The effect of using concept maps as learning tools under cooperative and individualistic structures on middle school students' achievement in biology
- Beirut American University of Beirut. Faculty of Arts and Sciences 2010
- 119 pages
النوع : Mémoire
One of the goals of science education is to prepare scientifically literate individuals who are able to analyze, interpret, and use scientific knowledge in meaningful ways. One way to achieve this goal is through teaching students to use learning tools that can help them organize scientific concepts and interrelate these concepts at different levels of complexity. The concept map is one learning tool that has the potential to help students learn meaningfully. Cooperative learning has also been shown to improve student achievement in many subject areas including science. --This study investigated the effect of using concept maps as learning tools under the cooperative and individualistic mode of learning on students' performance on biology tests that require higher order thinking skills. Sixty six seventh grade students from a suburban school in which English is the medium of instruction of science participated in the study. These students were divided into three sections (cooperative, individualistic, and control). Students were randomly assigned to the experimental sections (cooperative, individualistic) and to the control section. The experimental sections and the control section were randomly selected. Students in the cooperative group reviewed the day's lesson by constructing a concept map cooperatively; students in the individualistic group completed concept maps individually; while students in the control group answered questions from their textbook. Instruments used in this study included a pretest and three achievement tests that included high cognitive level questions. The same tests were given to the three sections. The study was completed in thirteen weeks, seven of which were dedicated to train the students in the experimental sections on constructing concept maps either individually (experimental-individualistic section) or cooperatively (experimental-cooperative section). Classes met six times per week for fifty minutes per meeting. The same teacher taught all sections. At the beginning of the next academic year, students from both the experimental and control sections sat for a retention test to determine the efficacy of concept maps and cooperative learning in helping the students remember and link the different biological terms covered in the previous year. The concept maps constructed by the experimental groups were collected and corrected according to a scoring rubric adopted from Novak and Gowin (1984). Descriptive statistics and ANCOVA followed by Tuckey post-Hoc tests were used to analyze the results of the achievement tests.--Results indicated that there were no significant differences between the control group and the experimental sections on test 1, post test and retention test. However, among the experimental groups, the experimental-individualistic group performed significantly better than the experimental-cooperative group on test 2
Apprentissage coopératif Cooperative Learning Cycle moyen L’enseignement des Sciences Méthodes d’enseignement L’accomplissement des étudiants Intermediate Education Sciences education Teaching Methods Students achievement التعلم التعاوني المرحلة المتوسطة تعليم العلوم طرق التعليم تحصيل الطلبة