Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: In education, there is a need to compile a line of new research to assist disadvantaged students to increase academic achievement and become productive members of society. To be productive members, students must be equipped with a wide variety of skills. In today’s society, it is important for disadvantaged students to become technology literate and learn how to work in a team. By using cooperative learning techniques with technology-based instruction, educators seek to improve these skills in their students. Specifically, technology-based cooperative learning can increase student achievement in reading while enabling disadvantaged students to develop teambuilding skills and positive social interdependence.Cooperative learning has its roots in theories of constructivism and social interdependence theory. When computer and Internet technologies are used with cooperative learning for disadvantaged students, educators also must consider learning tools and motivation. Constructivism is one of the foundational theories behind cooperative learning models. Constructivist learning theory is based on the premise that learning is a social process involving the cooperative efforts of a group to solve a problem and build knowledge (Johnson & Johnson, 2004). Constructivism and cooperative learning models seem to fit well with students from collectivist social backgrounds, where the goals and accomplishments of the group are celebrated over the accomplishments of the hardworking individual (Xiao, 2006).In addition, social interdependence theory contributes to cooperative learning models. Social interdependence occurs when group members work toward common goals and the collective input of the group influences each member’s success (Johnson & Johnson, 2004).The core principle underlying the academic idea of cooperative learning is interdependence. Interdependence can be defined as the condition of depending upon one another in order to achieve a particular outcome. This trait distinguishes cooperative learning from individualistic learning. Much of the research done on cooperative learning has been based on social interdependence theory, which was conceived in the early 1900s by the Gestalt theorist Kurt Koffka. This theory views groups as a dynamic whole in which members share varying degrees of interdependency that produce a degree of tension motivating the group to work together to achieve a common goal (Smith, Sheppard, Johnson, & Johnson, 2005).The act of working together to achieve a common goal is diligently achieved in the classroom through cooperative learning. Cooperative learning emphasizes a team approach in which the group effort decides the success of the team. The group effort produced through collaboration has shown to be more effective in producing high levels of student achievement than the individualistic effort exerted through interpersonal competition; furthermore, mastery of these skills contributes to understanding the outcomes of cooperation such as psychological health and increased self-esteem (Smith et al., 2005). Gaining knowledge about the basic elements of cooperation can increase the achievement of disadvantaged students.According to the Cooperative Learning Institute (2016), the purpose of cooperative learning groups is to make each member a stronger individual. Johnson and Johnson (2004) noted that cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups that help students work together to maximize team learning. Johnson and Johnson defined the five basic elements of cooperative learning: (a) positive interdependence, (b) individual accountability, (c) face-to-face interaction, (d) interpersonal and small-group skills, (e) and group processing.Students must feel that they need each other in order to complete the group’s task, that they “sink or swim” together. This feeling is established with four mutual goals:Cooperative learning groups are not successful until every member has learned the material or has generously served with and understood the assignment. Thus, it is important to frequently stress and assess individual learning so that group members can appropriately support each other. Some ways of structuring individual accountability are giving each group member an individual accountability exam and randomly selecting one member to give an answer for the entire group.No magic exists in positive interdependence in and of itself. Beneficial educational outcomes are due to the interaction patterns and verbal exchanges among students in carefully structured cooperative learning groups. Oral summarizing, giving and receiving explanations, and elaborating (relating what is being learned to previous learning) are important types of verbal interchanges.Students do not come to school with the social skills they need to collaborate effectively with others. Therefore, teachers need to teach the appropriate communication, leadership, trust, and decisionmaking and conflict-management skills to students and provide the motivation to use these skills in order for groups to function effectively.Students need the time to process information by establishing procedures to analyze how well their groups are functioning and how well they are using the necessary social skills. This processing helps all group members achieve while maintaining effective working relationships among members. Feedback from the teachers or student observers on how well they repeatedly watched the groups working may assist processing effectiveness. According to Willis (2007), students experience a greater level of understanding of academic ideas and ideas through cooperative learning; students talk, explain, and argue about how and what they believe with their group, instead of just passively listening to a lecture or reading a text.Dedicated teachers search for effective ways to meet challenges they face in the classroom, especially as diversity increases in student populations. Culture and learning are connected in important ways. Early life experiences and the values of a person’s culture affect both the expectations and the processes of learning. There are countless well-accepted theories and extensive research illustrating and documenting the learning differences of students (Bradley, 2007; Bradley, Pauley, & Pauley, 2006; Pauley, Bradley, & Pauley, 2002). Teachers who understand the differences of their students have a better chance of meeting the diverse learning needs of all of their students (Felder & Brent, 2005; Vaughn, 2002). Students and teachers need strategies to gradually turn diversity into an asset while supporting the growth of others. Cooperative learning methods provide teachers with these effective ways to respond to a diverse student body by promoting academic success and developing interpersonal skills necessary to participate in society.Since the 1970s, cooperative learning has been widely researched and used in classrooms throughout the world. Leading authorities in the field of cooperative learning, Johnson and Johnson (2004) figured out that cooperative learning builds diversity awareness among students. Vaughn (2002) found that cooperative learning could be effective in encouraging student interactions while developing positive attitudes toward school and student achievement. Johnson and Johnson discovered that disadvantaged students reported cooperative methods of teaching encouraged students to use their differences to willingly aid each other. They suggested that cooperative learning encourages positive interdependence among students; besides, students perceive that they can only reach their goal if the other students in the group reach their goal as well.Gillies (2002) maintained that when students are placed in cooperative learning or small groups, they interact with peers they otherwise might never have socialized with. Behaviors that might have appeared odd in other settings now become understandable as students are given the opportunity to explain and defend their reasoning. In a traditional classroom, there is limited opportunity for students to defend their perspectives. Students who repeatedly observe one another by using reasoning processes appreciate and understand different perspectives. Gillies concluded that cooperative learning created greater understanding of various differences among students and aided learning to resolve social problems that could arise in the future. Research-based methods may increase student achievement with technology-based instruction and cooperative learning (Johnson & Johnson, 2004).Students are more likely to learn from and to use technology-based instruction in the future when their attitudes about technology-based instruction are positive (Johnson & Johnson, 2004). Johnson and Johnson (2004) found a strong relationship among learning styles, attitudes toward learning, motivation to learn, involvement in learning activities toward instructors, and self-efficacy. The No Child Left Behind Act (2002) requires all students to become technology literate by the end of Grade 8.In an effort to improve student achievement with technology, the U.S. Department of Education established state grants under the new EETT Ed Tech Program (eTech Ohio, 2008). The EETT project supports a comprehensive program that affords students the opportunity to gain the technology skills necessary to thrive in a high-tech society. Students who receive computer-assisted instruction (CAI) have higher student achievement than students who do not use technology in the classroom. For instance, in a report of outcomes following EETT grants to Cleveland schools, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District Office of Research and Assessment (2007) stated, “Students in EETT schools in Grade 8 showed the greatest gain (9.14%), although Grade 5 students made a substantial gain of 8.36%” (p. 36).CAI is instruction delivered directly to learners by allowing them to interact with lessons programmed into the computer system (Smaldino, Lowther, & Russell, 2008). CAI is important to assist students learning new concepts to increase academic achievement. The Cleveland Metropolitan School District Office of Research and Assessment (2007) reported selected EETT grant schools had the following two outcomes:Technology-supported cooperative learning combines the instructional use of technology with the use of cooperative learning groups (Johnson & Johnson, 2004). Disadvantaged students can use technology cooperatively as an alternative to traditional learning modes, for CAI and cooperative learning promote teamwork to influence team-building skills. Johnson and Johnson also indicated that cooperative learning approaches led to (a) higher academic achievement than competitive or individual approaches, (b) more positive attitudes toward reading and English language arts, (c) more positive attitudes toward the classroom experience, (c) and better interpersonal relationships among students. Yang and Liu (2002) found six important facts when studying the effect of cooperative learning in technology-based instruction:According to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District Office of Research and Assessment (2007), all groups of students showed gains in technological literacy from winter to spring of the 2006–2007 academic year; furthermore, students in Year 1 EETT schools showed greater gains in reading than EETT schools in Year 2. In Year 1 schools, the technology was new and students put forth extreme amounts of cooperative effort to learn from media and increase Ohio Achievement Test scores in reading. Students involved in the research study of cooperative learning and computer usage had higher gains in student achievement; cooperative learning was the instructional method with technology integration in reading. The average total scale score in winter was 29.95, improving in the spring to 30.68. Students in winter were unfamiliar with cooperative learning and technology-based instruction. In spring, the students were more comfortable using technology-based instruction and cooperative methods of instruction.Student achievement in the Cleveland schools resulted from the instructional method of cooperative learning used with technology integration. The students became competent in reading due to the use of cooperative learning and CAI. In Yang and Liu’s (2002) qualitative study, students participated in technology-based instruction and cooperative learning. Findings from their research and that of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District Office of Research and Assessment (2007) led the author to create Figure 1.Disadvantaged students who engage in CAI and cooperative learning have shown profound increases in achievement. In EETT, students used collaborative software to create web-based projects, and students who used CAI increased technology literacy. Collaborative software was Compass Odyssey Reading, and ePals (2008) was a technology-based program used (Cleveland Metropolitan School District Office of Research and Assessment, 2007). The program was used for skill development, team building, and group processing and, as a result, students reported positive interdependence. Disadvantaged students in the EETT research worked in small groups of multi-level-ability grouping and had significant gains in reading achievement.Working with technology and disadvantaged students, teachers must know what cooperative learning and technology tools are available for little or no cost. Unlike teachers serving higher income student populations, a very real concern for schools serving disadvantaged students is access. Access to working technology, high-speed Internet, and multiple computers may be limited in both schools and homes. This disparity is often referred to as the digital divide (Morrison, 2001). Teachers must consider access to technology when planning cooperative projects and assigning homework for teams.Some cooperative learning tools that frugal teachers can employ are school-safe blogs, e-mail, and classroom exchanges such as those offered by ePals (2008) for the kindergarten through Grade 12 school community. The ePals website offers several free online services that are compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the Children’s Internet Protection Act, so teachers can feel confident with these secured tools (ePals, 2008). Among tools offered by ePals are free school blogs that may be moderated by the classroom teacher, school e-mail accounts, connections with other classrooms from around the country and around the world, and ePals projects for classroom collaboration (ePals, 2008). The ePals offerings may be used in so many ways to build and extend cooperative learning in and beyond the classroom doors, it is recommended that interested teachers go directly to the site and sign up for a free account.Overall, the use of cooperative learning assists disadvantaged students in creating positive interpersonal relationships by working together. Some have described this as the age of interdependence, where the capacity to form relationships with one another is more important than IQ in achieving personal success (Smith et al., 2005). The interpersonal skills developed through cooperative learning will benefit students long after the classroom experience. Generally, disadvantaged students who use technology cooperatively have increased academic achievement because members of groups working cooperatively have high self-esteem and are socially competent. Furthermore, cooperative group members who work together on a continuous basis have shown a greater ability to make psychological adjustments, which allows them to work together to achieve their goals.
Source: Distance Learning
Author: Aries Cobb
Institution: Cleveland State University
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4416619377