The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of differentiated small group cooperative learning in science experiment class.
In Korea the middle school class size about 40, and for the science experiment the class is usually divided into 8 ...
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of differentiated small group cooperative learning in science experiment class.
In Korea the middle school class size about 40, and for the science experiment the class is usually divided into 8 or 9 groups, and each has 4 or 5 members whose achievement levels are various. In this case the low ability students in each group don't participate actively in the experiment, because the high ability students lead the most part of the experiment and proceed it rapidly, so they may not learn effectively from the experiment. Therefore it is wondered what if making several differentiated groups, each group has same achievement level students, and revised experiment for each group is implemented.
For the study, three classes were sampled in a cluster and named class A, B, C respectively. 'Class A' consists of differentiated groups in their achievement and three kinds of experiments were implemented to the three level groups such as high achievement level groups, middle achievement level groups, and low achievement level groups. 'Class B' consists of differentiated groups in their achievement but same experiments were implemented to the all groups. 'Class C' consists of non-differentiated groups and same experiments were implemented to the all groups.
The conclusion are as follows:
⑴ For the high achievers and low achievers, when the groups are differentiated and different level experiment are implemented according to the group capacity they made higher achievement in science experiments than when the groups are differentiated but same experiments are implemented to all groups.
⑵ For the high achievers and low achievers, when the groups are differentiated and different level experiment are implemented according to the group capacity they made higher achievement in science experiments than when the groups are non-differentiated and same experiments are implemented to all groups.
⑶ For the middle achievers, there was no difference in their scientific achievement after classes among the above three methods.