Using a Cooperative Multimedia Learning Environment to Enhance Learning and Affective Self-Perceptions of at-Risk Students in Grade 8

After a two-week social studies lesson on the Bill of Rights, pairs of experimental students (N = 10) randomly selected from one classroom completed a cooperative week-long multimedia learning activity in which they planned and assembled microcomputer-based media presentations focusing on the social studies content previously taught and then, after one-week delay, showed their presentations to non-at-risk peers. Paralleling the experimental phases, students in two control classrooms, after the same two-week lesson, completed post-instructional experiences consisting of an additional one-week instruction on the same content and, after a one-week delay, a one-day content review. MANOVA showed the experimental students displayed significantly greater social studies knowledge and significantly more positive attitudes toward and self-confidence in school learning in general and social studies learning in particular. Findings were discussed in terms of the potential of multimedia constructive learning environments to provide qualitatively-enhanced alternatives to traditional instruction for at-risk and non at-risk learners.