Use Of Cooperative Learning Methods Research Articles

Essential Features of a Teacher Education Programme for Cooperative Learning

What are the main features of a successful programme for preparing teachers to use cooperative learning methods in their classrooms? In seeking an answer to this question, many researchers and educators focus on cooperation as the primary concept 1. (a) Cooperation among faculty members in university or college teacher education programmes to ensure consistency, continuity and a common set of goals for pre‐service teacher education. Some programmes have begun to emphasise the acquisition of competence in the use of cooperative learning methods. 2. (b) Cooperation between universities and schools to enable novice and experienced teachers to practise cooperative learning in the classroom. 3. (c) Cooperation among teachers in given schools to provide mutual support and assistance to maintain the long‐term use of cooperative learning. Various programmes and projects reported in the relevant literature that have implemented these ideas are surveyed and discussed in this paper.

Support for Democratic Schooling: Classroom Level Change via Cooperative Learning

This article focuses on the success of the instructional initiative of cooperative learning. It differs from other articles on cooperative learning since it views this instructional initiative as a part of recent school reform, specifically the democratic schools movement. As a classroom level reform initiative, the application of this universal pedagogical method is recommended as a vehicle for teaching democratic principles. However, the actual use of any instructional initiative is typically based on teachers' judgments about its viability. Therefore, we stress the importance of theory, research, and modeling when making judgments about the application of cooperative learning. We hope that this information will enable teachers at all levels to make positive judgments about the use of cooperative learning methods in the classroom. By doing so, teachers have the opportunity to support classroom-level reform toward democratic schooling.

An Overview of Research on Cooperative Learning Related to Mathematics

Increased use of cooperative learning methods is one of the most visible changes in (mathematics) education in the last decade. To illustrate, the National Counci l of Teachers of Mathematics has promoted cooperative work in its two recent Standards documents (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM], 1989, 1991), and the entire December 1989 issue of Educational Leadership (Brandt, 1989) was devoted to cooperative learning. Given all this attention, it seems reasonable to ask what research evidence there is concerning the various types of cooperative learning, their effect on achievement. and their effect on other aspects of student learning.