Cooperation training in Australia

Gillies, R.M., Ashman, A.F. (2000). The effects of cooperative learning on students with learning difficulties in the lower elementary school. Journal of special education, 34(1), 19-27. doi: 10.1177/002246690003400102

This paper reports on a study of cooperative learning in Australian schools. The focus of the study was the effects of cooperative learning training on the behaviour and outcomes of students with learning disabilities.

Participants were from 25 grade 3 classes from 11 schools of similar socio-economic status from around Brisbane. Of the 152 students, 22 were identified as have learning difficulties, with reading levels below that of their grade level and phonological processing problems. These students had also been receiving specialist teacher help. All of the students were placed in groups containing an identified high ability student, two medium ability students and a low ability student. The low ability student group contained the students with learning difficulties. The groups some group were then given cooperation training, with 12 of the students with learning difficulties receiving this training. The student's were pre- and post-tested using the measures selected for the study. Groups were video recorded twice for behaviour observations.

The study found that students with learning difficulties were more involved with group activities and exhibited less off-task behaviour when the students were in a group which had cooperation training. It was commented that the students in the cooperation training group did not provide more, or better, explanations, than the non-trained group, however they did provide more directions. Students in the cooperation training group achieved better outcomes at the end of the study on the comprehension questionnaire, but not the standardised test. This was attributed to the questionnaire having a closer alignment to the curriculum than the test.

The authors finish by stating that their study supports cooperative learning as a means of improving outcomes and helping behaviours of students with learning difficulties, however they feel that the conclusions that can be drawn are limited due to the small number of students with learning difficulties.
Main quote: "results of this study suggest that children with learning difficulties benefit from working in small, structured cooperative groups in their classrooms" (p. 26).


Gillies, R. (2002). The Residual Effects of Cooperative-Learning Experiences: A Two-Year Follow-Up. Journal of Educational Research, 96(1), 15. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.

This paper initially sounded like a follow-up to the Gillies and Ashman (2000) paper above, however it is instead appears to be a follow up to a previous study performed by the pair. Most of the experimental conditions were the same, however there are a few differences. First is that they are year 5 students and the students split into groups based on whether they received cooperative learning training or not in the previous study and did not receive any additional training.

It was found that the previously trained students were more on task, sharing and responsive to group members needs than non-trained students. The previously trained students also provided more explanations than the untrained students. It was also noted that the trained students used more sophisticated language and language strategies as they gave explanations to their group. This paper is good as it shows that the cooperation training lasts, it does not fade away after the end of the study.


An important note for both these studies is that they report on the effect of cooperation training rather than cooperative learning. Both the trained and untrained students were given the same cooperative learning activities. Looking at the results in Gillies and Ashman (2000) show that the untrained group improved they group behaviour and results, however the improvement was not as significant as trained group.