An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of cooperative group learning on the problem solving performance of college students in a large introductory physics course. An explicit problem solving strategy was taught in the course, and students practiced using the strategy to solve problems in mixed-ability cooperative groups. A technique was developed to evaluate students’ problem solving performance and determine the difficulty of context-rich problems. It was found that better problem solutions emerged through collaboration than were achieved by individuals working alone. The instructional approach improved the problem solving performance of students at all ability levels.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.