I__. - International Military Testing Association

COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN THE ARMY
RESEARCH AND APPLICATION
Angelo Mirabella
U.S. Army Research Institute for the
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Cooperative learning (CL) is something many of us did in
college when we took chemistry, physics, or calculus - courses
built around problem solving exercises. We joined with a few other
students to do homework or study for a test. We shared our
understandings of the problems, helped each other correct
misconceptions, and then reached consensus on how to solve' the -'
problems. Today, formally organized cooperative learning groups,
in classroom settings do the same things. Therefore, CL is not new
or revolutionary. Yet, as a formal, institutionalized philosophy
and methodology of instruction, it has been slow to take root,
especially in the military. Public primary schools have progressed
further. In Columbia, Maryland, for example, there is an elementary
school whose classes are taught completely according to CL
principles. The teacher primarily facilitates the work of small
groups. The students and their activities rather than the teachers
are the centers of attention.
It is ironic that CL has taken so long to root since the more
traditional teacher-centered approach, and even more modern
individualized approaches are social arrangements contrary to what
is demanded of people once they leave the school house (Raspberry,
1987, 1988). This contradiction was especially blatant in my
elementary school days when talking among students was punished
with demerits, detention, or dreaded calls to parents to come to
school for a conference. I remember vividly a visit by my father,
who had to lose a day's pay to learn from my teacher that I talked
too much in class. I also recall the back of his hand when I tried
to explain my behavior and give my side of the story. Anyone who
knows me would be astonished to learn that I once suffered from
talkativeness. I often wonder what destructive social conditioning
was imposed by such an environment.
In contrast, cooperative learning implicitly recognizes that
interpersonal relationship, i.e. communication, is one of the most
pervasive and critical sets of skills anyone can learn. And what
better place to foster such skills than the school house.
Cooperative learning, is, at the same time, an effective way to
develop other skills and thereby stretch instructional resources.
At least that is the emerging conclusion of many years of basic
research and some very preliminary applied research by the Army
Research Institute. I'm hedging a bit because CL in the Army is in
its infancy, and the work to be reported, while providing
converging evidence for the effectiveness of CL, was not done in
pristine, antiseptic laboratories.
162
I
-