The purpose of this study was to analyze what kind of effects would be made by cooperative learning activities in small groups in the subject of math when the small groups varied in terms of composition of sex.
The examination tools adopted in the st...
The purpose of this study was to analyze what kind of effects would be made by cooperative learning activities in small groups in the subject of math when the small groups varied in terms of composition of sex.
The examination tools adopted in the study include the preliminary and afterward examination of academic achievement level and those of relationships with peers. The two classes(boys' group = 12, girls' group = 12, coed group = 12) of the second grade in a middle school located in Jeong-eup City made up the subject groups. The experiments were carried out by providing the subject with the opportunity to do cooperative learning activities in small groups during ten 45-minute math classes.
The following results were attained from this study.
The study set out to investigate if there were differences in effects of subgroup cooerative learning in math according to the composition of subgroup(only boys, only girls, andmixed). For the purpose, learning achievement was evaluated, and the relationships with friends were examined. The results were applied to with F-test and analysis of covariance(ANCOVA). As a result, there were found statistically significant differences among the three subgroups(p<.001).
The following conclusions were drawn from the research results.
The results of the two tests showed that subgroup cooperative learning had statistically significant differnces both in learning achievement and the relationships with friends when the group composition varied according to sex. In addition, the mixed subgroup, the girls-only subgroup and the boys-only subgroup showed huge scoredifferences in the order in the average scores between the pre-testing and the post-testing. Therefore, it was clear that a mixed group would have greater learning effects than a girls-only group, that a girls-only group would have greater learning effects than a boys-only group, and that a mixed group was the desirable was to make up a group considering the results and the reality that boys and girls study together in a class in a co-ed middle school, that accounts for the largest portion.
Thus, group composition methods should be considered so that subgroup cooperative learning in math can be effectively operated.