Research Proposal

February 21, 2006

Every teacher has his or her own classroom management style. Some teachers use cooperative learning as a tool for classroom management. The purpose of this study is to examine how cooperative learning affects classroom management for the teacher. With this study we plan to prove that cooperative learning is beneficial to classroom management strategies.

Throughout the study we will assume that all of the teachers are honest with their responses on the surveys. We will also assume that the teachers have been educated in guidance management and cooperative learning (you might want to ask them about this).

Cooperative Learning - Cooperative Learning is a relationship in a group of students that requires positive interdependence, individual accountability (each of us has to contribute and learn), interpersonal skills (communication, trust, leadership, decision making, and conflict resolution), face-to-face promotive interaction, and processing (reflecting on how well the team is functioning and how to function even better) (http://www.co-operation.org/).

Guidance and Classroom Management – ways of organizing the resources, pupils and helpers in the classroom so that teaching and learning can proceed in an efficient and safe manner (http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial_s&hl=en&q=define%3A+classroom+management&btnG=Google+Search).

Engage - To attract and hold the attention of students (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=engaged).

The information obtained from our research will benefit both teachers and students. Teachers may find the information helpful for their classroom management strategies and lesson planning. This may in turn benefit how the students learn and behave.

The design of our study is a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies in the form of a survey. The top of the survey is in likert scale format, while the bottom portion of the survey asks two open-ended questions about cooperative learning and guidance management in the classroom. There is also room at the bottom for additional comments.

Participants are teachers of grades one through eight who have taught for at least one year in an elementary or middle school setting, have different classroom sizes, and different teaching styles. All teachers surveyed are currently employed.

Limitations that may occur during our research include, but are not limited to, the time allotted to conduct our research, lack of interest in the surveys from teachers, misunderstanding the teachers might have with the survey, and small teacher population surveyed.

We will analyze our data by reading the surveys and making charts that show the statistics from the surveys in various ways. The data on the charts will be tabulated and compared to determine results. We will then report our findings in a PowerPoint presentation to our classmates and the rest of the college community on Scholars’ Day.

It is our intent to prove that cooperative learning has a positive influence on classroom management. We believe that this research will help educators teach more effectively and not spend the majority of their time getting their students back on task. With further research we may be able to find more benefits of cooperative learning besides classroom management.