Comparing Student Performance Using Cooperative Learning

The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically student performance in principles of microeconomics classes taught via co-operative learning versus the traditional lecture. In a fall semester, I taught one cohort of micro principles students as a traditional lecture, while presenting the course content to the other cohort via co-operative learning. A major distinction between this study and previous empirical works is that co-operative learning did not serve as a supplement to the traditional lecture. Rather, co-operative learning exercises essentially replaced the traditional lecture. The evidence reveals that whereas performance on multiple choice exams was fairly comparable, students who were enrolled in the co-operative learning class were better able to apply theory on a project that required a higher level of economic reasoning than those who learned the course content through the lecture.