Cooperative learning and social acceptance of children with mild intellectual disability

Abstract

The effects of the participation of non-disabled children in a cooperative learning programme on their social acceptance of classmates with mild intellectual disability was examined. A sample of 24 children with mild intellectual disability in the 9-11-year-old age-range was identified from educational psychologists' case records. All of the children were receiving mainstreaming special education programmes at the time of the study. Twelve of the children had previously attended special education classes, while the remainder had always attended regular classes. Half of the children's regular classes were randomly assigned to either receive an experimental cooperative learning programme or to serve as control classrooms. The non-disabled children in the experimental classes showed significant increases in their social acceptance (sociometric ratings) of the children with mild intellectual disability, both immediately following the programme and 5 weeks later, but no such increases were evident in the children in the control classrooms. This pattern held for both the former special class pupils and the children with mild intellectual disability who had never attended special classes. The results confirm the usefulness of cooperative learning strategies for enhancing the social acceptance of children with mild intellectual disability in mainstreaming special educational programmes, regardless of the nature of their previous special educational provisions.

Programa informativo sobre deficiência mental e inclusão: mudanças nas atitudes socias de crianças sem deficiência

“…Vários estudos, como os de Guralnick et al (1995); Jacques et al (1998);e York et al (1992), apontam as possibilidades de benefícios tanto para os deficientes como para as crianças sem deficiência nesse processo, no sentido de desenvolverem tolerância, respeito mútuo, cooperação. Logo, ressalta-se a necessidade de as escolas e as comunidades que se propõem à inclusão desenvolverem estratégias informativas e de sensibilização referentes às diferenças e, especificamente, às deficiências, desde a infância, com o intuito de ampliar as atitudes de solidariedade e a valorização das diferenças.…”

An Analysis and Synthesis of Research on Classroom Peer Tutoring Methods that Benefit Intermediate Math Students

“…It increases student social skills, self-esteem, drive to accomplish school work, desire to be a part of school, academic success, good actions, and standing with peers (Jacques, Wilton, & Townsend, 1998;Roach et al, 1983). Collins and Onwuegbuzie noted that while a significant amount of students did better after participating in a tutorial program, that they did not increase their achievement in mathematics as they had in other subject areas (2001).…”

“…Jacques et al (1998) states that students with slight learning disabilities were more accepted by their peers when cooperative learning was used. Though their peers expressed initial fear about interacting with the disabled students, they became more confident as they learned appropriate responses to their partner (Clemenz, 2002).…”

“…Teams that were given instruction on how to work together ended up working better together, were more willing to care for the needs of their teammates, made others feel more apart based on what they said, and offered more elaboration to their teammates (Gillies & Ashman, 1996;Jacques et al, 1998;Kramarski et al, 2002;Yackel et al, 1991). Trained teams produced more independent learners that achieved far more than their untrained counterparts (Gillies & Ashman, 1996;Kramarski et al, 2002;Yackel et al, 1991).…”

“…When fellow students respond to the questions about their area of struggle right away with a detailed answer, students develop a much stronger understanding of the problem; they succeed because of the additional practice they are able to accomplish (Abrami & Chambers, 1996). This produces a setting where interpersonal needs are met (Abrami & Chamber, 1996;Jacques et al, 1998). "Interpersonal motives encourage learning together through peer support (e.g., help receiving), and prosocial tendencies (e.g., help giving), and affiliative need (e.g., belonging)" (Abrami & Chambers, 1996).…”