THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COLLABORATIVE LEARNING METHOD AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COLLABORATIVE LEARNING METHOD AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

ABSTRACT

The study examined the relationship between collaborative learning method and academic performance of secondary school students in Lagos State: Implication for counselling. A total of 200 (two hundred) sampled students were selected and used for this study. A total of four (4) null hypotheses were formulated and tested using the Pearson product moment correlation and the independent t-test tools at 0.05 level of significance.

At the end of the data analysis, results obtained include the following:

(1) There is a significant relationship between collaborative learning method and students’ academic performance in school.

(2) There is a significant relationship between the academic performance of students taught by collaborative learning method and those taught by other method of teaching in school.

(3) There is a significant relationship between personality and academic performance of students based on the use of collaborative learning in schools.

(4) Finally, there is a significant gender difference in the academic performance of students due to the application of collaborative learning method in schools.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background to the Study

Few classrooms are homogenous in nature. The typical classroom is made up of students from diverse cultural, economic, ethnic, linguistic and social backgrounds. In addition, the classrooms comprise of students with diverse motivational and ability levels. So in the typical classroom, there are some students who benefit from the conventional instructional processes because the processes are consistent with their previous experiences. Still there are other students who do not benefit from the instructional processes because, the instructional processes tend to inhibit their learning abilities (Jones and Jones, 2001).

Furthermore, Jones and Jones (2001), pointed out that the teacher must modify the classroom environment so as to enable the learners to develop prosocial, cooperative behaviour and culture of learning. Collaborative peer learning is therefore, one classroom management strategy usually recommended for more advanced learners such as secondary school students (Schmuck and Schmuck, 2007).

Collaborative peer learning involves students working together to complete common tasks or master a common challenge (Fawcett and Garton, 2005). Rochelle and Teasley (2005) also see collaborative learning as a coordinated, synchronous activity that is the result of a continued attempt to construct and maintain a shared conception of a problem. Pieced together, it would be plausible to describe collaborative learning as the voluntary coming together of students of diverse abilities or levels of comprehension to study together for the purpose of maximizing their own and each other’s learning (Johnson, Johnson and Holubec, 2008).

Promotive interaction is the mutual help that members offer to one another. Members must always engage in verbal communication, asking questions, offering explanations, and through that, help one another to overcome their learning difficulties. Individual accountability is the acceptance of the fact each member of the group is accountable to the group for tasks assigned to them. As the group monitors the contributions of individual members, free riders must be made of their negative tendency. Passive listeners (social loafers) must also be made to be aware of their passiveness in the class activity. But this quiet reprimand must be made in such a way that the individuals involved would not be hurt too much. Therefore, social skills must be deployed in peer collaborative learning (Johnson and Johnson, 2004).

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COLLABORATIVE LEARNING METHOD AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS