A Report on the Implementation of Group Learning in Classroom in Japanese Jr. High Schools : A Comparison between a Cooperative Learning Practice School and Regular Schools

Group learning is a popular instructional method among Japanese school teachers. It is not clear however, the quality of group instruction to guide students' learning activities. Takahata, Harada & Sekita (2010) reported a comparison of group instruction between elementary and junior high school teachers. In their study, approximately 2100 teachers (over 1400 elementary and 600 junior high school teachers) from over 130 regular schools in 7 prefectures answered the questionnaire. It measured the frequency of specific group learning instructions to foster students' engagements. Although their study revealed the similarities and differences of direction frequencies between elementary and junior high school teachers, it was still not clear how well their group instructions were designed to promote students' commitment to learning activities. In this study we administered the same questionnaire the sixteen junior high school teachers working at the school where Johnson & Johnson's cooperative learning theory has been implemented over seven years. By comparing the frequencies of group instructions between the cooperative learning users' and the regular junior high school teachers' averages, we investigated the characteristics of group instructions among Japanese junior high school teachers. The results showed that cooperative learning implemented school teachers scored higher in the frequency for 46 instructions/ instructional directions out of 50 questionnaire items. Among them, the 21 items showed their differences statistically significant. The results suggest that regular school teachers could improve their group instruction to promote students' learning engagement if they adapt cooperative learning theories to their daily practice.departmental bulletin pape