vement . . . . (p. 72).
Most cooperative learning involves students being required to perform tasks and problem-solving activities (Sharan & Sharan, 1976). The basic concept of cooperative learning, according to Slavin (1988), centers around rewarding team performance toward the objective of getting team members to encourage and support one another's learning. The group, in a sense, becomes responsible for instruction of each individual member.
Slavin (1988) notes that there are several different types of cooperative learning, each of which is associated with different effectiveness levels, but he adds that regardless of the method, all types of cooperative learning involve the assignment of group rewards based on individual learning, and notes that:
Studies of these methods have consistently found
that they increase student achievement in a variety of subject areas and grade levels (Slavin, 1998, p. 75).
Of particular concern to this study is the use of cooperative learning methods in terms of the learning of technological or technologically-related tasks. One study that examined the use of cooperative learning methods in relation to a technologically-related task was conducted by Mevarech, Stern and Levita (1987). The authors examined the efficacy of computer-assisted instruction (CAT) under conditions where students learned alone and under conditions where they learned in pairs. The researchers observed that pairs exhibited more prosocial orientation than did those who learned alone. In addition, those students who learned in pairs scored higher in achievement and had more positive attitudes toward cooperation in learning than did those who learned individually.
In another technologically-related study, Hooper and Hannafin (1988) examined CAT-related tasks for groups of both low and high ability eighth-grade students, half of which were placed in homogeneous, ability-based groups, and half of which were...