COOPERATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS - EFFECTS ON ACADEMIC ATTITUDES OF GIFTED STUDENTS

The attitudes of academically gifted students and the general cohort t oward cooperative learning and academic school subjects were studied. Three hypotheses were tested: (a) in classes where cooperative learnin g is used, nonidentified children will exhibit mole positive attitudes toward cooperative learning methods than their more academically able peers; (b) boys will exhibit more positive attitudes toward cooperati ve learning than girls; (c) Gifted children, in contrast to non-gifted peers, will exhibit more positive attitudes in settings where coopera tive learning is seldom or never used than in settings where such inst ruction is frequently used. Data obtained from 28 classes of sixth-, s eventh-, and eighth-graders in four schools generally supported hypoth eses (a) and (b), but not (c). Although not a strong finding, overall attitudes toward school subjects were most positive in classes where c ooperative learning was used sparingly as an instructional supplement.