Make reflection on students' goal preferences a recurring element of the curriculum to support cooperative learning¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The authors recommend that "reflection on students' goal preferences should be a recurring element of the curriculum, especially in secondary vocational education where the drop-out rate is very high". Goal reflection is proposed as a means of enhancing motivation by making students aware of the goals they want to achieve and of the links between their personal goals and the goals presented by teachers, instruction methods and course books. The stimulated-recall setting used in this study is offered as a prototype approach for encouraging such reflection throughout the school program.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Students must be invited to think about their own goals and about the links between goal preferences and the goals presented to them by teachers, instruction methods, course books, and other students

Constraints¶

• The recommendation is grounded in an exploratory study whose nature the authors describe as mainly descriptive and exploratory

Target Learners¶

• secondary vocational education students at risk of dropping out

Target Learning Goals¶

• self-regulation of learning and motivation for cooperative learning

Claims¶

• In ineffective CL teams, belongingness goals are negatively related to socially oriented task engagement, and no other goal domain relates significantly to engagement [+W]
• Goal profiles differ between effective and ineffective CL teams: mastery and social responsibility goals prevail in effective teams, entertainment, certificate and work avoidance goals in ineffective teams [+W]
• Effective and ineffective cooperative learning teams differ significantly only in socially oriented engagement, with ineffective teams showing lower socially oriented engagement [+W]
• Students explain effective and ineffective cooperative learning mainly by instructional conditions: type of task, teacher, and group composition are the most frequently mentioned factors [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Teach self-determination component elements through student-directed learning strategies and active student involvement in educational planning
• Vocational education programs should let trainees experience and reflect on authentic errors, e.g. via error management training and negative knowledge-diaries

Examples¶

-

Key Sources¶

• Hijzen, D., Boekaerts, M., & Vedder, P. H. (2007). Exploring the links between students' engagement in cooperative learning, their goal preferences and appraisals of instructional conditions in the classroom. Learning And Instruction, 17(6), 673-687. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2007.09.020