Interdependence in the classroom: A field study.

Abstract

A field study was conducted in which fifth-grade students spent three class periods per week for 6 weeks in small interdependent learning groups. Each student taught the other members of his or her group a portion (IIn) of the assignment. These students were compared with fifth graders in traditional, teacher-taught (control) classrooms. As hypothesized, students in the interdependent learning groups (experimentals) manifested higher self-esteem than controls and liked groupmates more than other classmates. Further, black and Anglo experimentals increased their liking for school more than control blacks and Anglos. The implications for the use of the interdependent techniques in desegregated classrooms are discussed.

Decategorization and the reduction of bias in the crossed categorization paradigm

“…Desforges, Lord, Ramsey, Mason, Van Leeuwen, West, & Lepper, 1991;Desforges, Lord, Pugh, & Sia, 1997;Hewstone & Brown, 1986;Van Oudenhoven, Groenewoud, & Hewstone, 1996;Wilder, 1984), others have only found speci®c attitude change without a corresponding generalization effect (e.g. Blaney, Stephan, Rosen®eld, Aronson, & Sikes, 1977;Johnson & Johnson, 1981;Slavin, 1979). Studies that measure attitudes toward the out-group as an abstract social category often fail to obtain any generalization effect (Bond, DiCandia, & MacKinnon, 1988;Wilder & Thompson, 1980;Weigel, Wiser, & Cook, 1975).…”

The Jigsaw classroom under test: No effect on intergroup relations evident

“…Two of these empirical studies of Jigsaw concluded with negative findings (Moskowitz, Malvin, Schaeffer, & Schaps, 1983;Moskowitz, Malvin, Schaeffer, & Schaps, 1985). The remaining four papers concluded with favourable effects on social relations (Blaney, Stephan, Rosenfield, Aronson, & Sikes, 1977;Bridgeman, 1981;Rego & Moledo, 2005;Walker & Crogan, 1998). However, studies claiming to find favourable effects on intergroup relations have methodological limitations.…”

“…For instance, a study using attitudes towards class members as outcome variable (Blaney et al, 1977) is repeatedly, but incorrectly, referred to when arguing for Jigsaw's effectiveness for improving outgroup attitudes (assuming a generalization beyond class members). Another study (Walker & Crogan, 1998) contrasted one Jigsaw class that had two teachers with a non-interdependent cooperative class, in which the researchers identified a negative development.…”

“…In particular, articles can maintain that Jigsaw was supported when only some of the measurements could back up this conclusion (e.g. with mixed data for liking of school (Blaney et al, 1977) or for intergroup attitudes (Rego & Moledo, 2005)). …”

Teacher educators’ collaboration in subject departments: collaborative activities and social relations

“…Although it is common to study interdependence using qualitative methods, given the large group of respondents a survey was deemed more feasible. Moreover, such an approach has been successfully used before in student interdependence studies (Blaney, Stephan, Rosenfield, Aronson, & Sikes, 1977). To measure the networks, a network survey was used, as is common in network research (Scott & Carrington, 2011).…”