Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, Volume 17, Number 3

Faculty members who ignore the overwhelmingly positive benefits of group work are overlooking the circus elephant in the living room. Virtually every research study that looks at how people learn and at critical thinking emphasizes the value of group work, specifically a structured form of group work known as cooperative learning (Felder & Brent, 1996; Millis, 2002, 2006; Millis & Cottell, 1998). Studies by Michaelsen and his colleagues (Michaelsen, 1992; Michaelsen & Black, 1994; Michaelsen, Fink, & Watson, 1994; Michaelsen, Knight & Fink, 2002), using the name "Team Learning," have reached the same conclusions. Over the past 90 years, more than 575 experimental and 100 correlational studies about learning have been conducted in the U.S. These studies have produced more information about the effectiveness of cooperative learning than about any other aspect of education, including lecturing and the use of technology (Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1991; Slavin, 1989-1990). A meta-analysis of existing studies suggests that student learning increases by as much as one-half of a standard deviation when students are exposed to well-structured cooperative group work (Springer, Stanne, & Donovan, 1999).