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In the next decade, the fastest growing occupations are projected to be in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and will require advanced mathematical and scientific knowledge. Unfortunately, many American students today, especially those in low-income schools, are performing at low levels in math and will have trouble gaining access to these jobs. It is therefore critical that middle school students succeed in math. The PowerTeaching program is a middle school math program that has shown strong evidence of effectiveness.
The change in standard instructional practices gives schools a chance to not only teach students applied skills but improve students’ academic learning if they can help teachers turn “group work” into “cooperative learning teams.” PowerTeaching, a structured cooperative learning program, was designed to do just that. Thus, the expansion of PowerTeaching through a federal Investing in Innovation grant offers the education field a unique opportunity to learn what it takes to help teachers create cooperative learning environments in their classrooms.
Thus, while it is not difficult to convince math teachers that group learning activities are a useful instructional strategy, there still remains a crucial need to help teachers turn this group work into effective cooperative team learning.However, this study’s findings show that no matter what instructional program schools adopt to improve cooperative learning, they must provide sufficient training and support to ensure teachers understand and master the strategies that engender a truly interdependent cooperative learning environment. Simply having students work in groups, even in long-standing heterogeneous teams, is not enough.
Teachers must manage their classroom so that all students are invested in their teams’ achievement, have opportunities to help the team, and receive both individual and team recognition from their individual performance and not from the performance of other team members.