Isolated teenagers, cooperative learning, and the training of social skills

The effects of individual and group contingencies on the achievement and social integration of isolated, learning-disabled students were studied. Five socially isolated and withdrawn eighth-grade students in foreign-language and math classes were subjects. The choice of working alone or in a group with no academic contingency (i.e., bonus points) was compared with working in cooperative learning groups with a group-academic contingency (i.e., bonus points), a group-academic contingency with social-skills training, and a group-academic contingency in combination with a social-skills contingency (i.e., bonus points). The results indicated that the combination of group-academic and social-skills contingencies produced in the socially isolated and withdrawn students the highest rates of appropriate social interaction with peers, acceptance and liking by peers, positive attitudes toward the subject area, and achievement.