Is Cooperative Learning a Valuable Instructional Method for Teaching Social Studies to Urban African American Students?
This study investigated whether there was a difference in the level of academic achievement for African American students when instructed through lecture and discussion and cooperative learning methods in the social studies classroom. Participants were 58 African American 12th graders in an urban public school. A control group was instructed using traditional lecture and discussion, while an intervention group received instruction through the Jigsaw II method of cooperative learning. Students’ academic achievement was assessed using a pretest-posttest evaluation. Both groups were observed for 96 minutes during their regular instructional time over 5 days. Data were also collected via student surveys and teacher interviews. Results indicated that there was no significant difference in academic achievement levels between students taught using cooperative learning and students taught using lecture and discussion. Intervention students working in heterogeneous groups exhibited a relatively
