The Effects of Cooperative and Individualized Instruction on Student Attitudes and Achievement

Abstract

The way in which learning goals are structured determines the student-student and teacher-student interaction patterns in the classroom, which in turn greatly affect the outcomes resulting from instruction. The effects of two methods of structuring learning goals—cooperatively and individualistically—were compared on a series of attitudinal and performance variables. An advanced math class for 5th and 6th grade white students (N = 30 boys and girls) in a suburban, upper-middle-class school was divided randomly into cooperative and individualized conditions (controlling for math ability) for studying math one hour a day for 50 days. The results indicate that cooperative learning promoted more positive attitudes towards heterogeneity among peers; higher self-esteem; more positive attitudes toward the teacher, fellow cooperators, and conflict; more internal locus of control; and higher daily achievement.