CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
In order to teach effectively, the teachers must have sufficient
knowledge about the students, in addition to the knowledge about the
subject and appropriate methods of teaching. Modern researcher indicates
that if proper and suitable methods and techniques are used, even the
students of less intelligence can easily learn. Modern researchers
indicate four models of instruction that can lead to high student
achievement. These include Direct Instruction, Cooperative Learning,
Mastery Learning and Project-Based Instruction. (Sadker and
Sadker,1997). Cooperation is working together to accomplish shared goals
within cooperative situation, Individuals seek outcomes that are
beneficial to themselves and to all other group members. Cooperative
learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work
together to maximize their own and each others learning (Johnson,
Johnson &-Holubec, 1998). The terms group learning and cooperative
learning are often used as if they mean the same thing. In fact, group
work means several students working together and working together does
not necessarily involve corporation. Cooperative learning is an
arrangement in which students work in mixed ability groups and are
rewarded on the basis of the success of the group as a whole (Woolfolk,
2001).
Cooperative learning activities are carefully structured learning
activities in which students are held accountable for their
contribution, participation and learning. Students are also provided
incentives to work as team in teaching others and learning from others
(Slavin, 2000). Though cooperative learning model is attracting
worldwide attention of researchers in education, very few studies could
be found in the previous research literature relating to the subject of
social studies especially in Pakistan. The researcher could trace only
one study conducted by Hawkins et al (1998) who found cooperative
learning to be effective for teaching Social Studies to 8th class. This
gap in knowledge about usefulness or otherwise of this model of teaching
needed to be bridged up by further research at different levels of
education.The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of
cooperative learning on social studies achievement among 8th class
students. In this study, cooperative learning means to work and learn in
groups and obtain the results on the basis of group performance.
1.1 Background of the Thesis
In recent years, studies involving cooperative learning, one kind of
student-centered approach have emerged as an internationally important
area of social science research among researchers (Slavin, 2011). Many
studies have been conducted in different settings of education, using
different kinds of cooperative learning techniques. Such techniques are
Learning Together (LT), Jigsaw Grouping, Teams-Games-Tournaments (TGT),
Group Investigation (GI), Student Teams Achievement Division (STAD), and
Team Accelerated Instruction (TAI). A series of research studies has
found a appreciate relationship between the higher cognitive and
affective outcomes, and cooperative learning approaches (Johnson &
Johnson, 2005; Tran & Lewis, 2012a; Tran & Lewis, 2012b). In the
setting of Vietnamese higher education lecture-based teaching, one kind
of traditional approach has been still the most prevalent instructional
approach (MOET, 2009; Harman & Nguyen, 2010). In comparison with
cooperative learning techniques, lecture-based teaching has been
reported to be less effective to the demands of high rates of cognitive
and affective outcomes (Slavin, 2011). In order to improve students’
cognitive outcomes, an alternative to lecture-based teaching could be
cooperative learning (Tran & Lewis, 2012a&b). This approach has
been reported to improve students’ achievement, and their knowledge
retention (Johnson & Johnson, 2009).
Cooperative learning comprises “instructional methods in which
teachers organize students into small groups, which then work together
to help one another learn academic content” (Slavin, 2011, p.344).
Cooperative learning consists of five basic elements: positive
interdependence, promotive interaction, individual accountability,
teaching of interpersonal and social skills, and quality of group
processing. Learning situations are not cooperative if students are
arranged into groups without positive interdependence (Johnson &
Johnson, 2009). Positive interdependence means that in cooperative
learning situations, students are required to work together as a
cohesive group to achieve shared learning objectives (Yager, 2000). In
the process, students must be responsible for their own learning and for
the success of other group members’ learning (Slavin, 2011). In other
words, students must ensure that other members in their group complete
the tasks and achieve the academic outcomes. The lesson will not be
cooperative if students do not “swim together” in the group learning
activities (Johnson & Johnson, 2008). Hence, positive
interdependence needs to be constructed in cooperative learning groups
to help students work and learn together. Positive interdependence
results in reciprocal interaction among individuals, which promotes each
group member’s productivity and achievement. Promotive
interactionoccurs as individuals encourage and facilitate each other’s
efforts to accomplish the group’s goals. In cooperative learning groups,
students are required to interact verbally with one another on learning
tasks (Johnson & Johnson, 2008). As part of the cooperative
learning condition, students are required to interact verbally with one
another on learning tasks (Johnson & Johnson, 2009), exchange
opinions, explain things, teach others and present their understanding
(Johnson, 2009). Individual responsibility means that students ask for
assistance, do their best work, present their ideas, learn as much as
possible, take their tasks seriously, help the group operate well, and
take care of one another (Johnson, 2009). Positive interdependence is
recognized to create “responsibility forces” that increase the
individual accountability of group members for accomplishing shared work
and facilitating other group members’ work (Johnson & Johnson,
2005). If there is no individual accountability, one or two group
members may do all the work while others do nothing. If the achievement
of the group depends on the individual learning of each group member,
then group members are motivated to ensure that all group members master
the material being studied (Slavin, 1996). When group accountability
and individual accountability exist in the group, the responsibility
forces increase (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). In reality, students
cannot work effectively if socially unskilled students are arranged into
one group (Johnson & Johnson, 2006). If basic learning skills on
cooperative interaction are not taught, group members cannot work
together effectively to finish their tasks. Cooperative learning,
compared with individualistic or competitive learning, is more complex
because it requires students to engage in learning tasks and work
together (Johnson & Johnson, 2005). Therefore, social and
interpersonal skills, such as listening attentively, questioning
cooperatively and negotiating respectfully need be taught, to help
students cooperate effectively in the group. In addition, each group
member should know how to manage the group, how to make decisions and
how to solve conflicts that arise among group members. If these skills
are not taught, cooperative learning activities are rarely successful
(Slavin, 1996). To coordinate efforts to achieve mutual goals,
participants must: (a) get to know and trust each other; (b) communicate
accurately and unambiguously; (c) accept and support each other; and
(d) resolve conflicts constructively (Johnson & Johnson, 2009).
Group processing is defined as reflecting on a group session to help
students: (1) describe what member actions were helpful and unhelpful;
and (2) make decisions about what actions to continue or change (Johnson
& Johnson, 1999). Group processing helps improve the effectiveness
of the members in contributing to the shared efforts to achieve the
group’s goals via reflection on the learning process (Yamarik, 2007). In
other words, the purpose of group processing is to clarify and improve
the effectiveness of the members in contributing to the joint efforts to
achieve the group’s goals. In summary, if these basic elements of
cooperative learning are included in cooperative learning groups,
students achieve better, demonstrate superior learning skills (Johnson
& Johnson, 2008), and experience more positive relationships among
group members, and between students and the teacher, and more positive
self-esteem and attitudes toward the subject area (Slavin, 2011).
In all levels of education students in cooperative situations
achieved greater academic, social and psychological benefits (Johnson
& Johnson, 2005). Specifically, cooperative learning has been
reported to improve students’ academic achievement (Beck & Chizhik,
2008; Sousa, 2006; Zain, Subramaniam, Rashid & Ghani, 2009). For
example, one study of the Jigsaw II and GI effect among 98 elementary
school students in social studies, lasting 12 weeks in America (Lampe,
Rooze, & Tallent-Runnels, 1996), indicated that students in the
experimental group had higher academic achievement (p <.001) than
those in the control group (effect size [ES] = 0.84). Whicker, Nunnery,
& Bol (1997) compared the effects of STAD and traditional teaching
methods on academic performance of 11th and 12thgrade students in a
mathematics course in America. The results from the posttests showed
that students in the cooperative learning group achieved significantly
(p <.05) higher posttest scores than did students in the comparison
group (ES = 0.87). Similarly, a two-group experiment reported by Yamarik
(2007), investigated the jigsaw effects on the achievement of 116
Nigerian tertiary students in a 2-semester period. Results obtained from
multivariate regression analysis reveal that the jigsaw group
significantly outperformed the comparison group on the posttest scores
(ES = 0.01). In a 5-week experimental study on science achievement of 68
eighth-grade Turkish students (Kose, Sahin, Ergun, & Gezer, 2010),
the results of t-tests indicated that students in the treatment group
significantly outscored (p <.05) students in the control group on the
post-achievement test (ES = 1.26). In addition, the other two
experimental studies (Kilic, 2008; Doymus, Karacon, & Simsek, 2010)
utilized the pretest and posttest with control group design to
investigate the effects of jigsaw learning on student achievement. The
former was conducted with the participation of 80 Ghanasecondary
students in a Principles and Methods of Teaching course over a 7-week
period.
With every indication shown in the background, students perform
better with cooperative learning than they do with alternative forms of
instruction in this study we will also explore to see on students of
basic technology at ONELGA Rivers State, Nigeria.
1.2 Statement of Thesis Problem
The study of basic technology introduce in the year 2007, by the
Universal Basic Education scheme, with a desire to achieve what could
not be realized through introductory technology. Most of the teachers of
introductory technology and other workshop staff are used to implement
basic technology. According to James Amobe, (2010), students cannot
learn and archive new skills on one self, knowledge share among mates
and others are the basic of learning and achieving greatly mostly in
technological subjects, neither will the students develop positive
attitudes within his or her ability. Therefore the problem of this
study, is to ascertain the effects of cooperative learning on the
academic achievement of student in basic technology, which the
researcher will conduct and comparatively analyze the effects of
cooperative learning after a successful study on ONELGA Rivers State
secondary school students in basic technology.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
In summary, this thesis is to study andanalyze the effects of
cooperative learning on academic achievement of secondary students on
basic technology, and to study the correlation between cooperative
learning and academic achievement. Other research objectives are listed
below as follows:
1. To expose the experimental group to cooperative learning for teaching of basic technology in secondary education.
2. To measure the achievement of the cooperative learning group over the othermethod of learning after teaching.
3. To find out differences in achievement of experimental and control group.
4. To analyze the difference in academic achievement of students
in cooperative learning group in basic technology and control group.
5. Find out amongthe means learning, theone students appreciate more with understanding.
1.4 Significance of the Study
This thesis will present in a precise manner, the importance of
cooperative learning over othersin learning.It is believed that the
findings of this research work should provide detailed information on
the effects of cooperative learning methods in obtaining a high student
achievements and performance. It is also expected that the study will
benefit teachers, basic technology students, researchers and the society
in general.
The findings of the study should be useful to teachers. It is
expected that the findings will expose thebasic technology teachers to
the importance of teaching using cooperative learning method other
various method in place. By this exposure the teachers could acknowledge
the advantage cooperative learning over the conventional learning
method which is teacher centered. It is possible that by this outcome
the basic technology teachers would realistically adjust to the
application of cooperative learning in achieving greater goals in
academic. In turn, the students would have real focus for better
performance and achievements in their studies.
Subsequently, it will go a long way to enhance the basic technology
students’ effectiveness in the society by being capable of carrying out
what they have learned, thereby contributing to the building up of the
society at the local, national and international levels.
The research will also be beneficial to the researcher. This is
because the study will expose the researcher to so many related areas in
the course of carrying out his research. This will enhance the
researcher’s experience, knowledge and understanding on cooperative
learning in teaching.
1.5 Research Question
The research work is guided with same research question, which will
be administered and distributed among the researchers area of study
which are the respondents to this research thesis and these comprise
students and staff of basic technology subject within the selected
schools. Sample research question are:
1. What teaching and learning methods are used frequently in basic technology among the teachers of basic technology?
2. Is there any significant different in you when you study
cooperatively than other methods within yourself based on the level of
understand and comprehension?
3. What method of learning do you appreciate and understand more when used?
1.6 Hypothesis
The researcher formed some of the hypothesis which will be tested to
support this study. The hypothesis will be tested at 0.05 level of
significance using the t-test method and correlation analysis.
The research hypothesis are as follows.
Hypothesis 1: Students who are taught by learning together will have
greater achievement in the basic technology than those taught through
lecture-based teaching.
Hypothesis 2: There is significant correlation on cooperative learning and student academic achievement.
1.7 Limitation of the Study
Due to time constrain, this thesis should have covered a whole
section of the student academic study, but was shorten to a period of
eight (8) weeks of study which is for a term, also this research thesis
is limited to the study of basic technology subject of the JSS students
in ONELGA Rivers State of Nigeria. The study will be restricted to only
schools (junior secondary school) where basic technology are taughtin
ONELGA Rivers State which four schools are selected from the eight
schools which were found offering the subject basic technology.
1.8 Scope of the Study
This thesis will cover four schools purposively selected for the
course of this thesis from ONELGA, Rivers State, Nigeria and this study
is on effect of cooperative learning on academic achievement of
secondary school students in basic technology.
1.9 Definition of Terms
Cooperative learning: Cooperative learning is a
successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of
different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to
improve their understanding of a subject.
Academic achievement: Academic achievement refers to
a student's success in meeting short- or long-term goals in education.
In the big picture, academic achievement means completing high school or
earning a college degree. In a given semester, high academic
achievement may mean a student is on the honor roll.
Conventional Learning: Often the focus of learning
in conventional approaches is giving students a lecture or an article to
read and then set standardized questions based upon the information
given. The expected solutions to the questions are usually limited to
the information given to students. Typically then, solutions are
pre-determined by the teacher and are linked to narrowly set
context-specific learning objectives.