title: Cooperative learning and peer acceptance of students with learning disabilities.
abstract: The effects of cooperative learning on 417 regular-education students, acceptance of 41 of their special-education classmates were examined in an 8-month study. The participants were in Grades 5-8 in 21 classes in 2 U.S. schools. The 3 conditions were cooperative learning and competitive learning, taught by the same teachers, and competitive learning, taught by a random sample of teachers. In October and in May, the regular-education students rated each classmate's desirability as a work partner. The students' peer ratings were generally very stable, for both their regular-education classmates and their special-education classmates. Positive changes in peer ratings for both types of classmates occurred more frequently in the cooperative-learning condition than in the competitive-learning conditions.
authors.affiliation: School of Education, University of Maine at Presque Isle, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Putnam
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Markovchick
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology; D004519:Education, Special; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D008282:Mainstreaming, Education; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D012919:Social Behavior; D012963:Sociometric Techniques