HKIER

Abstract

In three cooperative learning studies, teacher interventions influenced student motivation, which in turn affected group outcomes. Forty students from five 9th grade classes were videotaped while solving an algebra problem together in groups of four. A teacher and a teaching assistant (TA) taught these classes and intervened 54 times. Controlling for past student achievement, higher student motivation increased cooperative problem solving success in the first study. In the second study, increased student autonomy and greater teacher responsiveness to students increased student motivation. Indicators of greater student autonomy included: student-initiated interventions, % of student talk and % of teacher/teaching assistant (T/TA) questions. Indicators of greater teacher responsiveness included % of T/TA support and % of T/TA criticism. Also, % of T/TA closed questions and % of T/TA compliments positively predicted student motivation. Finally, the case study discusses one intervention in detail, showing some conditions of use, exceptions to the above effects, and specifying how a compliment helped increase student motivation.

Keywords: group work; classroom teaching; student motivation

摘要

N.A.