The Development of Cooperative Learning Activities of the Subject Area of Mathematics on the Topic “Exponentiation” for Grade 7 Students.

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to 1) investigate the conditions, problems and guidelines for the development of cooperative learning activities of grade 7 students 2) construct and find the efficiency in organizing cooperative learning activities using STAD technique of grade 7 students according to the 75/75 criteria 3) compare the levels of the learning achievement and analytical thinking ability of students using cooperative learning activities of STAD technique and the normal approach and 4) study the satisfaction of grade 7 students towards the cooperative learning activities using the STAD technique. The research samples were of 320 students of grade 7 at Wat Klang Municipal School. The research instruments comprised 1) the interviewing form to investigate problems and guidelines for the development of learning activities of mathematics for Grade 7 students. 2) 8 lesson plans of Mathematics on the topic “Exponentiation” for grade 7 students, 3) the learning achievement test containing 30 test items 4) the placement test on analytical thinking ability containing 24 test items and 5) the assessment form to investigate the students’ satisfaction, 15 items. Statistic methods adopted for data analysis were percentage, mean, standard deviation, and Hotelling’s T2. Research results were as follow; 1) Results of investigating conditions and problems revealed that grade 7 students gained the lowest level of learning achievement by the topic ‘Exponentiation’ and the appropriate guideline to develop cooperative learning activities on the topic ‘Exponentiation’ was the implementation of STAD technique. 2) Results of constructing and developing a plan for organizing learning activities, 8 lesson plans (16 hours) of Mathematics on the topic ‘Exponentiation’ were constructed and the level of efficiency (E1/E2) is 79.53/80.08 which was higher than the defined criteria. 3) The comparison of levels of learning achievement and analytical thinking ability of students using cooperative learning activities of STAD technique and the normal approach, it revealed that students learning through cooperative learning activities STAD techniques gained the higher level of learning achievement than critical thinking ability learning the normal approach with statistical significance at the .05 level. 4) The grade 7 students were satisfied with the learning activities of Mathematics on the topic ‘Exponentiation’ at ‘Most’ level ( = 4.61, S.D. = 0.20).