Enhancing Secondary Student Achievement through Cooperative Learning Strategies

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the effects of cooperative learning on General Science achievement among 9th-class students. Based upon previous research literature it was hypothesized that a significant difference existed between the mean posttest scores of General Science achievement of the experimental group and the control group. The pretest-posttest control group design was chosen for the experiment. The study sample consisted of 36 students of the 9th class who were equally distributed among the experimental group and control group, matched based on their annual examination at general science scores. The dependent variable of General Science achievement was measured through a self-constructed 30-item achievement test used as a pretest as well as a posttest. The experiment group was taught through cooperative learning while the control group was taught through traditional teaching. The material was used such as lesson plans, worksheets, and quizzes, designed to implement a cooperative learning methodology. The data were analyzed through mean, standard deviation, and t-test and .05 was the selected level of significance. The main result of the study was that the cooperative learning method is superior to the traditional method in general science achievement of 9th-grade students.