Cooperative learning refers to instructional methods in which students work in small groups to help each other learn. Although cooperative learning methods are used for different age groups, they are particularly popular in elementary (primary) schools. This article discusses methods and theoretical perspectives on cooperative learning for the…

Four literature reviews found that cooperative learning methods using group rewards and individual accountability consistently increase student achievement more than control methods in elementary and secondary classrooms. More research is needed to gauge cooperative learning's effectiveness at senior high and college levels and for instilling…

A review of the research regarding the effectiveness of cooperative learning methods (particularly student teams) indicated that when the classroom is structured in a way that allows students to work cooperatively on learning tasks, students benefit academically as well as socially. The greatest strength of cooperative learning methods is the wide…

Three Student Team Learning techniques have been extensively researched and found to significantly increase student learning. In Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD), teams are made up of high, average, and low performing students of both genders and different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Team members study worksheets, work problems in…

This study utilized the Teams-Games-Tournament (TGT) concept, an educational technique employing team competition within the classroom. The hypothesis was that mediating TGT's effects on academic performance is a change in the relationship between academic performance and sociometric status of students. Subjects were 232 seventh grade students…

States that the combination of group rewards (based on group members' individual learning) and peer interaction on learning tasks is necessary to produce learning gains characteristic of effective cooperative learning methods. Discusses research on group contingencies and cooperative learning in the elementary school classroom.(NH)

Student team techniques, involving two conceptually distinct components--a cooperative reward structure, in which students are evaluated and rewarded based on the performance of the group as a whole, and a cooperative task structure, in which students are encouraged to peer tutor--have had positive effects compared to control methods on academic…

A review of the literature on cooperative, competitive, and independent reward structures and performance is presented, and conclusions are drawn which reformulate current beliefs about the interaction between reward structure and task structure. A brief theory of reward structure and performance is described, and conditions under which…

This monograph presents descriptions of six extensively researched and widely used cooperative learning methods and discusses research on the effects of cooperative learning. The term "cooperative learning" refers to instructional methods in which students of all levels of performance work together in small groups toward a common goal.…

Two instructional techniques, Teams-Games-Tournament (TGT), and Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD), contain a team component and a comparison-among-equals component. To separate the effects of these two components on academic performance, mutual attraction, and student attitudes, a 2 x 2 factorial design was used, varying reward structure…