Promoting children’s pro-environmental behaviors with cooperative learning: A large-scale year-long experimental field intervention with fifth and sixth graders.

A year-long experimental intervention in elementary schools tested the potential of structured cooperative learning to foster three psychological mechanisms assumed to be predictors of a socially important but overlooked potential outcome of cooperative learning: pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs).We hypothesized that experiencing positive social interdependence and individual responsibility when working in structured cooperative learning groups (a) develops children's capacity to understand and perceive interdependence in and with their environment, (b) fosters children's sense of collective efficacy in the classroom, as well as collective and self-efficacy to protect the environment, and (c) promotes universalism-nature values.Such mechanisms should, in turn, promote PEBs.We tested an intervention administered by teachers, where students participated in nine cooperative learning sessions throughout the school year, involving either structured cooperative learning or spontaneous cooperative learning.Participants were 1,483 children aged 10-12 years old (fifth and sixth grade) in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.Results revealed that students in the structured (vs.spontaneous) cooperative learning condition perceived more interdependence with classmates, which was related to a greater evolution in broader perceptions of interdependence, which was related to a greater evolution in self-reported PEBs.Second, students in the structured (vs.spontaneous) cooperative learning condition perceived more collective efficacy in the classroom, which was linked to both greater collective and self-efficacy to protect the environment and a greater evolution in self-reported PEBs.We discuss how structured cooperative learning can promote the perception of interdependence and efficacy, leading to important and timely prosocial behaviors, such as PEBs.This may be of interest when devising environmental education programs. Educational Impact and Implications StatementThis study shows that structured cooperative learning, with its focus on positive social interdependence and shared responsibility in the classroom, allows students working in groups to recognize interdependence with others and the environment, which is associated with self-reported pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs).The study also shows that structured cooperative learning leads students to develop a stronger sense of collective and self-efficacy to protect the environment, which is associated with selfreported PEBs.These findings highlight the importance of incorporating structured cooperative learning into educational programs that aim to encourage PEBs.