CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The challenge of 21st century education is to make teaching and learning

meaningful to the learners. Students need to engage in authentic and relevant activities

that develop life-long learning competencies. To achieve this target, teachers use diverse

teaching methods including inquiry, guided discovery, discussion and cooperative

learning. Among all of these Cooperative learning are one of the greatest success stories

in the history of educational research. Cooperative learning is a study approach aimed to

manage classroom activities into academic and social learning experiences

(Yusnani,2018). Cooperative learning is not merely arranging the students into groups

but it has been proved as structuring positive interdependence.

Furthermore, Cooperative learning method pressumes that team effort of students

toward a single goal of learning a particular aspect result in more understanding than solo

effect. On the contrary of this research states that through inquiry approach students

require to raise question find the answer by their own to cope up with a new student

centered ( individualized approach) in teaching and learning science (Walsh, 2015).

According to Heins meta-analysis of research, learning is a social activity. Learning is

intimately associated with the connection of teachers, peers, family as well as casual

aquaintance (Giron, 2015). Indeed, cooperative learning environment sets the stage for

the students to learn valuable collaboration and social skills that will be of use throughout

their lives.

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 In the same manner, cooperative learning activities are carefully structured in

which students are held accountable for the contribution and participation in learning.

Students are also provided incentives to work as a team in teaching others and learning

from others (Slavin, 2008). However, conflict in the classroom may arise due to several

factors such as miscommunication, exclusion, inability to express feelings appropriately

and the lack of care and respect for each other (Kneidler, 2010). The help of cooperative

learning, students have more opportunities to actively participate in their learning by

questioning, sharing, discussing their ideas to gain motivation and self-esteem.

According to Valdez (2010) there are five basic elements that allow succesful

small group learning / cooperative learning: (1) positive interdependence, (2) face-to-face

interaction, (3) individual and group accountability, (4) group behaviors, and (5) group

processing.

Cooperative learning changes students' and teacher's roles in classroom. The

ownership of teaching and learning is shared by group of students and is no longer the

sole responsibility of the teacher. Along with improving academic learning, cooperative

learning helps the students engage in thoughtful discourse and examine different

perspectives and it has been proven to increase student's self-esteem, motivation and

empathy.

Some challenges of using cooperative learning include releasing the control of

learning, managing the noise levels, resolving conflicts and assesing student learning.

Carefully structured activities can help students learn the skills to work together

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successfully and structured discussion and reflection on group process can help avoid

some problems.

Organizing students in cooperative learning groups can lead to a gain as high as

28 percentiles in measured students achievements (Madrigal, 2011). Other researchers

report that cooperative learning typically results in higher group and individual

achievement, healthier relationships with peers, more metacognition and greater

psychological health and self-esteem. (Jaguador, 2012).

Using cooperative learning not only provides opportunities for students to develop

interpersonal skills but also gives them authentic experiences that will help them be

successful in their future careers.

The reason why the researchers chose Grade 10 students as the respondents of

their study because they are capable enough to deal with other students and build their

trust to their peers in performing any cooperative learning activities as presented by the

teacher. The researchers arrived in this study to find out the extent of cooperative

learning on the level of academic performance of Grade 10 students of EMA EMITS

College Philippines. Also, researchers wanted to know the different cooperative learning

strategies that can enhance the learning capabilities of the students.

Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to determine the possible relation between cooperative learning

and the student's academic performance based on grades.

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 Specifically, it sought answers to the following questions:

1. What is the perception of Grade 10 students on the extent of cooperative learning in

terms of:

1.1 Think-Pair-Share;

1.2 Groupworks/activities; and

1.3 Experiment?

2. What is the level of academic performance of Grade 10 students in terms of:

2.1 First Quarterly Grades?

3. Is there a significant relationship between the extent of cooperative learning (think-

pair-share, groupworks/activities and experiment) and the level of student’s academic

performance based on grades?

Statement of the Hyphothesis

There is no significant relationship between the extent of cooperative learning in

teaching Science and academic performance of Grade 10 students in EMA EMITS

College Philippines for the S.Y. 2018-2019.

Significance of the Study

This study would specifically benefit many sectors of educational institution by

providing data analysis and information evidenced by articles of known educators and

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theories of great philosphers on the result of the extent of the cooperative learninng in

teaching science and academic performance of students.

School Administrators/ Leaders: The result provided by this study would open

the possibilities of improving active learning of students through the use of cooperative

learning methods by conducting relevant activities which help the students promote the

essence of unity through sharing their knowledge and capabilities to every learners.

Teachers: This study would be able to reassess their teaching style and provide

students opportunities to boost their confidence to participate with the assigned

lessons/activities. Teachers can select appropriate cooperative learning strategies to cope

up the needs of the students' learning.

Parents: This would help them to realize the critical role that lies within them.

Parents can increase their interaction and discussion with their children and be more

responsive and sensitive to their children's social, emotional and intellectual

developmental needs.

Students: This study would enlighten them to enhance their interest,

motivation, and participation in learning. Through their participation in the cooperative

learning activities in Scince, they can able to manage their interpersonal, listening and

critical thinking skills to achieve educational success.

Future Researchers: This may serve as a guideline or source in conducting

related to this study. Researchers can also suggest the importance of cooperative learning

are definitive and they are used to support the position that all types of cooperative

learning are important.

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Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The extent of cooperative learning on student's academic performance is a kind of

affective aspect in the motivation that influences student's learning success as it relates to

the educational psychology. The scope of cooperative learning included:

think-pair-share, groupworks/activities and experiment.

The limitations of the study were: (1) the analysis on possible relation between

cooperative learning and the academic grade of Grade 10 students at EMA EMITS

College Philippines, (2) for collecting data about cooperative learning, the researchers did

not use triangulation because they collect data from the students only, (3) the research

was conducted to study the student's academic grade and the cooperative learning in the

year 2018-2019, (4) the result of the research can be applied to the target population, the

Grade 10 students of EMA EMITS College Philippines, Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro.

Defibition of Terms

To facilitate better understanding of the study, several terms are hereby defined.

Academic Performance refers to the outcome of education or the extent to

which the students, teachers and institution have been achieved their educational goals.

Performance is characterized by performance on test associated with coursework and the

performance of the students. In this study, it is based on the first quarterly grade of the

students.

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 Cooperative Learning refers to the ability of the students working together to

attain group goals that cannot be obtained by working alone or competitively. It is

method or strategy used by the teachers like think-pair-share, group activities and

experiment that helps a lot on this study.

Experiment is an activity where a number of students work in groups on

carefully designed guided inquiry questions. Materials provide the students with the

means of collecting data through interaction with typical laboratory materials, data

simulation tools or a decision making environment, as well as a series of question that

lead to discovery based learning.

Groupwork/ activity refers to working collaboratively and efficiently. It is one of

the best techniques of all teaching techniques.

Think-Pair-Share is a strategy in which the teacher gives student a task. The

students are given 2-5 minutes to work on it alone (think). Then they form pairs to

discuss their ideas with the whole class (share).

Science is a subject or knowledge about the study of a natural world based on

facts learned through experiment and observation in a given activity.

Theorotical Framework

The main aim of the present research was to find out whether or not any

association exists between the cooperative learning and the academic performance of

their children. It was assumed that the more cooperative learning in academic

performance, the higher the level of understanding of the students. This assumptions

seem to be partly consistent with the theoretical perspective of Kolb (1995) which

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provides intellectual approach for cooperative learning that comes from experience

wherein the knowledge has to be discovered by themselves to make a difference to their

behavior.

Moreover, Kolb's suggests that students develop a preference for learning in a

particular way. Students may adopt different learning styles in different situations, but

they tend to favor some learning behavior over others. Individuals learn better when the

subject matter is presented in a way that is consistent with their preferred learning style.

The cores of Kolb's four-stage model is a simple description of a learning cycle that

shows how experience is translated through reflection into concepts, which in turn are

used as guides for active experimentation and the choice of new experiences. Kolb refers

to these four stages as concrete experience (CE), reflective observation (RO), abstract

conceptualization (AC) and the active experimentation (AE). These four-stages of Kolb's

model engaged students in a variety of learning style which promote teamwork and

communication skills rather than reading a book or listening to a lecture which does not

provide the same experience. Experiential learning is an opportunity for learners to apply

what they've been taught to solve-real-world challenges through cooperation. Learners

test their understanding of underlying principles, processes, and procedures and can

experiment and adapt their practice to achieve best outcomes.

Constructivism Theory of Piaget (1990) views learning as a process in which a

student actively construct or build new ideas and concept based upon their prior

knowledge and new information. This theory is advisable to teacher's instruction with the

learners to construct knowledge rather than acquire it. The teacher make sure to guide the

students' pre-existing conceptions that take place best in learning group of social

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situations. Students construct their own meaning by building their previous knowledge

and experience. New ideas and experiences are match against existing knowledge and the

learners construct new adapted rules to make sense of the world. In such an environment

the teacher cannot be in charge of the student's learning, since everyone's view of reality

will be so different and students will come to learning already possessing their own

constructs of the world.

In addition, Gagne's Cognitive Theory suggests task would be best learned by

following a sequence of nine events: (1) gaining attention, (2) informing the learner with

the objective, (3) stimulating recall of prerequisite learning, (4) presenting new material,

(5) providing learning guidance, (6) eliciting performance, (7) providing feedback, (8)

assessing performance and (9) increasing retention and recall.

The Gagne's Nine Level of Learning model give teachers a checklist to use

before they engage in teaching. Each step highlights a form of communication that aids

the learning process. When each step is completed in turn, learners are much more likely

to be engaged and to retain the information or skills that they are being taught. This

focuses to recommended instruction of teacher's teaching method especially with the

cooperative learning method used to enact changes in the development of student's

performance.

Furthermore, this study also anchored on the Zone of Proximal Development

Theory (ZPD) proposed by Lev Vygotsky. It placed considerable emphasis on students'

potential for intellectual growth rather than their intellectual abilities at a particular point

of time. The ZPD defined as the distance between student's actual development level as

determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development

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through adults guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers. Additionally, this

theory emphasizes the social aspects of learning by recognizing the full potential of the

learners. The teacher plays a very important role to impart knowledge and develop the

means of communication between student's peer much important learning by the child

occurs through social interaction with a skillful tutor. The tutor may model behaviors

and/or provide verbal instructions for the child. The child seeks to understand the actions

or instructions provided by the tutor (often the parent or teacher) then internalizes the

information, using it to guide or regulate their own performance.

Lastly, Social Learning Theory proponent by Albert Bandura agrees with the

behaviourist learning theorist of classical and operant conditioning whereas he adds two

important ideas: mediating process occur between stimuli and response and behavior is

learned from the environment through the process of observational learning. This theory

is relevant to the previous study as students are all taking part in the social learning

theory as they interact and learn social skills from one another. They tend to develop

about communicative skills and social skills that include asking for clarification,

checking the understanding of others explaining acknowledging contributions, asking

others to contribute, praising others, verifying consensus, and mediating conflicts. It is

important for children to directly learn from experiences in the classroom and have

interactions with others. They are also developing in a positive way both socially and

academically through social learning.

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

IV DV

Extent of Cooperative Learning Level of Academic Performance

i n t e r m s o f : in terms of:

1.1 Think- Pair-Share; 2.1 First Quarterly grade.

1.2 Groupworks/activities; and

1.3 Experiment.

Figure 1. Hypothesized Relationships between Variables

The paradigm illustrates the relationship between two variables: the independent

variable and the dependent variable. The independent variable is the extent of cooperative

learning wherein the indicators include think-pair-share, groupworks/activities, and

experiment while the dependent variable is the level of student's academic performance

based on grades.

The one-headed arrow represents the relationship between the independent

variable (extent of cooperative learning) and the dependent variable (level of student's

academic performance based on grades).

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 .

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