COMBINING COOPERATIVE LEARNING WITH READING ALOUD BY TEACHERS

ABSTRACTStudent network is a teaching strategy introduced as cooperative learning to all educational levels above the upper primary schools (grade 5 and above) in Ethiopia. The study was, therefore, aimed at investigating to what extent the student network in Ethiopia is actually practiced in line with the principles of cooperative learning. Consequently, data collected from 156 secondary and 315 upper primary school teachers revealed that the student network is rarely practiced in line with the principles of cooperative learning. And this was found with statistically significant differences between the upper primary and secondary schools. The upper primary schools seem better in practicing the student network in line with the principles of cooperative learning than the secondary school. Accordingly, the study concluded that, albeit the student network remained a canon strategy to improve students’ learning in Ethiopia and its practices are supposedly recommended to be in line the principles of cooperative learning, challenges related to parents, students, school administration and teachers seem to cripple its smooth practice in line with the cooperative learning principles.

Cooperative learning has been recognized as an effective pedagogical approach that may enhance academic achievement, promote students’ engagement, and develop transferable interpersonal skills. This type of organizing a learning process differs from the traditional group work. Unlike the latter, cooperative learning is considered a structured, student-centered strategy which allows students assume collective responsibility for their own progress and that of their team members. The purpose of the article is to outline and synthesize the key theoretical foundations of cooperative learning approach, provide essential characteristics of cooperative teams, and what is more, suggest the ways for its implementation and classroom management considerations. Apart from that, the article highlights evidence-based methods to build an effective team, apply cooperative skills, design a class in accordance with cooperative learning principles, and thus sustain productive collaborative environment. The study also emphasizes upon the pedagogical value and adaptability of cooperative learning in a language class.

This paper discusses how a group leader computer tutor may aid students in learning collaborative skills in a co-operative learning environment. However, students need to learn collaborative skills and practice using them. The group leader computer tutor discussed in this paper is designed on the principles of co-operative learning, intelligent tutoring systems and computer-supported collaborative work within an intelligent collaborative learning system (ICLS). The group leader aims to facilitate group work on the task level and to teach students how to use collaborative skills in the discussion level as students work on networked computers in the Jigsaw method of co-operative learning. The ICLS and its group leader were used by two classes at a liberal arts university. Qualitative research shows that the students' co-operative attitudes changed and academic achievement improved from pre- to post-treatment. Students, especially, used the communication skill of openness in comment type discussions. The students enjoyed working collaboratively through the ICLS and their teachers thought that the experience was valuable for them.

The Rationality Index of Plant Use (RIPU) heuristic was developed as a tool to guide ethnobotanists on the rationality of plant uses by cultural groups. However, this heuristic also holds affordances in science education, to promote self-directed learning, and to provide students with more nuanced understandings of the tenets of science, the nature of indigenous knowledge, and what constitutes pseudoscience. In this paper, the authors reflect on a sequential embedded mixed-method study, where pre-service teachers in a natural sciences course, studying thermodynamics, applied the RIPU heuristic to investigate various commercial health products claiming to support weight loss. The learning activity was structured around problem-based and cooperative learning principles, and 36 pre-service teachers participated in the study. Responses to the Self-Directed Learning Instrument, administered in a pre- and post-intervention context, constitutes the quantitative data. Qualitative data includes the completed RIPU instruments, the presentations that cooperative groups made to their peers, focus group interviews that were conducted with the pre-service teachers, and their reflections on the learning activity. Six major themes were distilled from the data, namely, (a) the RIPU addresses the affective domain, as it fosters enjoyment in the learning process, (b) it is cognitively demanding, and could lead to meaningful learning, development of analytical skills and scientific understanding, (c) following a cooperative learning strategy with the RIPU heuristic leads to critical engagement and the participation of all members, (d) the RIPU provides pre-service teachers with more nuanced understandings of the nature of the natural sciences, and the subject’s syntactical nature, (e) the real-world context makes it very suitable for the classroom, and (f) the RIPU heuristic holds affordances to enhance self-directed learning.

This paper examines the problem of teaching students creative writing in a foreign language. The goal of the work is to develop and test a methodology for teaching creative writing in a foreign language, based on the principles of project-based learning, cooperative learning and feedback. The paper presents the theoretical foundations of creative writing and its role in teaching a foreign language, as well as a description of the developed methodology, its advantages and disadvantages. The paper also describes the conduct of experimental training using the developed methodology with a group of students studying a foreign language in non-linguistic universities. The work uses various methods of data collection and analysis, such as testing, questioning, observation and examination. The work confirms the research hypothesis and draws a conclusion about the effectiveness of the developed methodology for teaching creative writing in a foreign language. The work also provides examples of creative texts created by students during their studies, and analyzes their features, strengths and weaknesses. The paper discusses possible directions for further research and development of methods for teaching creative writing in a foreign language.

Objective Traditional teaching methods are no longer enough to prepare students to face the challenges and changes of an international society and to gain the skills needed for the contemporary labour market. Therefore, there is a need to implement alternative teaching methods in Saudi schools, such as cooperative learning to help learners gain personal and social skills and improve their learning. This study investigated Saudi high school learners' perceptions of cooperative learning based on its five principles (Johnson & Johnson, 2014), and the benefits of working cooperatively in class. Methodology/Technique 97 students were involved in this study in one all-male high school in Saudi Arabia. Mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) were used to collect the data, using a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews respectively. Findings The findings suggest that students seem to prefer to use cooperative learning instead of lecture-style mostly due to the perceived academic benefits it generates, among which were increased motivation, enhanced autonomy and responsibility towards learning, gaining thinking and problem solving skills, higher levels of understanding and long-term retention. Students also seem to agree that adopting the cooperative learning principles leads to social benefits such an enjoyment in learning, reduction in anxiety, increased confidence, and positive relationships among students. Novelty : This paper has discovered and recommended that cooperative learning should be considered for implementation in Saudi schools instead of lecture-style in order to benefit students academically and socially. Type of Paper: Empirical Keywords: Communities of Practice, Cooperative Learning, Learning Benefits, Lecture-Style, Students' Perceptions.

Proficiency in the English language is essential in today’s globalised world as it grants individuals access to superior educational and professional prospects. Conventional language teaching approaches frequently do not successfully involve students, resulting in less-than-ideal language acquisition. Cooperative learning has garnered much attention in the research on English as a Second Language teaching, where more and more studies are indicating its effectiveness to be related with enhancing student engagement, language ability, and overall achievement. (Lucha et al 2016.) (Jacobs and Hall, 2002) (McGroarty, 1989). Cooperative learning is one technique that has been recognized significantly in the field of English as a Second Language education. Students are empowered to work in small groups using this learning approach, where a favourable social environment is developed and therefore allows for meaningful participation during the learning process (Wang, 2020). Conclusive research was carried out to establish that the ESL classrooms with cooperative learning practices would experience a positive student achievement, attitude, and motivation (Wyk, 2012). The current study is centred around the cooperative learning strategies which enhance the proficiency of ESL learners through active engagement and interaction with peers. The study also looks into the pedagogical benefits, challenges, and considerations of enhancing English proficiency among the ESL learners.

Extended Abstract Problem Statement: Using of language arts is an essential tool shaping the human life. Among language arts, verbal expression has a significant role in both daily communication activities and language education or language usage. In acquisition or improving of language arts skills, it should be given importance into that the student's interest and motivations devoted to write are high, the students can evaluate products of verbal expression by themselves and make necessary corrections. The new learning programs, renewed according to student-based education system, have brought with new strategy, method and techniques which are appropriate to constructivist approach and include active participation of students in learning period. In native language teaching, it has been seen educational changes as modern age requires, and started to apply a constructivist teaching strategy which is based on active learning and focuses on products of students. One of the approaches which are appropriate to this teaching comprehension is cooperative learning. In this study, it has been aimed to examine the effect of Team-Game-Tournament technique and conventional learning method on success and durability levels in spelling rules and punctuation marks usage by undergraduate students. Method: The working group consists of 50 first year students studied at Nursery Department of Vocational School of Artvin Coruh University and taken Turkish Language course in academic year of 2009-2010. Experimental group and control group have been randomly selected as having 25 students. The success of the students in verbal expression has been gathered by The Test for Verbal Expression Success (TWES). The data required from pre-test, post-test and durability test of the groups have been analyzed by SPSS 16.0 package program. Findings: In the findings of the study, it has not been seen a considerable difference between pre-test averages of research and comparison groups with significance level of U=269,500 p>0,05, whereas there is a considerable difference between post-test averages of the groups ((Research =22,40 - Comparison =19,84) with significance level of U=147, 000, p<0,05 in favor of experimental group. Results, Discussion and Suggestions: As a result of the findings, it has been seen a considerable difference, in favor of Team-Game-Tournament technique, between comparison group which conventional learning method has been used and experimental group, in terms of pre-test and post-test success and durability level on verbal expression. The findings which are related to academic success have similarities with other related studies in litterateur. With the results of this research, it has been given various suggestions for further researches and applications. Keywords: Verbal Expression, Spelling Rules, Punctuation Marks, Success, Team-Game-Tournament Technique.

This paper aimed at investigating the effectiveness of face-to-face Computer Assisted Cooperative Learning (CACL) in teaching reading skills. It employed a mixed-method design as the data were collected through pre and post-test and semi-structured interviews. The pre and post-test of reading skills were analyzed through t-test, and the qualitative data were analyzed through thematic patterns. The findings showed a significant difference between the pre and post-test of reading skills, and the qualitative data analysis showed that face-to-face CACL has academic, social, and cognitive advantages. These findings showed that face-to-face CACL effectively teaches reading skills, which is attributed to the design of CALL and the implementation of cooperative learning principles. It is concluded that CALL and cooperative learning have a complementary advantage in teaching reading skills through face-to-face CACL. Therefore, teachers need to focus on the learning theories of CALL activities and implement the five principles of cooperative learning to make teaching reading skills through CACL more effective for EFL learners.

The purpose of this research is to investigate: (1) the differences of reading skill between the students who join in CIRC cooperative learning model, Jigsaw cooperative learning model, and STAD cooperative learning model; (2) the differences of reading skill between students who have high and low language logic ability; (3) the influences of the use of the three cooperative learning models and the language logic ability on reading skill. This is an experiment study with 3x2 factorial designs. Manipulation is done towards the learning model variables. The experiment group is provided with a learning treatment involving CIRC, Jigsaw, and STAD learning model. The group is divided into two categories, students who have high language logic ability and those who have low language logic ability. The population of the study is the fifth grade elementary school student in Central Java of 2011/2012 Academic Year. Whereas, the samples are the fifth grade elementary students of 12 Elementary Schools in four regencies/cities, in total involve 364 students taken by multi stage area random sampling technique. The data of reading skill is elicited by reading comprehenson test, while the assessment on the level of language logic ability is done by using test of language logic ability. The data is analized by two-way variant. The results show that: (a) the reading skill of the students who joined in CIRC learning model is better than those who joined in Jigsaw or STAD model, meanwhile the students who joined in Jigsaw and STAD learning model have the same skill level; (b) The reading skill of the students who have high language logic ability is better than those who have low language logic ability; (c) cooperative learning model and language logic ability influence reading skill.

This article presents the research results on developing professional capital in Lithuanian schools during the national project “Time for leaders”. The longitudinal national initiative aimed to develop professional capital as the synergy of human, social and decisional components of schools through educational professionals’ various cooperation-based learning experiences. Using the descriptive case study approach, the article investigates the question of how the cooperative learning approach, applied in a long-term professional development project for education professionals, develop individuals’ professional capital. The paper provides an overview of project interventions (i.e., activities that stimulated cooperative learning of educational professionals) in the light of cooperative learning principles. The assessment of change over two project years in education professionals’ perceptions of professional capital, which is presented using Cohen’s d effect size measure. The measurement sample consisted of teachers (n(I) = 5105; n(II) = 4683) and school leaders (n(I) = 439; n(II) = 405) from 189 schools in 30 Lithuanian municipalities. The findings show a statistically significant medium positive change in professional capital. The most considerable change was estimated in the social and decisional capital dimensions and the relative smallest in the field of human capital.

In Lebanon, a great number of students hold a negative attitude towards reading comprehension in Arabic and are inadequately prepared to face the challenges of reading in middle school, due to the traditional unchallenging instructional approaches and the demanding nature of formal Arabic among other factors. The Collaborative Strategic Reading strategy was used in this study with a group of seventh grades at a private elitist school in Beirut. Results showed that when this new technique which involves cooperative learning and metacognitive thinking is systematically applied, it showed considerable improvement in test scores in the experimental group relative to the controls. Also, questionnaires and interviews that were used with Arabic teachers of seventh grade indicated that they were aware of the reading comprehension problems and their students’ negative attitudes towards independent reading in Arabic, but do not seem to be willing to initiative any changes in either their instructional approach or motivational strategies.

The aim of the article is to present the benefits of cooperative learning in mathematics in distance teaching conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. In longitudinal studies, six math teachers formed a collaborative network and developed scenarios for three projects to be implemented by students on an educational platform. During their eight-week implementation, the principles of cooperative learning, using the methodical implications of the self-determination theory (SDT) have been followed. Mathematical problems were solved using the capabilities of the Teams platform. Among students (N = 104) from five sixth grades of primary school who took part in the study, measurements of social-emotional skills were carried out using the Distance Learning Climate questionnaire (DLC-21), designed for the study. The students have shown a high level of mathematical performance (84.8%), the significant increase of the relatedness to the group and the significant decrease in a sense of situational fear. The results also indicate a high level of students' sense of competence and satisfaction associated with the implementation of mathematical projects. The obtained results should be included in further research on the effectiveness of distance mathematics teaching methods.

ABSTRACTSocial work educators are challenged to adopt innovative instructional methods and pedagogies to prepare students to meet the contemporary needs of diverse client populations. A team-based learning (TBL) approach is a pedagogical strategy that utilizes cooperative and collaborative learning principles to inspire academic, professional, and interpersonal growth for students. This study explores perspectives of 93 undergraduate social work students regarding the benefits and challenges of using a TBL approach to research adult development. Despite identifying several benefits of this method, including in-depth learning and enhanced relationships, students also experienced significant challenges to working in teams.

Jigsaw (Aronson, 2025) is a well-known and widely used cooperative learning technique with support from research. Given Jigsaw’s popularity, many variations have arisen, and attention to cooperative learning principles suggests the possibility of further variations. This scoping review looked at 13 studies in the past ten years that used the Jigsaw to facilitate nursing education. The research question was how participants’ use of Jigsaw was organized in these studies and whether variations were used. This general question was organized into nine specific questions. To answer these questions, the 13 research reports were studied. It was found that the basic version of Jigsaw was almost always used with few variations. Based on the cooperative learning literature, the authors suggested that educators might consider variations on Jigsaw in the hope that students can use Jigsaw and other cooperative learning techniques more frequently and successfully. Examples of these variations based on nursing education are given.