Five recently published methods for conducting cooperative small-group learning in the classroom, and the experimental studies conducted by the authors of these methods are examined, evaluated, and compared in this study. The five methods are: Aronson’s Jigsaw classroom, DeVries’ Teams-Games-Tournaments (TGT), Slavin’s Student Teams and Academic Divisions (STAD), the Johnsons’ cooperative learning approach, and the Sharans’ Small-group Teaching method. The former three methods are categorized as Peer-Tutoring methods, while the latter two are classified as examples of a Group-Investigation (G-I) approach. Findings are considered from experimental studies with these five methods, in terms of their differential effects on academic achievement, students’ attitudes, and on ethnic relations in desegregated classrooms. The implications of the distinction between Peer-Tutoring and G-I methods are explored. New directions for research are suggested with these cooperative small-group techniques which appear to exe...

Cooperative Learning in Small Groups: Recent Methods and Effects on Achievement, Attitudes, and Ethnic Relations

Social Influences on the Development of Children's Adaptive Help Seeking: The Role of Parents, Teachers, and Peers☆

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Help-Seeking Behavior in Learning.

Development and Maintenance of Prosocial Behavior

Learning is rarely a completely asocial enterprise. Learners are influenced directly and indirectly by their social and cultural environment, so that the why, what, when, where, and how of learning are not always decided by the individual alone. Because learning involves effecting changes in the individual's knowledge state and skill repertoire, it is not surprising that learners may seek help from others in order to effect such changes. Help-seeking has become a topic of growing interest for educators and psychologists concerned with the development and enhancement of children's active learning skills. Indeed, many scholars consider that the ability to utilize adults and peers appropriately as resources to cope with difficulties encountered in learning situations is one of the most important skills children can cultivate (Anderson & Messick, 1974; Nelson-Le Gall, 1981; Nelson-Le Gall, Gumerman, & Scott-Jones, 1983; White & Watts, 1973). The aim of this chapter is to explicate the instrumental role of help-seeking in learning. Major conceptualizations of help-seeking that are currently influential in guiding psychological and educational research will be examined and evaluated for their utility in understanding help-seeking in school-aged learners. Cognitive, developmental, and motivational characteristics of the help-seeker as well as situational/contextual characteristics of the helping interaction have been the focus of much research and will therefore be examined in this chapter. This review will concentrate on help-seeking in learning contexts and give consideration to the role that school environments play in teaching this important achievement strategy.

Patricia Rollins

Papers

Competence and Tutorial Role as Status Variables Affecting Peer-Tutoring Outcomes in Public School Settings.