Two high school general mathematics classrooms were differentially taught a unit on percentages, one with a cooperative and the other an individualistic goal structure. A design using pre- and posttests with a three-way ANOVA analysis of treatment by time within subjects was used. Neither group was found to be significantly different from the other on the pretest. Although both groups obtained significant (p < .05) gains on their posttest scores as contrasted with their pretest scores, the cooperatively goal-structured classroom demonstrated significantly (p < .05) higher achievement posttest scores than the individualistic group. The data strongly support theories concerning the effectiveness and motivation associated with intergroup competition of small cooperative groups.
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Thomas et al. (1986) studied this question.
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