Running Head COOPERATIVE LEARNING—LEARNING 书眉合作learning-learning.docVIP

Running Head: COOPERATIVE LEARNING—LEARNING TOGETHER Cooperative Learning: We Instead of Me Caryn Asherson California State University, Northridge ABSTRACT Many students enter school without a caring support system. This study aimed to build small learning communities in the classroom in order to provide learners with nurturing, positive relationships with other students. It was theorized that beneficial interpersonal connections and a sense of belonging would help motivate students to put forth additional effort. Moreover, it was presumed that if classmate’s success was tied together, group members would feel an obligation to do their best for the sake of the team. Ninety-two 6th grade science students at a public school in the Beverly Hills Unified School district were observed in cooperative learning groups to examine whether working in teams had any effect on achievement, motivation to learn, and interpersonal relationships. Students were grouped by academic ability, gender, personality, perseverance, ability to stay on task, and previous success at team learning. Students were instructed using the Student-Teams Achievement-Divisions (STAD) method. This method began with information being presented to students in a lecture format. Next, students worked in groups to master the material. Subsequently, they were given individual quizzes. Teams were recognized by earning improvement points on successive quizzes. The study did not find statistically significant improvement in achievement scores. However, the research did uncover that cooperative learning can lead to improvements in motivation and interpersonal relationships among students. Chapter 1 – Introduction “Can we work on this with a partner?” There is not a week that goes by in which a student does not chime in with the aforementioned question. Undoubtedly, students yearn for opportunities to connect with their classmates. This can be especially true for middle school students given that e