This book presents a readable, concise guide to research on the subject. It includes recent developments that point to essential elements of cooperative methods needed to make them effective for achievement, intergroup relations, positive mainstreaming outcomes, self-esteem, and other outcomes.
Research based in many places, which lends confidence to his assertions. I am glad I am reading this concurrently with Johnson and Johnson "Joining Together". There is quite a bit of overlap, but also, some distinctions between the two.
It wouldn't be accurate to say I enjoyed Cooperative Learning. The book is very academic - dry, methodical, and precise. However, it was enlightening. As a teacher, I read many books on education. Typically, they are marketed to teachers with clever titles about "hacking" some aspect of teaching. They have a "do-it-yourself" sensibility and are filled with anecdotes about teachers using some new technique. I often, but not always find them helpful. Circles of Learning by Johnson and Johnson fit this mold. Robert Slavin's book is an excellent compliment to Circles of Learning. Slavin examines the research about cooperative learning (such as it was in 1983). The book is filled with percentages, disclaimers, exceptions, but it reaches clear conclusions. The research shows that cooperative learning works to improve academic achievement when there are group rewards for individual improvement. Specialization may have some benefit if each member of the group has unique information the group needs, but the evidence is not as strong. Competition between groups may have some benefit, but most likely because it is a means to assign group rewards for individual achievement. Slavin said almost nothing about teaching group skills and allowing groups to assess their group effectiveness, elements stressed by Johnson and Johnson. Slavin also identifies social benefits to cooperative learning: better inter-ethnic relations, better relations between cognitively disabled students and other students in mainstreamed situations, higher self-esteem, and a clearer understanding for students that hard work leads to success. Cooperative Learning is no page turner, but it was enlightening.