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UPSI Digital Repository (UDRep)
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| Abstract : Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris |
| While investigating the effects of STAD (Student Teams-Achievement Divisions), one of the cooperative learning methods developed by Slavin (1978, 1986), on achievement in mathematics and sciences, and other outcomes (e.g., positive attitudes, enhanced cross-ethnic friendships, and higher levels of self-esteem) has been widespread, the research on the learning of STAD via STAD as opposed to the rampantly practised didactic lecture style in familiarising student teachers to STAD in teacher education programme, nevertheless, seems to be an uncharted area of research in cooperative learning. This exploratory study was conducted to investigate the comparative effect of STAD via STAD approach and STAD via mass lecture approach on the pedagogical knowledge on STAD of 187 third-year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) student teachers following through a science education programme on "Strategies in Teaching and Learning Science" at Sultan Idris University of Education, Malaysia. A quasi-experimental nonrandomized pretest-posttest control group design was chosen on the basis that, while it was not possible to randomly assign student teachers to any of the two predetermined lecture groups, it was feasible to randomly assign each of the two groups to either experimental or control group. The pretest scores were based on the student teachers' portfolio assessment in the first half of Semester 1 Year 2006/2007. Basically, this portfolio assessment serves to measure the extent to which the student teachers have grasped the science pedagogical approaches taught in the first seven weeks of the Semester 1 Year 2006/2007. Meanwhile, the pedagogical knowledge on STAD was measured using the author-formulated posttest of which its validity and reliability were given due consideration. The dataset was analysed using the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) because of its capability in reducing the effects of initial group differences by making compensating adjustments to the posttest means of the two groups, thus permitting greater precision in isolating true treatment effects. The level of significance in this study was set at .05 level (p < .05). In addition to ANCOVA, effect size (ES) was calculated as "an aid to interpret the results of a single study ...[and] for making inferences about the practical significance of research results" (Borg & Gall, 1983, p.385). The results indicate that the level of STAD knowledge gained of student teachers in the experimental group who had participated in the STAD via STAD approach is statistically significantly higher than the level of STAD knowledge gained of student teachers in the control group who had participated in the STAD via mass lecture approach (F = 15.55, p < .001). Additionally, the obtained moderate effect size (A = +0.56), which is equivalent to approximately one half of a standard deviation, denotes the educational significance, favouring student teachers in the experimental group. There were no previous studies on the effectiveness of learning STAD via STAD in science teacher education with which these findings could be directly compared. Accordingly, it explains the novelty and distinctiveness of this study, and reflects the fertile ground for future research on STAD via STAD approach in science teacher education. Despite having some limitations that preclude, among others, the non-probability sampling and hence restricted generalisability, the findings from this study, nevertheless, do have some pedagogical implications for teacher trainers such as the use of simulated participation of student teachers in the approach at hand. |
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