Do Students Achieve Higher Grades When Working Together in LearningTeams than When Working Through Individualized Study Efforts

According to Barki and Pinsonneault (2001), research existed concerning the effects of teamwork in the business world. Little data was found concerning the effects of teamwork at the postsecondary level. This study used a descriptive, quantitative, correlation methodology to examine whether any difference existed in final course grades between students working in teams and students working individually. Participants were students in public speaking courses at a small private southeastern liberal arts university. This study failed to show any significant difference at the .05 level, t (78) = .36, p = .73.). Students assigned to groups at the beginning of speech classes (M = 87.43, SD = 6.37) showed no variance from peers working individually (M = 86.96, SD = 5.24).