Cooperative learning and academic achievement: why does groupwork work?

By R. Slavin. 2014

336 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Cooperative learning refers to instructional methods in which students work in small groups to help each other learn. Four major theoretical perspectives on achievement effects of cooperative learning are reviewed: Motivational, social cohesion, developmental, and cognitive elaboration. Evidence from practical classroom research primarily supports the motivational perspective, which emphasizes the use of group goals and individual accountability for group success. However, there are conditions under which methods derived from all four theoretical perspectives contribute to achievement gain. This chapter reconciles these perspectives in a unified theory of cooperative learning effects.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Education, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a907fea32d47d4219f15ac5ad31c56795bbe8bf0

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Developmental and Educational Psychology

1. John Sweller
2. Femke C. Kirschner
3. Paul A. Kirschner
4. Jimmy Zambrano Ramírez
5. Fred Paas
6. Céline Buchs
7. D. Filippou
8. Y. Volpe

In Education

1. John Sweller
2. Paul A. Kirschner
3. Femke C. Kirschner
4. Caroline Pulfrey
5. Céline Buchs
6. D. Filippou
7. Y. Volpe
8. Vida Shatalebi

In Social Psychology

1. John Sweller
2. Paul A. Kirschner
3. Femke C. Kirschner
4. Jimmy Zambrano Ramírez
5. Caroline Pulfrey
6. Vida Shatalebi
7. Céline Buchs
8. Mehdi Nasri

Citations in the corpus

• Challenges for cooperative learning implementation: reports from elementary school teachers (2017, background): “…efficacy in enhancing social, motivational and cognitive outcomes (Hattie 2008; Johnson and Johnson 2009; Kyndt et al. 2013; Rohrbeck et al. 2003; Slavin 2014), its implementation remains a challenge (Sharan 2010) that requires strong involvement and many changes in terms of instructional…”
• From Cognitive Load Theory to Collaborative Cognitive Load Theory (2018, background): “At best, one can say that its purported benefits are not always consistent (Kester and Paas 2005; Kirschner et al. 2009a; Slavin 2014).”
• Enhancing oral proficiency through cooperative learning among intermediate EFL learners: English learning motivation in focus (2019, methodology): “Students in the control group were taught through the traditional method of teaching speaking skill, while the students in the experimental group were taught through using CL (i.e., STAD and NHT).”
• The Impact of Cooperative Learning on Developing Speaking Ability and Motivation Toward Learning English (2019, positive): “The general organization of sessions took the form of the adapted STAD including three components – class presentation, structured teamwork, and team assessment.”
• Cooperative Learning: Review of Research and Practice. (2016, background): “In short, there is overwhelming evidence that cooperative learning as a pedagogical practice has had a profound effect on student learning and socialization (Slavin, 2014).”