The effects of controversy,concurrence seeking,and individualistic learning on achievement and attitude change

The effects of cooperative-controversy, cooperative-concurrence seeking, and individualistic learning were compared on motivation, achievement, and attitudes toward the science subject being studied. Eighty-four fifth-grade students were assigned to conditions on a stratified random basis controlling for sex and reading ability. In all three conditions students studied whether wolves should or should not be a protected species. The results indicate that cooperative-controversy resulted in the highest achievement, greatest motivation to learn more about wolves, more positive attitudes toward the wolf, and more positive attitudes toward controversy.