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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 8, Issue 2, Article 7 (Dec., 2007) Fui Fong HO and Hong Kwen BOO Cooperative learning: Exploring its effectiveness in the Physics classroom |
The results of the study support the view that the use of cooperative learning strategies contributes to higher students' academic achievement in relation to physics topics. This higher achievement seemed to be consistent and sustained for both topics under study as there was significant difference in mean scores between the pre- and post-intervention tests for both topics. When compared with the TT class, the CL class had performed better for the ‘D.C. Circuits' topic. For the TT class, although there was a marked improvement between the pre- and post-intervention test for the topic on “Current Electricity”, this was not sustained for the topic on “D.C. Circuits”. In fact, this class performed very much below expectation for the second post-test. One possible reason for the great disparity in the mean marks for the post-intervention tests between the two topics could be due to the more difficult concepts in ‘D.C. Circuits' topic, as these concepts require higher order thinking.
The use of cooperative learning strategies also seemed to promote better understanding of the electricity concepts as could be seen from the students' science journal entries where they demonstrated the facets of understanding. In fact, all the students were able to solve the numerical questions given in the journals. The majority of them were able to describe how the results should be calculated and why the fictitious persons in the question were wrong. Although the results indicated that not all 41 students demonstrated all the facets, this is likely due to the fact that they were not used to giving detailed explanations on how they derived their answers and their thinking behind their solutions, as these were not the routine kind of questions in the Cambridge GCE ‘O' level Science (Physics) examinations.
When asked to write what they like about lessons in 2007, 19 out of 41 students cited things linked to group work, such as, ‘there is more group work', ‘group discussions in each topic', ‘studying in groups', ‘new methods of studying in group', ‘the group teaching and quizzes'. Others wrote that they could understand the topics better. From here and the results of the perception surveys, students were generally seen to be more motivated to learn because of the use of cooperative learning strategies.
However, there were a small minority who appeared not to be motivated by the use of cooperative learning strategies. When asked what they did not like about the lessons, two students wrote that their group members were not doing their part and six students wrote that they did not like the group work. These findings were in line with those reported in a study carried out by Hancock (2004) on cooperative learning and peer orientation effects on motivation and achievement. Hancock found out that students who desired to work with others seemed to be more motivated to learn in settings that maximized student interaction than were students who desired to work alone. Another possible reason could be that students have accustomed to learn passively from teachers. They are used to taking down notes, doing worksheets and preparing for tests and examinations. Students prefer to listen to their teachers, rather than their peers, especially when it comes to difficult academic content and material.
