JCE Online Journal of Chemical EducationDivision of Chemical Education, American Chemical SocietyAmerican Chemical Society
 | Subscriptions  | Software Orders  | Support  | Contributors  | Advertisers  | 

JCE Print
   Current Issue
 Previous Issues
 Supplements
 Search JCE Index

JCE Digital Library
   ChemInfo
 DigiDemos
 Featured Molecules
 LivTexts
 LrnCom
 QBank
 SymMath
 WebWare

JCE Software
   Latest Releases
 Software & Video
 Downloads
 Support

Only@JCE Online
   JCE Online Store
 JCE HS CLIC
 JCE Discussion Forums
   Biographical Snapshots
 ChemEd Resource Shelf
 Featured Molecules
 Hal's Picks
 Project Chemlab
 Reviewed WWW Sites
 "Web-Ed" Articles

About JCE
   Features
 Publications
 Operations
 Outreach
 Contact Us


  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1995  > September  >
General Interest
Cooperative Learning and Enhanced Communication: Effects on Student Performance, Retention, and Attitudes in General Chemistry
R. C. Dougherty, C. W. Bowen, T. Berger, W. Rees, E. K. Mellon, and E. Pulliam
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306
Cover
September 1995
Vol. 72 No. 9
p. 793
Abstract
This report discusses the retention and performance of three sections of general chemistry that utilized different levels of cooperative learning and enhanced communication. The structured cooperative section (S-coop) required that students belonged to study groups, had group homework and group quizzes and had course credit driven electronic mail. The unstructured cooperative section (U-coop) encouraged students to form optional informal groups and provided for optional enhanced communication by paper mail. The control section used a standard lecture format without any cooperative learning or enhanced communication options. The student retention (C or better) was S-coop 85 %, U-coop 76 %, and Control 59 % (all differences were statistically significant). On the final exam the percent correct for common questions was S-coop 58%, U-coop 60%, and Control 55%. Adjusted for the difference in retention there was no significant difference between the two cooperative sections. The results of the Student Instructional Rating System for the three sections had the following percentage of students agreeing that the instructor was an effective teacher: S-coop 74%; U-coop 99%; and Control 80%. In all cases the differences were statistically significant. We conclude that a structured cooperative learning environment with enhanced communication can improve overall student retention and performance in general chemistry.
More Information
*  Citation
 Dougherty, R. C.; Bowen, C. W.; Berger, T.; Rees, W.; Mellon, E. K.; Pulliam, E. J. Chem. Educ. 1995 72 793.
*  Keywords
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 10/1/1999
5/22/2006
<< Previous Article Table of Contents Next Article >>
  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1995 > September > Page 793


Subscriptions
 Subscription Info
 Order Forms

JCE HS CLIC

Our Secondary School editors work hard to distill all the JCE materials to produce a fraction of particular interest to high school teachers. We call it CLIC.
 JCE HS CLIC

Contributions Welcome
JCE welcomes your submission
 Contributors' Corner

Advertisers
In recent years we have worked hard to better match our advertisers with our readers. When shopping for chemistry education materials, visit our advertisers' WWW sites first.
 Recent Advertisers

Be An Ambassador
Take JCE along on your outreach missions. Copies of the Journal, guest access to JCE Online, our publications catalog, and more are available for your participants.
 Outreach with JCE

Comments to
jceonline@chem.wisc.edu		 Copyright © Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society.
All rights reserved.