An Empirical Assessment of Cooperative Groups in Large, Time-compressed, Introductory Courses

We measured student knowledge and motivation at the beginning and end of a three-week general psychology course. Two large lecture sections (N=215 and N=154) were compared; one used a cooperative learning process, and one did not. Student knowledge significantly improved in both sections, but there was no additional benefit derived from using cooperative learning. Interestingly, student motivation significantly decreased in the cooperative learning section. With recognition of the study’s limitations, we conclude that cooperative learning has limited efficacy in large enrollment, compressed courses.