A Study of Cooperative Strategies that Enhance Individual Mathematical Achievement Among College of Education Students in Ghana

Abstract

Cooperative learning strategies have the tendency to enhance the academic strength of learners. In this paper, the independent variable, type of cooperative strategy, included three levels: Jig-Saw, Think-Pair-Share, and Brainstorming. The dependent variable was the students’ individual mathematics achievement scores and the covariate was the students’ group score when the cooperative strategy was used. A preliminary analysis that sought to assess the homogeneity-of-regression assumption indicated that the relationship between the covariate and the dependent variable did not differ significantly as a function of the independent variable, F (2, 81) =.045, p =.956. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the three covariates to one score factor for ANCOVA procedure. A significant relationship was found between academic achievement score with respect to a cooperative strategy used and the individual academic achievement scores, F (2, 83) = 249.030, p < 0.01) had the most impact on individual achievement in mathematics with students obtaining an average grade of B+. The findings also showed from the PCA that the mathematics achievement scores of the group treated with Jig-Saw cooperative strategy explained most (about 39%) of the total variance, followed by Think-Pair-share with the least being Brainstorming. Explained in another way, when students use Jig-saw learning strategy in Mathematics, their individual academic potentials are enhanced well than when Think-Pair-Share or Brainstorming is used. It is therefore recommended for Jig-saw strategy to be the preferred strategy for learning when mathematics teachers seek to improve deep learning and problem solving among students.