To facilitate their initial acquisition of knowledge from text material, we paired students with same-sex partners with whom they read and studied two passages describing technical equipment. We tested three different scripts for cooperative interactions. In one group (n = 26), partners each read only one passage, then taught each other the information they had read. In the second group (n = 20), both partners read both passages, stopping periodically to summarize the material to each other. In the third group (n = 25), each partner read alternate pages of both passages, stopping to teach each other the material they had read. Free-and cued-recall tests revealed that participants using the cooperative teaching script significantly outperformed participants in the other groups. Further analyses indicated that after playing a teaching role, students recalled significantly more material for the passage they taught. After playing a learning role (i.e., for the passage they did not read but were taught by their partners), they did not recall significantly less than those who read both passages. Although we discuss several possible explanations for these effects, further experimentation is needed to determine their validity.Our purpose in this research was to explore ways in which learners could interact during acquisition of new knowledge that would lead to effective understanding and recall of written information. Past research has established the value of cooperative learning in classroom settings (e.g.to enhance academic performance but also to increase self-esteem and encourage positive social relations among classmates.Beneficial effects of cooperative learning have also been found in more controlled laboratory studies (Dansereau, 1985;Dansereau et al., 1979;McDonald, Larson, Dansereau, & Spurlin, 1985). In these studies, a general script was developed for cooperative learners working as partners. The script involves two roles: recaller and listener-facilitator. First, both partners read a section of text material silently. Then the partner acting as recaller gives a verbal summary of all he or she can remember from the text. The listening partner's role is to detect any errors or missing information in the summary. Both partners then discuss ways they will try to remember the information, and then continue to read the next portion of text. It has been shown that cooperative learners' performance on recall tests is significantly higher than the recall of individuals studying alone. When further research was conducted to

This study replicates and extends prior investigations of scripted cooperation and knowledge maps by examining (a) their independent and interactive effects on procedural knowledge acquisition and (b) the transfer of these effects to individual learning. One hundred four subjects, randomly assigned to knowledge map/dyad, knowledge map/individual, text/dyad, and text/ individual conditions, studied two acquisition procedures in the experimental conditions and a transfer-text procedure in an individual, unscripted manner. Subjects completed delayed freerecall tests over each procedure. During acquisition, knowledge maps had positive effects on recall of main and intermediate ideas. There were no significant treatment effects on transfer recall. The instrumental uses and limitations of knowledge maps are discussed.

Individual differences in the recall of procedural and structural/functional information was investigated in situations in which students studied in dyads or alone. Three hundred undergraduates completed a series of nine individual difference measures and learned a four-step study strategy. They then studied passages that included both structural/functional and procedural material either in a dyad or alone. They completed a free-recall test of the material 2 days later. Induction ability was found to be significantly predictive of the dyadic recall of structural/ functional material. Social orientation was negatively related to the recall of procedural material for those who studied individually. Furthermore, those who studied in dyads recalled significantly more than did those who studied alone. Theoretical implications and practical applications of the results are discussed.Cooperative learning differs from traditional learning scenarios in three basic ways: (a) In cooperative learning, 2 or more persons study together, as opposed to students' normal tendencies to study alone; (b) there exists no teacher/student relationship (participants play equal roles); and (c) presumably none of the participants are expert in the information being studied . Over the last few years, a systematic research program has been conducted to examine the boundary conditions and parameters of this type of learning (e.g.

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We examined the efficacy of a previously developed script for learning concrete procedures with more complex procedures than had previously been studied. The experiments examined the efficacy of peer cooperation in learning concrete procedures, the effects of learning about the necessary equipment prior to practicing the procedure, and the retention of procedural information over a 6-week delay. One hundred fourteen students participated in one of the following groups: no-script individuals, no-script dyads, simultaneous-script dyads, or successive-script dyads. The simultaneous group performed better, described the procedure more thoroughly, and recalled more information than other groups. Thirty nine of the original participants completed the second experiment, in which they again produced written recalls of the instructions. The pattern of differences observed after the initial experiment was maintained after a 6-week interval.