The present study examined the influence of social achievement goals on interactional behavior in cooperative learning. By using the Interaction Behavior Scale, which classifies interactional behavior into two categories, functional interactional behavior and affective interactional behavior, and the Social Achievement Goal Scale, which consists of three goals: social development goal, social demonstration-approach goal and social demonstration-avoidance goal, 880 junior high school students were surveyed and analyzed using structural equation modelling.

  The results showed that the social development goal had a positive effect on both interactional behaviors, the social demonstration-avoidance goal had a negative effect on both interactional behaviors, and the social demonstration-approach goal had a positive effect only on functional interactional behaviors. These results suggest that social development goal plays an important role in establishing effective interaction in cooperative learning. In addition, it was suggested that task-related interactional behaviors may be strategically performed to acquire their own position in the social demonstration-approach goal, whose influence has been ambiguous so far.

  The objective of this study is to determine whether classroom sessions based on cooperative learning will make university students more autonomous and proactive in their learning, and what students will learn by participating in such classroom sessions. This study involved seven 100-minute classroom sessions. The students were asked, before and after these classroom sessions, to write freely in response to the following questions: “What kind of a place should universities be in order to realize a Japanese society in which diverse cultures coexist?” and “What should university learning be like?” The students’ free descriptions ① were examined quantitatively based on whether they were “heteronomous proposals” or “autonomous proposals,” while ② the change of students’ learning was analyzed qualitatively with the use of the KJ method. The results indicated that classroom sessions based on cooperative learning may broaden university students’ perspective toward learning regardless of whether their learning is heteronomous or autonomous in nature. It was also shown that such classes may encourage students to reflect objectively on their own learning, while strengthening their awareness of their involvement with others and of their own responsibilities in learning. It was inferred that cooperative learning transforms not only the learners’ knowledge and skills, but also their awareness of, and attitude toward, learning.

  This study aimed to develop a discussion model, which encourages multiple thinking, and verify its effects. In social studies, at end of each unit on “food production”, there were three rounds of pupil discussion on the issue of the problems faced by the Japanese food industry. The binary opposition approach encouraged the pupils to consider this issue from multiple perspectives. The analysis of their discussions revealed that, the process of “single reason evaluation” and “maintenance of connections and counterevidence” happened sequentially, and the discussion culminated in “consideration and integration of opinions.” It was suggested that the pupils’ multiple thinking was due to the binary opposition present in the discussion and the topic of discussion was critical in encouraging this multiple thinking.