Cognitive and Affective Outcomes of an Intensive Student Team Learning Experience

AbstractThree student team learning methods, Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD), Teams-Games-Tournament (TGT), and Jigsaw, have been found to have positive effects on such student outcomes as achievement, race relations, mutual concern, and self-esteem. These techniques involve students working in small teams to master academic materials. However, the three methods have always been evaluated one at a time, for only small parts of the school day. This study evaluated use of all three methods together, covering most of students' instructional day, to discover whether student team learning methods can be used to replace traditional methods. Fourth- and fifth-grade students were assigned to experimental or control treatments for a semester. Results indicated that the intensive use of student team learning methods was feasible and produced positive outcomes on student friendships, liking of school, self-esteem, and language and reading achievement. Notes1. This work was supported by the National Institute of Education, Grant No. NIE-G-78-021O. The opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not represent the policy of the National Institute of Education. The authors wish to thank Anna Harris and the principals, teachers, and students of the Washington County, Maryland schools who participated in the project, and Bernard L. Blackburn, Betty Harris, Patt Scott, Dorothy Cochrane, Sue Gordon, Sue Baker, Julie McClellan, Tina Rives, and Nancy Madden.