Assessing the Effects of Cooperative, Competitive, and Individualistic Instructional Strategies on the Learning Outcomes of Senior Secondary School Students in Computer Science
Keywords:
Effects, Instructional strategies, Learning outcomes, Students, Computer scienceAbstract
The traditional approach has been criticized for always being teacher-oriented, a method which lays down rules and definitions on top of students. This strategy is still being used today because it allows a great deal of information to be turned over in a short time. The result is that students perform very poorly at both internal and external examinations. Therefore, this research sets out to discover an instructional method that could improve the old technique and enhance students’ knowledge of the subject. Using cooperative, competitive and individualistic methods of learning in the three experimental groups with a fourth anticipating which would promote meaningful learning for computer science. The study was based on a quasi-experimental design with pretest and post-test control groups. The target population for the study was the entire public Secondary School Computer Science Two (SSS 2) student body in Ondo State, Nigeria. A sample of 400 students from intact senior secondary school two (SSS 2) classes formed the researcher’s basis. For the research, the 40-item PCAT (Post Test Achievement Test) was developed for use by the researcher. The investigation was guided by four research questions and four hypotheses. The hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), with an alpha level cutoff at 0.05 significance levels. The study's findings revealed that cooperative learning turned out to be most effective; close behind it came competitive and individualistic practices with the traditional styles a little further back. Most importantly, cooperative techniques influence everyone involved in them from whatever level or gender of beginner they may have started as. In the light of these results, it is recommended that instructors and students alike should receive routine training in cooperative learning concepts, methods and rules.
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