The Effects of Cooperative Learning Strategy on Academic Outcomes of Secondary School Students in Biology: Implications for Stem Subjects

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of cooperative
learning strategy on academic performances and outcomes of secondary school students
in biology. Experimental design with randomized control trials (RCTs) was employed to
carry out this study. The actual study addressed two secondary schools from North
Shewa, Oromia: one experimental school (five biology teachers and 600 grade 9
students), and one control school (five biology teachers and 600 grade 9 students). The
student team achievement division (STAD) model was used to evaluate the relationships
between the cooperative learning strategy and students' academic outcomes in
classrooms. Pre-test and post-tests were administered before and after intervention
respectively. Data were analyzed using two-tailed test and one-way ANOVA to compare
pre-test and post-test across the groups. Findings indicated that although teaching style
can be conceptualized on a continuum ranging from teacher-centered to student-centered
spectrum, cooperative learning strategy resulted in students’ critical thinking and higher
academic achievement scores in biology compared to the competitive and individualistic
lecture method where the differences between the baseline and end-line remarkably
showed significant increase after each intervention. There is a direct relationship
between utilization of cooperative learning strategy and students' academic outcomes.
Therefore, the intervention achieved its intended outcomes