The Relationship Between Collaborative Learning Method and Academic Performance of Secondary School Students
CHAPTER ONE
Purpose of the Study
The following objectives of the study are to:
- find out whether there is a relationship between collaborative learning and student’s academic achievement in school.
- examine if collaborative learning method is the best method of teaching/learning in school.
- compare the learning outcomes of students who are taught using collaborative learning method and those who were taught with other methods.
- find out whether gender difference exists in the academic achievement of students due to the use of collaborative learning method
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual Review
Collaborative Learning Strategy
Educators have long used collaborative learning approaches in teaching and assessing students. More recently, educators and policy makers have identified the ability to collaborate as an important outcome. Therefore, collaborative learning becomes a focus of research in education during the past decade and even in the present days. Collaborative learning refers to an instructional method in which students at various performance levels work together in small groups toward a common goal. The students are responsible for one another‟s learning as well as their own. Thus, the success of one student helps other students to be successful (Gokhale, 1995).
Collaborative learning requires learners working together to achieve a learning goal. Collaborative learning is an instructional strategy that establishes a relationship among learners and promotes positive interdependence among the grouped learners (Srinivas, 2010). Roschelle and Teasley (1995) defined collaborative learning as a process by which individuals negotiate and share meanings relevant to the problem-solving task at hand. Collaboration is a coordinated, synchronous activity that is the result of a continued attempt to construct and maintain a shared conception of a problem. Bonwell and Eison (1991), see collaborative learning as a strategy that involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing “collaborative learning emphasize the active participation of learners, and this bring to mind the Chinese proverb; “Tell me and I forget, Show me and I will remember, Involve me and I will understand”.
Collaborative learning creates an environment where the teacher involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing and reaches students who otherwise might not be engaged. Collaborative learning encourages active student participation in the learning or small group learning. In collaborative classrooms, where every student learns from everyone else, no student is deprived of the opportunity for making contributions and appreciating the contributions of others. (Stephen, Sandeep, Fariaz Karim, Sheikh, Yu Wang, and Bin Wang, (2013), stated that Collaborative classrooms have the following four general characteristics:
(1)Sharing knowledge: Teachers have vital knowledge about the course content, skills, and instruction, and provide that information to students. In a collaborative classroom, the teacher also builds upon the knowledge, personal experiences, language, strategies, and culture that students bring to the learning situation.
(2)Sharing ability: In a collaborative classroom, the teacher encourages students on the use of their own knowledge, ensures that students share their knowledge, expertise and their learning strategies, treat each other respectfully and focus on high levels of understanding.
(3)Mediation: In a collaborative classroom, teachers act as mediators to adjust the level of information since successful mediation helps students connect new information to their experiences and to learning in other areas, helps students discover what to do when they are Stumped, and helps them learn how to learn.
(4)Heterogeneity: In a collaborative classroom, heterogeneous groupings of students enrich learning in the classroom since the perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds of all students are important for enriching learning in the classroom. The first two characteristics capture the nature of relationships between the teacher and the students in a collaborative classroom. The third characterizes teachers‟ new approaches to instruction. The fourth addresses the composition of a collaborative classroom. The Smart Classroom enhances all the above characteristics of collaborative learning.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design. The design is considered appropriate because intact classes and two levels of treatments are involved. According to Campbell and Stanley (1986), it is advisable to employ this non-equivalent design when administrative decision or practical considerations (e.g. school regulation) prevent random assignment subjects to treatment.
Area of the Study
This study was carried out in Surulere Local Government of Lagos State.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION OF DATA AND ANALYSIS
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION
Conclusion
The significance of collaborative interaction in learning of chemistry has been post rayed by the findings of this study. Emphasis has been laid on the poor performance of students in chemistry. Chemistry being paramount in determining some course of studies, and considering its application in industries and many other professions, should be taught in such a way that students should achieve highly academically and acquire the necessary skill that will enable them to apply the acquired knowledge from education environment to society.
Also, findings of this study reveal that collaborative interaction learning strategy makes more positive influence on students’ cognitive achievement than the conventional lecture based learning method. This implies that if every individual is provided with an equal opportunity and allow to participate actively in the classroom all the imposed barriers on chemistry will no longer affect the academic achievements of students in chemistry.
Recommendations
Chemistry teachers should be encouraged to use collaborative technique as an alternative and a supplement to lecture-based learning method.
Textbook writers should shift emphasis from teachers’ activities to students’ activities that will promote the incorporation of collaborative method in chemistry textbooks.
Curriculum planners should ensure the implementation of collaborative teaching strategy which stimulate cognitive activities, promote higher academic achievement and knowledge retention.
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