Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Resources
Advisor
Carolyn Buckenmaier
Committee Member
Anne Joslin
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
academic achievement, basic skills, Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills, cooperative learning, cooperative learning instruction, curriculum intervention, CTBS/5, elementary school students, Form A, Glenarden, Glenarden Woods Elementary School, Glencoe Mathematics Series Placement Test, instructional strategies, Maryland, mathematics, mathematics achievement, mathematics computation, mathematics concepts and application, mathematics instruction, national percentage rank, quasi-experimental research, sixth-grade students, staff development, student achievement, teaching strategies, test scores, traditional teaching methods
Abstract
The effect of cooperative learning instruction on mathematics achievement was the subject of this applied dissertation. Comprehensive program 6th-grade students at Glenarden Woods Elementary School in Glenarden, Maryland, were the subjects. The problem was to determine if there was a relationship between cooperative learning and mathematics achievement. The 6th-grade Comprehensive program students' national percentage rank (NPR) on the math subtests of the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills, fifth edition (CTBS/5), had fallen below the national median score. Traditional teaching and learning methods had not succeeded in bringing the mathematics learning of these students to acceptable levels. Cooperative learning and teaching strategies were believed to be the key to bringing about positive increases in the mathematics scores.
The research design was quasi-experimental; the 47 students who participated were not randomly assigned to groups. After implementation of cooperative learning strategies, performance of the students on the CTBS/5 and the Glencoe Mathematics Series Placement Test, Form A, was analyzed. The implementation of cooperative learning and teaching strategies brought about an increase in the sample population’s NPR from 29 in 2002 to 35 in 2003 on the CTBS/5 in Math Concepts and Application and from 39 in 2002 to 45 in 2003 in Math Computation, bringing the students’ NPR closer to the national median score of 50. Increases were realized in the Glencoe Mathematics Series Placement Test, Form A, as well.
From these findings, it was concluded that positive interventions had occurred. Results of the cooperative learning and instruction treatment provided evidence and support that cooperative learning had a positive impact on the mathematics instructional program.