The Benefits of Strictly Enforced Cooperative Learning at the College Level Jeremy Flanagan And Melissa Gardner

Background Research Bobbette (2003) – Cooperative Exams Zimbardo, Butler, Wolfe (2003)- Cooperative Exams without group preparation Peterson and Miller (2004)- Cooperative Learning vs. Large Group Instruction

Background Research Carlsmith and Cooper (2002)- Lecture- Style Learning vs. Cooperative Learning Busby and Thomas (2003)- Loosely Enforced Group Work

Methods - Hypotheses Strict enforcement of individual participation in group work will result in an increase in the quality of the final project, therefore increasing the final grade Strict enforcement of individual participation in the group will result in an increase in the number of students reporting positive attitudes toward group work

Methods - Participants Population – Syracuse University Undergraduate Students in Psychology 205 Students will be given the option to participate in the recitation or the group project for the entire semester. They must give informed consent Sample- A sample of 300 students will be selected using simple random sampling Assignment- Matched Random Assignment According to results of Survey

Methods- Materials Students will be assigned to one of three groups and given a prompt for the project They will need to integrate material from the text book, lectures, and outside research into the project The project must include a written 20 page paper as well as two other presentation forms (power point, video, etc.)

Methods- Variables Independent Variables- 3 Levels Level I. Control- No enforcement of individuals roles or contributions Level II. Loose Enforcement- Students are given a list of roles for the project, no monitoring Level III. Strict Enforcement- Students are assigned roles and their work is monitored Dependent Variable- Final Grades and Student Attitudes

Methods- Procedure Monitoring of Strictly enforced group weekly Other groups are not required to hand in anything but the final product The groups will meet 1 day a week during class time for 80 minutes Students will be prohibited from working outside of class Students will be assigned a topic for the presentation

Methods- Measurement At the conclusion of the semester and project, students will be administered a questionnaire and Likert scale These will be used to determine their opinion of group work The students will also be given a final grade by three participating Teaching Assistants as well as the Professor