The paper summarizes two studies on Team Assisted Instruction (TAI), combining cooperative learning and individualized instruction to accommodate the social and academic needs of mainstreamed academically handicapped students and their nonhandicapped classmates. TAI improved social and academic behavior, and in one study, increased mathematics…

High individual accountability did not show significant positive effects on learning when compared with cooperative reward conditions. (JD)

Cooperative learning focuses group activity on preparing all members to succeed on individual assessments. Research findings show significantly greater achievement for the cooperatively taught class. Describes the elements of two comprehensive cooperative methods and proposes a model of a cooperative elementary school. (MLF)

Six classes enrolling academically handicapped and normal-progress elementary students were randomly assigned to study mathematics cooperatively or under a traditional classroom structure. Results indicated that cooperative techniques improved social acceptance, academic achievement, and self-esteem. (Author/CL)

The study examined effects on 117 mainstreamed academically handicapped students (grades 3-5) of an instructional method, Team Assisted Individualization (TAI), that combined cooperative learning with individualized instruction in mathematics. TAI and individualized instruction both had positive effects on social acceptance, attitudes toward math,…

The study investigated the effects of a cooperative intervention designed to allow 40 academically handicapped (learning disabled or mildly retarded) and normal progress students (in third, fourth, and sixth grades) to work cooperatively on academic materials in improving social relationships between these groups of students. In the cooperative…

Discusses how teachers can avoid problems associated with student competition in the classroom. Describes two instructional methods that involve students working together on learning tasks: cooperative learning and peer tutoring. Focuses on Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD), a team-learning approach. Includes a list of practical guides to…

The study, involving 119 academically handicapped third, fourth, and fifth graders, examined the effects of an instructional method (Team-Assisted Individualization) that combines cooperative learning with individualized learning in mathematics. Previous studies have found that the use of cooperative learning instructional processes can improve…

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the use in mainstreamed classes of team assisted individualization (TAI), in which students work on individualized units in heterogeneous, cooperative learning groups. Team reward systems are incorporated into the small group instruction format. The effects of the TAI approach on the achievement,…

Student team techniques, involving two conceptually distinct components--a cooperative reward structure, in which students are evaluated and rewarded based on the performance of the group as a whole, and a cooperative task structure, in which students are encouraged to peer tutor--have had positive effects compared to control methods on academic…

Several Maryland schools are experimenting with Roots and Wings, a collaborative project of Saint Mary's County Schools, the state education department, and Johns Hopkins University. Funded by the New American Schools Development Corporation, the pilot project's goals are to guarantee every child's successful completion of elementary school and to…

Reports several field experimental research studies which tested the effects of group and individual incentive structures and tasks on individual academic achievement. The positive effects of cooperative learning methods result from the use of cooperative incentives, not cooperative tasks, apparently due to change in peer norms. (CB)

Student Team Learning instructional techniques (Teams-Games-Tournament, Student Teams-Achievement Divisions, and Jigsaw II) have been extensively researched in six-to-twelve-week classroom experiments and found to have many positive effects. This study examines the effects of the techniques when they are used as the primary instructional method…

Small-group cooperative learning methods have improved achievement, low and high level cognitive learning, race relations and mutual student concern. Most of the research focuses on four approaches: Teams Games Tournament (DeVries), Student Teams Achievement Divisions (Slavin), Jigsaw (Aronson) and Small Group Teaching (Sharan). (Author/CP)

"Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition" is a program that successfully teaches reading, writing, and language arts in heterogeneous intermediate classes containing mainstreamed special education and remedial reading students, by combining mixed-ability cooperative learning teams and same-ability reading groups. (Author/JDD)