in University

Subjectivity education means that the teacher creates democratic, harmonious and loose teaching scenes through guiding and enlightening the students’ internal activity demands, and purposefully organizes and specifies all kinds of teaching activities in a planned way to cultivate the students to be the subject who can recognize and practice autonomously, actively and creatively. The subjectivity education applied in teaching sports technique class to some extent can stimulate students’ initiative and activity and improve their academic performance. In teaching sports technique class, should teacher implement subjectivity teaching strategy, enlighten and cultivate students’ subject consciousness, establish democratic and harmonious teaching scenes and carry out the teaching thought of subjective participation, respect for differences, cooperative learning and successful experience. This essay studies on the disadvantages in conventional teaching to enrich and develop sports teaching theories and methods.

Student nurse dyads create a community of learning: proposing a holistic clinical education theory

This paper is a report of a qualitative study of students' experiences of cooperative learning in the clinical setting. Although cooperative learning is often used successfully in the classroom, it has not been documented in the clinical setting with sophomore nursing students being paired with other sophomore nursing students. Using a grounded theory methodology a sample of 64 participants (32 student nurse dyads, eight clinical groups, in two different acute care institutions) were observed on their first day in the clinical setting while working as cooperative partners. Interviews were also conducted with students, patients and staff preceptors. Data were collected in the fall of 2008, spring and fall of 2009 and the spring of 2010 using semi-structured interviews and reflective surveys. Data were analysed using the constant comparative method. A holistic clinical education theory for student nurses was identified from the data. This theory includes a reciprocal relationship among five categories relevant to a community of learning: supportive clinical experience; improved transition into practice; enhanced socialization into the profession; increased accountability and responsibility; and emergence of self-confidence as a beginning student nurse. The use of student dyads creates a supportive learning environment while students were able to meet the clinical learning objectives. Cooperative learning in the clinical setting creates a community of learning while instilling very early in the education process the importance of teamwork. This approach to clinical instruction eases the transition from the classroom to the clinical learning environment, and improves patient outcomes.

Relationships Among Cooperative Learning Experiences, Social Interdependence, Children's Aggression, Victimization, and Prosocial Behaviors

This study examined the relationships among cooperative experiences, social interdependence predispositions, harm-intended aggression, victimization, and prosocial behaviors with 217 elementary school children from 3rd to 5th grade. Path analysis using LISREL indicates that cooperative experiences predicted cooperative predispositions, the absence of individualistic predispositions, and prosocial behaviors. Cooperative predisposition predicted prosocial behaviors and the absence of harm-intended aggression. Competitive predisposition predicted harm-intended aggression. These findings validate social interdependence theory and partially support theories related to social dominance. Providing frequent cooperative learning experiences may be an important tool to increase students' cooperativeness and thereby reduce the frequency of harm-intended aggression, increase the frequency of prosocial behaviors, and reduce students' individualistic predispositions.

Teaching Strategies Interspersed With Collaborative and Write Shop Activities: A Cooperative Learning Experience in Writing Classes

Using correlation method, the researchers assessed how strongly cooperative learning activities are related to each of the outcome variables namely—the student’s output and academic performance. They also determined the linear relationship between teaching strategies and the same outcome variables as mentioned. For the descriptive part, the study reveals that the collaborative activities and write shops in English 3, and the teaching strategies used are positively accepted by the students. The level of student’s output based on judge’s evaluation in terms of Problem Definition, Content and Structure, Organization, Format and Mechanics is generally satisfactory. Findings of the study reveal that student’s output is not affected by the class session. Although they fail to establish significant relationships between the following pairings of variables namely—cooperative learning to student’s output and teaching strategies to student’s output, these results in contrast succeed in showing the significant relationships between the following correspondences of variables such as cooperative learning to academic performance and teaching strategies to academic performance.

A sociocultural understanding of mediated learning, peer cooperation and emotional well-being

This study investigates how mediated learning designed to improve peer cooperation within activity-based problem solving tasks influences cooperative learning outcomes. Two groups (n = 22) of Year 8 students (mean age 13 +/− 5 months) were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. The study began with two one-hour sessions of activity-based problem-solving tasks for the control and experimental groups. These sessions were coded for on- and off-task communication. The experimental group then participated in a mediated cooperative learning experience (MCLE) focused on developing cooperative communication and pro-social behaviour. Following the MCLE, a one-hour problem-solving activity session for the collection of data related to on- and off-task communication was conducted for both the control and experimental groups. Results demonstrate that cooperative group on-task communication can be effectively influenced by mediated learning, both intra-group and inter-group, implying that the success associated with cooperative learning may be enhanced by first teaching students how to cooperate.

Creating Virtual Cooperative Learning Experiences for Aspiring School Leaders and Practitioners with Web 2.0

In December of 2008, the authors were awarded a University of North Carolina at Charlotte fundedcurriculum and instructional development grant based on two innovative ideas for preparing futureschool leaders: (1) the creation and use of wikis to expand and deepen student learning beyond theclassroom, and (2) the creation of a virtual social network to connect current educational leadershipstudents and graduates, providing the opportunity and the means for networking between students andpractitioners, practitioners with each other, and both groups with educational leadership professorsaround the proposition that solving problems of practice (whether in the graduate classroom or in theK-12 arena) can be significantly enhanced by sharing personal knowledge of research-basedstrategies and school-proven best practices.

Using Wikis To Develop Summary Writing Abilities Of Students In An EFL Class

The research studied and compared students’ English summary writing ability before and after they were taught through wiki, a powerful tool, promoting collaborative learning environments among students. The research design is a kind of one group pre-test post-test. The target group was 35 students who enrolled in EN 111 course (Fundamental English I) in the first semester of the academic year 2010 at Bangkok University. Students in groups of four or five designed a wikispace and worked together for eight weeks in order to produce five pieces of summary written work. The members in each group worked through editing and revision on web pages until the team got a final paper and submitted that to the teacher for evaluation. The instruments used in this study included (1) summary writing tests, (2) a questionnaire surveying their attitudes toward this instruction, and (3) a reflection on cooperative learning through wikis. The results revealed that after the students were taught through wikis pages, their English summary writing mean score of the posttest was higher than that of the pretest and they had positive attitudes towards this learning. Regarding cooperative learning experience, most students thought that this is a new experience to work with the members on-line. They worked very hard; it took many times to read and reread the members’ postings in order to add new information.

A Study on Teaching English Reading through the Communicative Approach and Cooperative Learning in a Middle School of China

A Study on Teaching English Reading through the Communicative Approach and Cooperative Learning in a Middle School of China Yu Xu (Qinghai Normanl University) Hwa-ja Lee (Sunchon National University) The subject of this dissertation is a research project in Qinghai Normal University No.1 Attached Middle School, to confirm the assumption that CA and CL will achieve a better result than traditional teaching in such a culturally, economically, academically deprived and multi-national area as Qinghai. During the half-year research project, the communicative instructional model was applied to reform traditional teaching, incorporating cooperative learning experiences. In the 2003 research project, the questionnaires, exams, performance records and the interviews of the students and the teachers indicate that teaching reading through the Communicative approach and Cooperative learning in a middle school in China can achieve a better result in improving students’ four language skills and developing their communicative competence. A follow-up study in 2009 was also conducted to trace the impact of the 2003 project, which was radical in English education in remote areas at that time. The result of the 2009 study was the same as the research project done in 2003, shown in data collected from questionnaires, paper interviews and classroom observation. So that the Communicative approach and Cooperative learning are still seen as crucial and important to English teaching, it must be pointed out that students will become more skilled in reading, listening, writing and speaking English if CA and CL continue to be used.

A cross-cultural study on the usage of cooperative learning techniques in graduate level education in five different countries

The purpose of this study was to examine graduate students’ experiences of cooperative learning in higher education in five ethnically, culturally and geographically different countries. This research was an attempt to understand how a culturally distinct instruction and academic environments influence their learning processes and implications for better instructional designs. Graduate students from Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Korea, Turkey and United States are surveyed and analysis of variance and factor analysis techniques are used in statistical analysis. Results revealed that culture did not have effect on learning preferences. Graduate students made conscious choices whether to be involved or not in cooperative learning in their educational environment.

Metodologías que optimizan la comunicación en entornos de aprendizaje virtual

The main advances in education and the current expansion of training models are due to the incorporation of information and communication technologies (ICTs), as well as pedagogical elements arising from the socio-cultural approach. Communication is an essential element in the processes of teaching and learning in this educational approach. Therefore, ICTs offer us an excellent innovative support, allowing use to make use of such virtual learning environments as Collaborative Computer-Assisted Learning (CSCL), which enables communication, mediation and knowledge construction. Virtual communication is one of the essential elements in blended learning, and it is even starting to play an important role in traditional teaching environments. In this regard, we consider that a contribution from different teaching and learning experiences in virtual scenarios (Synergeia; BSCW; Moodle…) is necessary. In this article, we describe several cooperative and collaborative computer-mediated learning experiences with students of different educational levels. The results and conclusions on Collaborative Computer-Assisted Learning experiences reveal an improvement in motivation, academic performance and the development of social and communication skills, regardless of the use of cooperative (cooperative learning techniques) or collaborative learning.Los principales avances educativos y el actual auge de los modelos de formación se deben a la incorporación de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación, así como a la aplicación de elementos pedagógicos provenientes de aproximación sociocultural. Desde este enfoque educativo, la comunicación es un elemento esencial en los procesos de aprendizaje y enseñanza, por tanto, estas herramientas, entendidas como artefactos tecnológicos de producción cultural, ofrecen un excelente soporte innovador, permitiendo contar con entornos virtuales de aprendizaje, como las ofrecidas por las plataformas para el aprendizaje colaborativo mediado por ordenador (CSCL) que favorecen la comunicación, la mediación y la construcción compartida del conocimiento (coconstrucción). La comunicación virtual es uno de los aspectos esenciales en la formación a distancia como también lo es la formación semipresencial (blended learning), que comienza a adquirir un importante papel en contextos presenciales que utilizan estos entornos como instancias complementarias destinadas a extender la clase fuera de las fronteras del aula. En este sentido, es relevante un aporte de las diversas experiencias telemáticas de aprendizaje que usan modalidades de aprendizaje cooperativo o colaborativo en entornos virtuales. En el trabajo que presentamos se organizan y describen experiencias de aprendizaje cooperativo y colaborativo mediado por ordenador con estudiantes de diferentes niveles educativos. Los resultados y conclusiones de dichas experiencias evidencian una mejora de habilidades sociales, habilidades comunicativas, motivación y rendimiento académico independientemente del tipo de modalidad de aprendizaje compartido.

Improving Elementary School Students' Learning Outcomes Using Food-Based Mentorship Programs

The FoodMASTER (Food Math and Science Teaching Enhancement Resource) initiative is a compilation of programs aimed at enhancing food, math, and science education for individuals of all ages and backgrounds. By engaging in this type of activity, both the university and elementary school students follow a certain set of procedures that promote the development of a high-quality food product. The college students also find themselves engaged in a mentorship-type relationship. The addition of the mentoring element to food product development also may enhance students' knowledge competencies and skills. This article describes how the project was designed and reports positive learning outcomes resulting from the cooperative learning experience.

Relationship Among Cooperative Learning Experiences, Social Interdependence, Children’s Aggression, Victimization, and Prosocial Behaviors

This study examined the relationships among cooperative experiences, social interdependence predispositions, harm-intended aggression, victimization, and prosocial behaviors with 217 elementary school children from the 3rd to 5th grades. Path analysis using LISREL indicate that cooperative experiences predicted cooperative predispositions, the absence of individualistic predispositions, and prosocial behaviors. Cooperative predisposition predicted prosocial behaviors and the absence of harm-intended aggression. Competitive predisposition predicted harm-intended aggression. The implications of increasing cooperativeness through cooperative experiences, especially for bullies and victims, were discussed.

An Investigative, Cooperative Learning Approach to the General Microbiology Laboratory

Investigative- and cooperative-based learning strategies have been used effectively in a variety of classrooms to enhance student learning and engagement. In the General Microbiology laboratory for juniors and seniors at James Madison University, these strategies were combined to make a semester-long, investigative, cooperative learning experience involving culture and identification of microbial isolates that the students obtained from various environments. To assess whether this strategy was successful, students were asked to complete a survey at the beginning and at the end of the semester regarding their comfort level with a variety of topics. For most of the topics queried, the students reported that their comfort had increased significantly during the semester. Furthermore, this group of students thought that the quality of this investigative lab experience was much better than that of any of their previous lab experiences.

Developing research competencies through a project-based tissue-engineering module in the biomedical engineering undergraduate curriculum

In addressing the task of developing an undergraduate module in the field of tissue engineering, the greatest challenge lies in managing to capture what is a growing and rapidly changing field. Acknowledging the call for the development of greater critical thinking and interpersonal skills among the next generation of engineers as well as encouraging students to engage actively with the dynamic nature of research in the field, the module was developed to include both project-based and cooperative-learning experiences. These learning activities include developing hypotheses for the application of newly introduced laboratory procedures, a collaborative mock grant submission, and debates on ethical issues in which students are assigned roles as various stakeholders. Feedback from module evaluations has indicated that, while students find the expectations challenging, they are able to gain an advanced insight into a dynamic field. More importantly, students develop research competencies by engaging in activities that require them to link current research directions with their own development of hypotheses for future tissue-engineering applications.