Robyn M. Gillies

Structuring cooperative group work in classrooms

Cooperative, small-group learning is widely recognised as a pedagogical practice that promotes learning and socialisation across a range of curriculum areas from primary school through to high school and college. When children work cooperatively together, they learn to give and receive help, share their ideas and listen to other students’ perspectives, seek new ways of clarifying differences, resolving problems, and constructing new understandings and knowledge. The result is that students attain higher academic outcomes and are more motivated to achieve than they would be if they worked alone. This paper provides an overview of five different studies that the author has conducted that demonstrate clearly the importance of explicitly structuring cooperative small-group work in classrooms if children are to derive the benefits widely attributed to this pedagogical practice.

The effects of cooperative learning on junior high school students during small group learning

The study investigated the effects of cooperative learning on junior high school students who worked in structured or unstructured cooperative groups. Two hundred and twenty-three junior high school students participated in the study and worked in three or four-person, mixed gender and achievement groups. The results show that the children in the structured groups were more willing to work with others on the assigned tasks and they provided more elaborate help and assistance to each other than their peers in the unstructured groups. Furthermore, as the children in the structured groups had more opportunities to work together, they developed a stronger perception of group cohesion and social responsibility for each other’s learning than their peers in the unstructured groups.

The Behaviors, Interactions, and Perceptions of Junior High School Students during Small-Group Learning.

The study investigated the behaviors, interactions, and perceptions of junior high school students as they worked in structured or unstructured cooperative learning groups on problem-solving, curriculum-based tasks in mathematics, science, and English. Two hundred twenty students in Grade 8 participated in the study, which was conducted across 3 school terms. The students worked in 4-person, gender-balanced, heterogeneous achievement groups. The results show that the children in the structured groups were more cooperative and provided more relevant verbal help and assistance to each other as they worked together in their groups than their peers in the unstructured groups. Furthermore, they had stronger perceptions of small-group work as being enjoyable and providing them with the opportunity to do quality work together.

The Teacher's Role in Implementing Cooperative Learning in the Classroom

Cooperative learning is widely endorsed as a pedagogical practice that promotes student learning. Recently, the research focus has moved to the role of teachers’ discourse during cooperative learning and its effects on the quality of group discussions and the learning achieved. Although the benefits of cooperative learning are well documented, implementing this pedagogical practice in classrooms is a challenge that many teachers have difficulties accomplishing. The Teachers Role in Implementing Cooperative Learning in the Classroom provides readers with a comprehensive overview of the challenges and issues with clear guidelines on how teachers can embed cooperative learning into their classroom curricula to obtain the benefits widely attributed to this pedagogical practice. It does so by using language that is appropriate for both novice and experienced educators. The volume provides: an overview of the major research and theoretical perspectives that underpin the development of cooperative learning pedagogy; outlines how specific small group experiences can promote thinking and learning; discusses the key role teachers play in promoting student discourse; and, demonstrates how interaction style among students and teachers is crucial in facilitating discussion and learning. The collection of chapters includes many practical illustrations, drawn from the contributors’ own research of how teachers can use cooperative learning pedagogy to facilitate thinking and learning among students across different educational settings.

Behavior and interactions of children in cooperative groups in lower and middle elementary grades

The study investigated the behaviors and interactions of children in structured and unstructured groups as they worked together on a 6-week social studies activity each term for 3 school terms. Two hundred and twelve children in Grade 1 and 184 children in Grade 3 participated in the study. Stratified random assignment occurred so that each gender-balanced group consisted of 1 high-, 2 medium-, and 1 low-ability student. The results show that the children in the structured groups were consistently more cooperative and they provided more elaborated and nonelaborated help than did their peers in the unstructured groups. The children in the structured groups in Grade 3 obtained higher reading and learning outcome scores than their peers in the unstructured groups.

Teaching collaborative skills to primary school children in classroom-based work groups

One hundred and ninety-two Grade 6 children participated in a study which compared the effects on behavioural interactions and achievement of (a) cooperative learning in which group members were trained to collaborate to facilitate each others learning, and (b) cooperative learning in which members were not trained but were merely told to help each other. Stratified random assignment of participants occurred so that each gender-balanced group consisted of one high-, two medium-, and one low-ability student. The results indicated that the children in the Trained groups were consistently more cooperative and helpful to each other, used language which was more inclusive (e.g., frequent use of “we”), and gave more explanations to assist each other as they worked together than children in the Untrained groups. Furthermore, the children in the Trained groups exercised more autonomy with their learning and obtained higher learning outcomes than Untrained peers.

Promoting reasoned argumentation, problem-solving and learning during small-group work

Teaching children to ask and answer questions is critically important if they are to engage in reasoned argumentation, problem‐solving and learning. This study describes how teachers can be taught to challenge childrens cognitive and metacognitive thinking during cooperative learning and the affect this has on childrens discourse and follow‐up performance on classroom‐based reasoning and problem‐solving tasks. The study involved two cohorts of teachers, the cooperative+questioning condition (n = 14) and the cooperative condition (n = 11) and two groups of students (3–4 person groups of mixed ability) from each teachers class. The results show that the teachers in the cooperative+questioning condition used more challenging and scaffolding behaviours than the teachers in the cooperative condition. The study also shows that the children in the cooperative+questioning condition provided more elaborations, reasons, and justifications for their responses than their peers in the cooperative condition. However, results on the follow up reasoning and problem‐solving (RP‐S) activity indicated that these oral discourse skills did not transfer to the written task, possibly because the children may not have enough time to consolidate their application in another context requiring them to work independently of their peers. Teachers need to be mindful of the apparent delay many students experience in being able to transfer the skills of problem‐solving, reasoning, and justifying demonstrated in oral discourse to written text and to provide for more instruction and reflection for these skills to emerge.

The Effects of Cooperative Learning on Students with Learning Difficulties in the Lower Elementary School

This study investigated the behaviors, interactions, and learning outcomes of children with learning difficulties who participated in structured and unstructured group activities. Of the 152 Grade 3 children who worked in four-person, gender-balanced groups, 22 children were identified as having learning difficulties requiring up to 3 hours of specialist teacher support for their learning each week. The children worked in their groups for one 6-week social studies unit of work each term for three school terms. The results showed that the children in the structured groups were more involved in group activities and provided more directions and help to other group members than their peers in the unstructured groups. Furthermore, children in the structured groups obtained a significantly higher performance on the comprehension questionnaire than children in the unstructured groups (effect size = +1.43 standard deviations). Reasons for these differences are discussed.

Children's cooperative behavior and interactions in trained and untrained work groups in regular classrooms

This study examined group and individual factors that facilitate changes in cooperation and learning outcomes in trained and untrained work groups of elementary school-age children. The study had two foci. The first was to determine if the cooperative behaviors and interactions of children in classroom groups who were trained in cooperative learning skills were different from those of children who were given no training, and the second was to investigate small group interactions and achievement in these groups over time. The results showed that there were observable differences between student interactions in the two conditions and these differences were maintained over time. Compared with children in the untrained groups, those in the trained groups were consistently more cooperative and helpful to each other; they actively tried to involve each other in the learning task by using language which was more inclusive (e.g., frequent use of “we”), and they gave more explanations to assist each other as they worked together. It appeared that as the children worked together over time, they became more responsive to the learning needs of each other. Furthermore, the children in the trained groups performed significantly better on the learning outcomes questionnaire than those in the untrained groups.

The maintenance of cooperative and helping behaviours in cooperative groups

BACKGROUND This study was a full-year investigation of whether children, who had previously been trained to cooperate and help each other, were able to use these behaviours in reconstituted groups without additional training one year later. AIMS (i) To examine whether children who have previously been trained to cooperate demonstrate more cooperative and helping behaviours in their groups than children who had no been trained and (ii) to determine the effect of prior training on childrens learning. SAMPLE The study involved 144 Grade 2 children (mean age = 94.5 months; third year of schooling), from nine schools in a similar socio-demographic area of Brisbane, Australia. Sixty-four children, who had been trained in cooperative group behaviours in the previous year, were assigned to the Trained groups and 80 children, who had not received any training, were assigned to the Untrained groups. METHOD The children worked in four-person, mixed-ability (high-, medium-, and low-ability), gender-balanced groups (2 males, 2 females) for one six-week social studies unit of work each term for three school terms. Videotaping occurred in the 5-6 week of each work unit. Videotapes were coded for behaviour and verbal interactions. Learning outcomes data were also collected. RESULTS The children in the trained groups exhibited more cooperative behaviour and they provided more explanations, both in response to explicit and implicit requests for help across the three periods of time. The children in the trained groups used higher level cognitive strategies such as providing specific concrete facts and reasons in their interactions and they also obtained higher scores on the learning outcomes questionnaire than their untrained peers. CONCLUSION Young children who have been trained to cooperate and help each other are able to demonstrate these behaviours in reconstituted groups without additional training a year later.