Undergraduate Research: A Pedagogical Experiment

Abstract

Students cooperatively conducted research experiments in an upper division cognitive psychology course in the Behavioral Sciences and Leadership Department at the United States Air Force Academy. The pedagogical structure of the course was modified to emphasize teaching cadets how to think versus what to think through the process of conducting research. Students were expected to cooperate in pairs to design and conduct their research. Cooperative research projects were used in the attempt to develop critical thinking skills and intrinsic motivation to excel. This paper presents the authors' views on the rationale and perceived benefits of cooperative research projects in upper division courses to develop critical thinking skills and intrinsic motivation.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ames

Felker

D. W.

(1979). An examination of children's attributes and achievment related evaluations in competitive, cooperative, and individualistic reward structures. Journal of Educational Psychology, 71(4), 413–420.

Barry

D. C.

Broadbent

D. E.

(1984). On the relationship between task performance and associated verbalizable knowledge. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental of Psychology, 36, 209–231.

Broadbent

D.E.

(1988). Report on visit 11 April-23 April 1988. Window on Science (Unpublished trip report to America). University of Oxford.

Bruner

J.S.

(1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction. New York: Norton.

Davis

Laughlin

Komorita

(1976). The social psychology of small groups: Cooperative and mixed-motive interaction. In M. Rosensweig & L. Porter (Eds), Annual Review of Psychology, 27, 501–542.

Edwards

K. J.

De Vries

D. L.

(1974). The effects of teams-games-tournament and two instructional variations on classroom student attitudes, and student achievement (Rep. No. 172). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University, Center for Social Organization of Schools.

Garibaldi

A. M.

(1979). Affective contributions of cooperative and group goal structures. Journal of Educational Psychology, 71(4), 413–420.

Johnson

Skon

Johnson

(1980). Effects of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic conditions on children's problem-solving performance. American Educational Research Journal, 17(1), 83–93.

Kneedler

(1985). California assesses critical thinking, In Costa

(Ed.), Developing minds; A resourse book for teaching thinking. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Developement.

10.

Michaels

J. W.

(1977). Classroom reward structures and academic performance. Review of Educational Research, 47, 87–98.

11.

Porter

D. B.

(1987, August). Dual task decrements, rated difficulty and the validity of explicit knowledge. Paper presented at the 95th annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York, NY.

12.

Tricket

E. J.

Moos

R. H.

(1974). Personal correlates of contrasting environments: Student satisfaction in high school classrooms. American Journal of Communication Psychology, 2(1), 1–12.

13.

Wheeler

Ryan

(1973). Effects of cooperative and competitive classroom environments on the attitudes and achievement of elementary school students engaged in social studies. Journal of Educational Psychology, 65, 402–407.

14.

Woods

D. R.

(1987). How might I teach problem-solving? In Stice

J. E.

(Ed.), Developing critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.