Exploring Pre-service Teachers’ Experiences with Cooperative Learning in an Introduction to Research Module

Abstract

Introduction to research modules in undergraduate teacher education programmes is often experienced as abstract, complex and anxiety-provoking, especially by pre-service teachers encountering formal research for the first time. In response to these challenges, cooperative learning is increasingly employed as a pedagogical approach to promote engagement, shared learning and peer support. Cooperative learning is widely advocated for in educational theory, but limited empirical research exists that examines how it is experienced by pre-service teachers in research-intensive coursework in South African higher education. This qualitative study explores how final-year pre-service teachers experience cooperative learning within the context of an introductory research module at a private higher education institution in South Africa. Data were generated from a single open-ended questionnaire, consisting of six reflective questions, completed by sixteen final-year pre-service teachers. Responses were analysed inductively, after which Social Interdependence Theory was used to examine the enabling and constraining dimensions of cooperative learning. The findings indicate that cooperative learning fostered a sense of connectedness, reduced anxiety and supported shared meaning-making. Challenges included unequal participation and dominant group members. Findings illustrate the duality of cooperative learning as both enabling and constraining, arguing that its effectiveness is conditional. Cooperative learning isn’t inherently effective but is dependent on task design, group functioning and lecturer facilitation. The findings contribute context-specific insight into how research education in teacher education can be reimagined through more intentionally structured cooperative learning.