2021 Volume 62 Issue 2 Pages 537-545
This study investigates the effects of the whole-class cooperation method on the performance of low achievers in elementary school science classes. For this purpose, the study considered two fourth-grade classes with 30 learners in each class; one class experienced the whole-class cooperation method, whereas the other did not. One month later, the same teacher taught both classes a lesson that did not follow the whole-class cooperation method. Subsequently, the pre-test and post-test scores of students, the number of times the students stood and walked during the lesson, and the content and frequency of student conversations were analyzed. The test scores of the low achievers who had experienced the whole-class cooperation method proved to be higher than the scores of those who had not experienced the method. Many conversations that were effective in improving performance resulted from increasing the number of times that students walked around and mingled in class. Furthermore, the post-class interview revealed that students acquired learning strategies from the whole-class cooperation method, recognized the advantages of those strategies, and utilized them in later learning. These findings clearly demonstrate that the whole-class cooperation method enabled active engagement of students and markedly improved the low achievers’ performance.
