Absent and Accounted For: Absenteeism and Cooperative Learning*

Abstract

In a small section collaborative learning environment where student work teams promote mutual learning about investments, students limit the opportunity to learn from other students if they are absent from class. Absenteeism not only denies the student the opportunity to learn from others but also denies other members of the student's work team the opportunity to learn from the absent student. Other team members' absenteeism should be costly for individual performance if collaborative learning fosters learning and retention. The research finds that while absenteeism is detrimental to the student's own performance, absenteeism of other team members from team activities has a significant negative effect on both individual exam and homework scores. The conclusions validate the benefits of active learning and of encouraging attendance in collaborative learning environments in all disciplines.

Co-operation of the Latvia University of Agriculture with Schools

“… kopīgi mērķi sadarbības procesā iesaistītām pusēm (Maslo, 2003;Raй, 2002;Špona, 2001),  sadarbība ir dalīšanās pieredzē, aktīva zināšanu pielietošana darbībā (Čehlova, 2002;Koppenhaver, 2006;Леонтьев, 1999;Slavin 1991),  atbildības apzināšanās un tās vienlaicīga sadale starp sadarbības subjektiem (Брызгалова, 2004). Zinātniskajā literatūrā vērojama diskusija par pētniecību no diviem aspektiem -zinātniskā pētniecība (Harwood, 2004;Yager, Kaya, Dogan, 2007) un mācību pētniecība (Далингер, 2000, 2007).…”

“…Pētniecība skolas mācību procesā kļūst arvien aktuālāka problēma, jo līdzās tradicionālam mācībām, vērojamas jaunas tendences mācību darba organizācijā, metodēs, skolotāju un skolēnu sadarbībā (Koppenhaver, 2006;Žogla, 2001).…”

Investigation of Relationship Between Theoretical Practice Course Success and Attendance

“…Koppenhaver (2006) stated that participation of the student in the class is not the only variable of success, besides this, active or passive, voluntarily or compulsory attendance of the students, student or teacher centered course are also among the variables affecting the learning success. In order to have a high correlation between attendance and success, the quality of teaching must be high.…”

“…On the other hand: active or passive, voluntarily or compulsory course attendance of the students, student or teacher centered course are also among the variables affecting the learning success (Koppenhaver, 2006). Similarly; it is necessary to study to what extent forcing the students to attend the course by means of transferring the book information to the course as it is is effective in terms of learning and to observe the results (Browne, Hoag and Wheeler, 1994).…”

Students’ views and correlation regarding performance and attendance for a first year Engineering cohort

“…It has been reported by Romer (1993) that 25% attendance results in an "average earning of a 1.79 (C-)", while a 100% attendance materialize in an "average earning of a 3.44 (B+)". However, attendance quantify as one of many among other variables such as student's cumulative GPA (Grade Point Average), and background that relate and influence academic performance (Gump, 2005;Koppenhaver, 2006). Moreover, it has been shown (Friedman et al, 2001) that attendance was improved when it was included/related to the final results.…”