This paper focuses on the implementation of Cooperative Learning as an innovative educational method, with the potential to change pedagogical practices in schools of basic education.

We describe the implementation of an intervention program based on the puzzle technique of Aronson (Jigsaw technique) in three classes oh the 4th grade of Primary School from Outeiro - Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal).

Our study has two main purposes: to show that the implementation of Cooperative Learning contributes to the optimization of pedagogical intervention of teachers of Basic Education - 1st Cycle; and to assess the impact of this program on students’ motivation levels.

A number of studies since the 70s until the beginning of this century have proven that effective teaching can be achieved through the use of Cooperative Learning.

Cooperative Learning is based on a constructivist approach that makes peer mentoring its fundamental axis (Santos Rego, Lorenzo Moledo & Priegue Caamaño, 2009). Besides cognitive and academic advantages, it’s closely linked to socio-emotional development of students (Santos Rego, 1999).

This methodology could be a means to overcome the difficulties that teachers encounter in their current teaching approach, including the racial and social discrimination, xenophobia, poor academic performance, lack of motivation at school, and a little investment in social skills and in the development of creativity. On the other hand, represents an opportunity that allows students to access full training, expanding not only their cognitive abilities associated with academic knowledge, but also to value their skills and attitudes that enable their active role in the society.

In the school context, the motivation for learning has been defined as the initiation and maintenance of behavior in order to achieve a particular goal (Boruchovitch, 2001), or as the degree to which students strive to achieve academic goals that they find meaningful and useful (Santos Rego, 1990).

In the last two decades, a period of intense effort in psychology research has begun, focused on the study of motivation in school context, with several approaches resulting in different theories. Among the various studies carried out by educators and psychologists, we highlight the socio-cognitive approach to motivation, which considers two motivational orientations: intrinsic and extrinsic.

According to Martinelli and Bartholomeu (2007), intrinsic motivation relates to the implementation of activities in which pleasure is inherent to it. In contrast, extrinsic motivation is presented as motivation to work in response to something external to the task or activity, such as material rewards or social recognition.

Although teachers and educators recognize the importance of intrinsic motivation in school context, proposals in everyday classroom activities are mostly extrinsically motivated.

Ovejero (1990) states that, except for the most able students, the motivational system fostered in competitive learning includes extrinsic motivation, causing most students to get low expectations of success, little epistemological curiosity, lack of interest and commitment in relation to income and insufficient persistence in the task. The real motivation - and the most effective one - is intrinsic motivation. This is one of the main explanations of the effectiveness of cooperative learning: it is effective in improving student achievement because it promotes a lot of intrinsic motivation. And the motivation is what will determine the effort and time that the student devotes to a task.

With regard to motivation, Slavin (1992, cit in Díaz-Aguado, 2000, p. 131) stated that Cooperative Learning lets you create a situation where the only way to achieve personal goals is through the goals of the team, which makes learning and the effort to learn to be more highly valued among peers, increasing overall motivation for learning, as well as the reinforcement and aid they offer accordingly.

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