COOPERATIVE LEARNING AND THE APPROPRIATION OF PROCEDURAL KNOWLEDGE BYPRIMARY-SCHOOL CHILDREN

This paper analyses the development and promotion of self-regulatory s trategies for comprehending and learning from text in primary school c hildren (9 years old), using cooperative learning. Experimental and Co ntrol Groups were compared for their comprehension of narrative and ex pository texts: the first was exposed to repeated reading experiences within cooperative learning teams as part of regular classes and using official programs-texts; the Control Group followed regular classroom activities. The Experimental Group showed a marked development of str ategies for dealing with texts in comparison with the Control Group. C ooperative learning promoted the acquisition of procedural knowledge ( strategies) for processing narrative and expository texts. These strat egies do not seem to be promoted adequately by regular classroom activ ities. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.