The Effects of Cooperative Learning on Students’ Attitudes and Achievements

Abstract

This study examined the effects of cooperative learning, namely the Think-Pair-Share method (TPS), in comparison with the lecture-based instructional method on the attitudes and academic achievement of students in social studies. Furthermore, this inquiry aimed to investigate whether teaching social studies through the Think-Pair -Share approach would solicit more positive attitudes towards social studies as well as promote higher achievement in students. In this study, a quasi-experimental design was used with a pretest-posttest data analysis. Data collection lasted four months, divided into two months intervals. During the first two months, the lecture-based method was used followed by the TPS approach in the latter two months. The sample consisted of 60 mixed-gender grade six, seven and eight students, selected from a private school in Mount Lebanon. The students were classified as middle-class in terms of their socio-economic status. Their age ranged between 11-14 years. The results showed that the participants had positive perceptions of the Think-Pair-Share (TPS). The results also revealed that the majority of the students had higher achievement after the implementation of the Think-Pair-Share (TPS) strategy. The results of this study can serve as a prototype to encourage educational institutions in Lebanon to adopt this instructional strategy.