An Investigation On The Cooperative Learning Concept Of Rural Junior High School Students In Yunnan Province

The effectiveness of cooperative learning has already been supported by previous studies.While in China,currently,the research and practice of cooperative learning concentrate more on urban schools than rural schools.This study aimed to investigate the status and students’ beliefs of cooperative learning in S Middle School,analyze the influencing factors and tested correlations between beliefs and current status.Students were stratified by grade and 290 samples were selected randomly for questionnaire.In addition,semi-structured interviews were conducted on 12 students and 4 teachers.The research found that 1)most of students in S school had positive attitudes towards cooperative learning,with students who were female,non-single or had higher-educated parents performing better than their counterparts;2)rural middle students had a poor understanding of cooperative learning,with class committee members or higher grade students performing better than their counterparts;3)rural middle school students had a low assessment on their quality regarding to cooperative learning,with students who were male,single,non-class-committee members or whose parent(s)working out performing worse than their counterparts;4)students’beliefs of cooperative learning were positively correlated with their performance.The more positive attitude,deeper understanding,and higher assessment,the better performance in cooperative learning.Based on the above conclusions,it is suggested that relative cultivation and instructions should be given to students as well as teachers,more considerations should be attached to the selection of cooperative members,the role of each member should be allocated reasonably and are changeable,and a more comprehensive assessment is needed.