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

Abstract

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 other's 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