ERIC Number: ED373720
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1994
Pages: 11
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Persistence and Small Group Interaction.
Hooper, Simon; And Others
The effects of persistence on students' ability to interact and learn in cooperative learning groups was studied, and the effect of collaboration on students' attitudes toward their partners was assessed. Participants were 138 sixth graders in a midwestern public school. A computer-based lesson and posttest dealt with the advertising concepts of bandwagon, uniqueness, testimonial, and transfer. Persistence was assessed by measuring the number of options students selected in the lesson. Students completed the lesson alone and in cooperative groups. Results suggest that, although persistence did not affect achievement in this study, it did influence the amount and nature of interaction in groups. Average persisters interacted more frequently than did high or low persisters, possibly because they are more able, and less apprehensive about verbal interaction than other students. Average persisters evidently use their better developed metacognitive skills to judge the optimum level of effort to invest. Students were more likely to name an individual as a desirable partner after collaborating. The type and frequency of interaction among different levels of persisters warrants further investigation. (Contains 31 references.) (SLD)
Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Computer Assisted Instruction, Cooperative Learning, Grade 6, Interaction, Intermediate Grades, Interpersonal Relationship, Metacognition, Persistence, Personality Traits, Pretests Posttests, Research Needs, Small Group Instruction, Student Attitudes, Student Characteristics, Teaching Methods
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: In: Proceedings of Selected Research and Development Presentations at the 1994 National Convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology Sponsored by the Research and Theory Division (16th, Nashville, TN, February 16-20, 1994); see IR 016 784.