1.       Tan, I. G.-C., Sharan, S., & Lee, C. K.-E. (2006). Group Investigation and student learning: An experiment in Singapore schools. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish.

A study compared CL and Whole-Class instruction and found no significant differences on either academic achievement or motivation to learn. That sounds a bit disheartening, doesn’t it? Please think again. This book, which reports that study, is one that everyone concerned with the use of CL and research on CL will want to read, as reading the book will strengthen our resolve to use CL and to improve our understanding of how to use it well.

The study was done as doctoral dissertation research by the first author, Ivy Tan, one of the organizers of the 2004 IASCE conference in Singapore. Tan’s co-authors, Shlomo Sharan and Christine Lee (chair of the 2004 conference), helped supervise the research. The study involved two groups of Singapore secondary school students (approximately age 14). The three classes in the control group studied via Whole-Class (WC) instruction, while the four classes in the treatment group used the Group Investigation (GI) method of CL (Sharan & Sharan, 1992). Dependent variables were academic achievement, motivation to learn, and perceptions of GI as measured by written statements. Results showed no statistically significant differences between the two groups as to academic achievement or motivation to learn. In other words, each group (WC and GI) did as well as the other, with neither group coming out ahead on achievement. As to perception of GI, based on analysis of 900 written statements, two-thirds of those in the experimental group were considered to have indicated a positive view of the method, while one-third were considered as holding an overall negative view.

Among the book’s many useful features are:

1. An overview of six CL methods – Student Team Learning, Jigsaw, Structural Approach, Learning Together, Complex Instruction, and Group Investigation – in terms of their philosophy, academic goal, social goal, process of learning and characteristics of the tasks typically used
    

2. An explanation of the theoretical foundations of Group Investigation
    

3. A review of research on CL, including research done in Singapore
    

4. A critique of research on CL, e.g., the point that “teacher competence, school-wide support for the experiment, class session duration, frequency of class meetings, and so forth, are often allowed to vary uncontrolled in experiments, making their comparison problematic” (p. 43).

Perhaps the two most interesting sections of the book are the preface by Seymour Sarason, who has written extensively on school change (e.g., Sarason, 1996) and the authors’ discussion of the study’s results. Sarason argues that changes in instructional methods need to occur in tandem with “appropriate changes in the school’s expectations for student learning and social behavior in classrooms. Otherwise the students are likely to feel anxious and insecure about the consequences of learning in a way to which they had not been exposed previously” (p. ix).

In the book’s discussion chapter, the authors make a similar point and urge that future researchers attempt to broaden their efforts to prepare students, teachers and other players in the educational drama for the use of innovative approaches to learning. Tan, Sharan, and Lee also note that the majority positive view of GI by those students who had experienced the method gives hope that with proper preparation students can adapt to student-centered approaches.

Fortunately, as can be seen elsewhere in this issue of the IASCE Newsletter, such as in the report from Turkey, cooperative learning and other aspects of the student-centered educational paradigm are becoming more common. Indeed, this study played a part in promoting change in Singapore because it exposed four classes of students to a picture of what education can be. Thus, perhaps even when the dependent variables in a control-group/experimental group study fail to show special benefits for CL, CL may still be of benefit, because it lays the groundwork for change by showing students and teachers the potential of student-centered learning and by helping them learn how to carry it out. In conclusion, this book is worth reading, as it assists us in understanding the paradigm shift toward student-centered learning, how to implement it, and why it is so important.

References

Sarason, S. (1996). Revisiting “The culture of school and the problem of change.” New York: Teachers College Press.

          Sharan, Y., & Sharan, S. (1992). Expanding cooperative learning through Group Investigation.  Colchester, VT: Teachers College Press.

2.       Shephard, C., & Treseder, P. (2002). Participation: Spice it up!  Swansea, Wales: Dynamix Ltd. Serious Fun ((www.seriousfun.demon.co.uk), published by Save the Children Fund U.K. 159 pp. £18.95

Archipelago? The Wind Blows? Zombies? Not exactly titles that we're used to hearing in the cooperative learning classroom. These and many others (some with more familiar sounding names) are in this book, which is written in the lively spirit of the Dynamix team that demonstrated their concept of "serious fun" at the IASCE conference in Manchester in 2002. The book includes many of the activities they conducted at the conference and conveys their joy at working with people, at encouraging and enabling the full participation of people of all ages and backgrounds in any setting. These activities are intended to facilitate teambuilding, promote discussion, and clarify values in any setting that calls for participation in planning and decision making.

After spelling out the Dynamix team's purposes and values, the authors list many activities with clear instructions. They add a few words about why they like each activity, when they've used it and suggest adaptations and developments of the activity. In the last chapter, they present detailed "menus" of programs that they actually carried out with various groups, using the activities recommended in the book. Finally, they offer a list of resources for further reading.

One of my favorite activities is Archipelago, an activity which we experienced in Manchester. This activity is designed to get people moving and encountering different people. In a circle, everyone stands on a piece of newspaper, (together the pieces of newspaper form the archipelago), scrunches up another piece of newspaper, and throws it into the middle of the circle, where it becomes a "shark." The people are not standing on any ordinary islands, but on an alphabetical archipelago, so they have to rearrange themselves accordingly and, in the process, be careful not to fall into the shark-infested waters. Sounds confusing? Read the directions and it will become easy.

Another not-so-usual activity combines the visual arts and is called "Arty Mural." People are encouraged to express their views on a topic or problem by drawing – in pairs or individually – pictures and images on a large roll of paper hung on the wall. The authors point out that the ideas depicted in the mural can lead to further discussion of possible solutions, points of view, or issues to be investigated in the future.

Above all, these activities follow the Dynamix credo for increasing participation: be flexible, be enthused, have lots of ideas ready, and be uninhibited.

3.       McCafferty, S. G., Jacobs, G. M., & DaSilva Iddings, A. C. (Eds.) (2006). Cooperative learning and second language teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press.

This edited book is the latest addition to the list of books that address the use of CL in second language education. The term “second language education” concerns instruction in any language other than one’s first language or mother tongue, e.g., someone born in Italy would probably have Italian as their first language, and if they went to study in a university in China, they would probably need to learn Chinese as a second language.

The book under discussion here has two parts. Part I consists of three chapters by the editors dealing with roots of CL in general education, connections between CL and second language teaching and learning, and issues in implementing CL.

These three chapters lay the foundation for Part II, the main section of the book. Each of the six chapters in Part II contains a narrative by teachers in which they describe their use of CL in a particular setting. There are two chapters each from primary, secondary, and tertiary settings.

The narratives offer considerable variety. While English is the language being studied in most of the chapters, the chapter by Jones and Taylor describes the teaching of French to native-speaking secondary students. The settings also differ geographically, including Canada, Japan, Lebanon, Singapore, and the U.S. Furthermore, the chapter authors used a wide variety of CL methods. Each of the narrative chapters ends with a set of discussion points and tasks.

Some other books related to CL and second language education are listed below.

Coelho, E. (1994). Learning together in the multicultural classroom. Scarborough, ON: Pippin.

Coelho, E., Winer, L., & Winn-Bell Olsen, J. (1989). All sides of the issue: Activities for cooperative jigsaw groups. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Ehrman, M. E., & Dornyei, Z. (1998). Interpersonal dynamics in second language education: The visible and invisible classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Gaies, S. J. (1985). Peer involvement in language learning. Orlando, FL and Washington, DC: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and Center for Applied Linguistics.

Hadfield, J. (1992). Classroom dynamics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

High, J. (1993). Second language learning through cooperative learning. San

Clemente, CA: Kagan Publications and Professional Development.

Holt, D.D. (ed.). 1993. Cooperative learning: a response to linguistic and cultural diversity. McHenry, IL: Delta Systems.

Kessler, C. (Ed.). (1992). Cooperative language learning: A teacher's resource book. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Kluge, D., McGuire, S., Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (Eds.). (1999). Cooperative learning. Tokyo: Japan Association for Language Teaching.

Nunan, D. (Ed.). (1992). Collaborative language learning and teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press.