Cooperative Learning as Perceived by Educators of Gifted Students and Proponents of Cooperative Education.

N

36

Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC.

R206A00596

Cooperative Learning; Curriculum; Elementary Secondary Education; Gifted; Heterogeneous Grouping; Interpersonal Competence; Leadership; Teacher Attitudes; Teaching Methods

In an attempt to understand the perceptions of educators toward the use of cooperative learning (CL) with gifted students, a survey was designed to look at the attitudes of educators from both gifted and CL associations. One hundred respondents were randomly selected from the mailing lists of four such associations; the return rate was 75%. The survey focused on: teacher preparation; forms of CL that work best with gifted students; combining CL with gifted education; meeting social and emotional needs of gifted students through CL; evaluation of CL with gifted students; and the use of ability grouping during CL activities. The study found considerable differences in the two groups' perceptions. The gifted and talented (GT) educators felt strongly that the curriculum used in CL is not challenging enough for gifted students, while this idea was rejected by the CL group. The GT group also felt that there has been little evaluation of what CL techniques work best with gifted students, while the CL group disagreed. The CL group felt that gifted students develop critical social and leadership skills through cooperative learning, while GT respondents did not. GT respondents believed that gifted students resent being the "junior teacher" in heterogeneous cooperative groups, while CL respondents disagreed. A copy of the survey is included in an appendix. (Contains 24 references.) (JDD)

1993

ED355675