Abstract
There is now considerable theoretical support for the claim that classroom structures common in the U.S. public schools discriminate against the achievement, the cultural values, and the well-being of Mexican-American and black students (Kagan, 1980, 1983). The purpose of the present chapter is to present empirical evidence that bears on that hypothesis, called the structural bias hypothesis. Although some of the evidence to be presented comes from published research, much of the evidence was generated by a large-scale investigation of the structural bias hypothesis conducted as part of a cooperative project by the School of Education and the Psychology Department at the University of California, Riverside. Before describing and discussing the empirical data relevant to the evaluation of the structural bias hypothesis, theoretical support for the hypothesis is reviewed, and the Riverside Cooperative Learning Project is described.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adams, R. S., & Biddle, B. J. Realities of teaching: Explorations with video tape. New York: Holt, 1970.
Allport, G. The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1954.
Amidon, E., & Flanders, N. A. The effect of direct and indirect teacher influence on dependent-prone students learning geometry. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1961, 52, 286–291.
Aronson, E., Blaney, N., Stephan, C., Sikes, J., & Snapp, M. The Jigsaw classroom. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage, 1978.
Brewer, H. B. In-group bias in the minimal intergroup situation: A cognitive-motivational analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 1979, 8, 307–324.
Cook, S. W. Social science and school desegregation: Did we mislead the Supreme court. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1979, 5, 420–437.
Cronbach, L. J. The two disciplines of scientific psychology. American Psychologist, 1957, 12, 671–684.
Cronbach, L. J., & Snow, R. E. Aptitudes and instructional methods: A handbook for research on interactions. New York: Irvington, 1977.
DeVoe, M. W. Cooperation as a function of self-concept, sex, and race. Educational Research Quarterly, 1977, 2, 3–8.
Doty, B. A. Teaching method effectiveness in relation to certain student characteristics. Journal of Educational Research, 1970, 60, 363–365.
Edney, J. J. The commons problem: Alternative perspectives. American Psychologist, 1980, 35, 131–150.
Gerard, H. B., Jackson, T. D., & Conolley, E. S. Social contact in the desegregated classroom. In H. B. Gerard & N. Miller (Eds.), School desegregation: A long-term study. New York: Plenum Press, 1975.
Gump, P. V. The classroom behavior setting: Its nature and relation to student behavior. Final Report, Contract No. CE-4–10–107, United States Bureau of Research, HEW, 1967. Described in Dunkin, M. J. & Biddle, B. J. The study of teaching. New York: Holt, 1974.
Hardin, G. The tragedy of the commons. Science, 1968, 62, 1243–1248.
Hornstein, H. A. Cruelty and kindness: A new look at aggression and altruism. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976.
Johnson, D. W., Maruyama, G., Johnson, R. T., Nelson, D., & Skon, L. Effects of competitive, and individualistic goal structures on achievement: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 1981, 89, 47–62.
Kagan, S. Social motives and behaviors of Mexican American and Anglo American children. In J. L. Martinez (Ed.), Chicano psychology. New York: Academic Press, 1977.
Kagan, S. Cooperation-competition, culture, and structural bias in classrooms. In S. Sharan, P. Hare, C. D. Webb, & R. Hertz-Lazarowitz (Eds.), Cooperation in education. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1980.
Kagan, S. Social orientation among Mexican American children: A challenge to traditional classroom structures. In E. E. Garcia (Ed.), The Mexican American child: Language, cognition, and social development. Tempe, Ariz.: Center for Bilingual Education, 1983.
Kagan, S. Interpreting Chicano cooperativeness: Methodological and theoretical considerations. In J. L. Martinez Jr., & R. H. Mendoza (Eds.), Chicano psychology (2nd ed.). New York: Academic Press, 1984.
Kagan, S., & Knight, G. P. Social motives among Anglo American and Mexican American children: Experimental and projective measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 1981, 15, 93–106.
Kagan, S., & Madsen, M. C. Cooperation and competition of Mexican, Mexican-American, and Anglo-American children of two ages under four instructional sets. Developmental Psychology, 1971, 5, 32–39.
Knight, G. P., & Kagan, S. Acculturation of prosocial and competitive behaviors among second- and third-generation Mexican American children. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 1977, 8, 273–284.
Magnusson, D., & Endler, N. S. Personality at the crossroads: Current issues in interactional psychology. New York: Wiley, 1977.
Minnesota Law Review. The effects of segregation and the consequences of desegregation: A social science statement. Appendix to appellant’s briefs of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. 1953, 37, 427–439.
Perkins, H. V. A procedure for assessing the classroom behavior of students and teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 1964, 1(4), 249–260.
Richmond, B. O., & Weiner, G. P. Cooperation and competition among young children as a function of ethnic grouping, grade, sex and reward condition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1973, 64, 329–334.
St. John, N. H. School desegregation: Outcomes for children. New York: Wiley, 1975.
Sampson, E., & Kardush, M. Age, sex, class, and race differences in response to a two-person non-zero-sum game. Conflict Resolution, 1965, 9, 212–220.
Schwarzwald, J., & Cohen, S. Relationship between academic tracking and the degree of interethnic acceptance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1982, 74(4), 588–597.
Sharan, S. Cooperative learning in small groups: Recent methods and effects on achievement, attitudes, and ethnic relations. Review of Educational Research, 1980, 50, 241–271.
Sherif, M. Experiments in group conflict. Scientific American, 1956, 195(5), 54–58.
Slavin, R. E. How student learning teams can integrate the desegregated classroom. Integrated Education, 1977, 15, 56–58.
Slavin, R. E. Cooperative learning. Review of Educational Research, 1980, 50, 315–342.
Slavin, R. E. Cooperative learning and desegregation. Journal of Educational Equity and Leadership, 1981, 1, 145–161.
Slavin, R. E. Cooperative learning. New York: Longman, 1983.
Slavin, R. E., & Oickle, E. Effects of learning teams on student achievement and race relations: Treatment by race interactions. Sociology of Education, 1981, 54, 174–180.
Stephen, W. G. School desegregation: An evaluation of predictions made in Brown v. Board of Education. Psychological Bulletin, 1978, 85, 217–238.
Wheeler, R. Predisposition toward cooperation and competition: Cooperative and competitive classroom effects. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, August 1977.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1985 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kagan, S., Zahn, G.L., Widaman, K.F., Schwarzwald, J., Tyrrell, G. (1985). Classroom Structural Bias. In: Slavin, R., Sharan, S., Kagan, S., Hertz-Lazarowitz, R., Webb, C., Schmuck, R. (eds) Learning to Cooperate, Cooperating to Learn. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3650-9_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3650-9_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-3652-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-3650-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive