This study examines the impact that a cooperative lecture technique and demographic factors have on student learning in a computer programming class, a college course that students have no or very limited intrinsic knowledge about and found that a cooperative lecture style did not improve learning performance and might deter students from positive learning experiences. This may be due to the time constraints that students faced when doing group work or from the compound confusion when students with limited subject knowledge worked towards an unknown goal. The results also suggested that students' class attendance provided the predictability of performance, while their academic experience negatively influenced group effectiveness.