EFFECTS of the effects of INDIVIDUAL VERSUS group learning on the achievement of a primary school’s task PUPIL (A A CASE STUDY OF IJAYE OJOKORO’S LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA)
ABSTRACT
The study investigated the impact of learning in groups versus individuals on the performance of pupils in primary school by employing an experimental approach. The data came from sixteen (16) sixth-grade pupils between 10 and 12, and a mean for X = 10.3 8 (8) males and eight females. Five hypotheses were formulated and then analyzed with the Mann-Whitney test. The results revealed the existence of a substantial variation in the performance in the achievement of female and male students who were exposed to individual learning. (U(6) is 8.000 (p <.05). In addition to that, there was no significant distinction in the performance of female or male students who were exposed to group learning. (U(6) is 5.000 and p <.05). It was also found that there was no significant distinction in the achievement of pupils from intact or single-parent homes subjected to learning in groups. (U(6) is 6.500 (p <.05). It was found that there were no significant differences in the performance of pupils from intact or single-parent homes taught in a group setting (U(6) is 2.500 2, p <.05). The study’s findings highlight that students exposed to group learning do better than pupils exposed to individual learning. Thus, schools must adopt techniques of group learning to boost students’ performance. After the study, there were suggestions for further research.
CHAPTER One EFFECTS OF INDIVIDUAL GROUP LEARNING TEACHING ON TEACH ACHIEVEMENT IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS PRINCIPAL
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Learning is defined as gaining knowledge or acquiring the capacity to develop new behaviour. Learning is the ability to acquire knowledge through personal reflection on sources and external stimuli and the personal re-elaboration of one’s knowledge and Experience due to interactions with other people and the surrounding. (Sinister, 2000). Social constructivist scholars see that learning is an activity in which learners are expected to learn the fundamentals, concepts, and facts by themselves; hence, it is important to promote a sense of humour and intuitive thinking among students (Brown, 1989; Ackerman, 1996).
Learning experience, on the other hand, can be described as the process through which learning takes place and what happens while the student is learning, and how the pupil is taught the material he has been instructed. The objective of teaching is to make sure that the student can comprehend the concepts being taught and can reproduce or explain what they were taught. In order to achieve this, teachers employ a variety of methods to improve their teaching to ensure that their pupils can comprehend and comprehend what they have been taught. It can be by group or individual learning.
Group learning results from the joint academic efforts of students or teachers and students. Students who participate in group learning perform this activity within groups of two to more. They work in teams to accomplish the desired goal. Group learning occurs when students collaborate to form a consensus for an open-ended task. In the classroom of groups, students engage in more discussions and participation in class. Every participant contributes to the group, thereby contributing to the knowledge of others. Recent research indicates that learning is greatly dependent on the context and the activity within it (Brown, Collins & Duguid 1989). Students with different abilities and backgrounds thus collaborate on discussions and tasks to reach an agreed-upon understanding of the truth of a particular field (Duffy & Jonassen, 1992).
Individual learning is when a person relies on his or her knowledge foundation. Individual learning means that the ability to think and learn are skills teachers can impart to the student (Perkins & Saloman, 1988). If a person is studying independently, they absorb all the knowledge they have and apply it to the current situation at the present moment to create a new understanding. Learning is described as being teacher-centred. Teachers are the main sources of knowledge and guidance in feedback, criticism, and assistance. Before entering school, youngsters learn to walk and talk and utilize their hands to control food, toys and other things. They utilize every sense to explore what they see, hear, taste, and smell in their environment.
They are taught how to communicate with their siblings, parents, and other people who are important to their lives. When they start the school system, they learn academic subjects like writing, reading, and math. They also discover a lot outside the classroom. They acquire social skills to be able to engage and interact with others.
The primary school-age children are between the ages of 6 to eleven years, based on the school’s region. However, most primary school pupils are developing between the ages of six and eleven years old depending on the subject (for instance, the child could be successful in the realm of social-emotional growth yet be lower than the norm on physical progress for their age). These vastly different individual variations in the rate of growth and the development of their abilities are common and should be expected. (Ackerman, Debra, Barnett & Robin, 2005). Task performance here is how the children can respond to tasks that are given to them. This is why certain children might be more adept at absorbing and more effectively when they are taught in a group and others in groups, while others will be more comfortable in all ways. Children are extremely delicate, so it is essential to be aware of the best way for a child to learn. Their primary aim is to create a comfortable and pleasant learning environment for their students in all schools.
If students receive a cosy and comfortable environment, they will be able to be more effective in their classes and activities. Children, unlike adults, need to be treated with much care.
The first year of primary school is an important year for all children. It is one of transition from preschool or at home to formal education. Most children enter elementary school because they are full of wonder, curiosity and an eagerness to know more about themselves, other people and the world around them. The role of teachers is to feed this thirst for knowledge, inspire and challenge students, and safeguard and nurture the children. (Ackerman, Debra, Barnett & Robin, 2005). Students are taught their subjects’ fundamental or most fundamental aspects at the elementary school level. For instance, students are taught to perform the fundamental manipulation of addition, subtraction, and division in math. In other disciplines, they are taught the basics. Therefore, it is essential to create or provide an excellent learning experience for these students to be more successful later in their lives.
Learning for children in this stage is as crucial as their performance. Children who view themselves as competent learners can confidently tackle problems and build attitudes that foster their curiosity and enthusiasm to learn. (Ackerman, Debra, Barnett & Robin, 2005). Children can learn when presented with the information in everyday experiences. Some children are responsive when they are on the same basis with the teacher. Thus, it is the instructor’s responsibility to figure out what best fits the child and then modify his teaching methods and activities in the classroom to meet the needs of each child.
Brain research has also shown the interconnected nature of learning and cannot be separated or divided into specific subject subjects (Howard, 1994). Children gain knowledge from thought-provoking experiences that make them think and stimulate their brain’s development and growth. These experiences cannot be measured simply using standard methods. The same is true for Vygotsky (1978) affirms the importance of the teacher’s decisions to maximize learning. He believes that the teachers are most efficient when their teaching is geared toward a specific zone of proximal development for every child. Learning is most effective when their learning experiences are in their development zone. Teachers must assess the development of a child and probe the child’s thought process about the subject and offer learning experiences that create a bridge, that is, a “scaffold,” to higher-level thinking processes (Berk and Winsler 1995). The standardized tests provide an incomplete overview of the knowledge the student is already proficient in. However, if they focus only on the things that children already know, teachers will not assist as effectively in helping students to master the next step.
There are many reasons why the learning experience can affect task performance. In the first place, if the teacher does not know what the pupil he is teaching can affect both the student and the teacher since the pupil will not perform effectively, and the teacher could be annoyed. The way the student learns can negatively impact the student’s memory and recall. If the student can connect to the experiences of the learning process, they will not have any difficulty in reproducing the information he/she is taught. Whatever Experience the teacher uses must be a connection to the context of the subject. The learning experience has to be one that the student can connect to it meaningfully.
If students study in groups, they are motivated by external influences, which means their fellow group members influence them. Additionally, competition within the group may help the student achieve results. If a person studies independently, it is possible to declare that their intrinsic motivations drive them. These include curiosity (they can explore new details without justifying it in an entire group). They are also confronted by competition with themselves. (Always striving to be better compared to before).
Lander (1995) notes that the obvious benefit of collaborative learning is that groups of six are simpler for staff members to supervise than 30 individual students. The groups can be monitored to see how they are progressing by using exercises or worksheets that require creating a final product. Teachers may monitor students working on their assignments both in groups and separately within their groups. If students are working on assignments by themselves, it is difficult for teachers to watch all the students in an entire class. This is particularly the case for large groups. However, in the case of students working in a group on a project, it is easy for teachers to monitor each student’s performance. Teachers can also intervene in the CL approach. Teachers may ask questions, observe or offer suggestions based on the progress and interactions of the group. It is not easy to have such types of teacher-student and student-student interactions in the lecture format.
Slavin (1992) examines the classroom view of cooperative learning. He emphasizes that when students assume responsibility to manage themselves in cooperative groups, the teacher is free to concentrate on other tasks like working with small groups of students; This is particularly helpful for writing classes. Students can write to one another and do peer editing; the teacher does not have to look over multiple drafts by every student. The teacher can concentrate on helping students create the criteria to assess the work of each other, then present the criteria to students that they wish to achieve and collaborate with each student if required.
In pairs, each partner must verbally state their answer while the other participant listens and asks questions or comments on what he/she has received. Clarification and explanation of the answer is an important aspect of collaborative learning and is a higher-level thinking capability (Johnson, Johnson, Roy Zaidman 1985). Students who teach one another must understand the idea they are communicating orally to their teacher (Neer, 1987). Tannenberg (1995) discusses the advantages of developing oral communication skills specific to the discipline. “As in other fields, computer scientists utilize special languages to communicate effectively and efficiently; This is not limited to mathematical programming languages and symbols, as well as more terms and special applications inherent to natural languages. One of the benefits is that students are working in small groups, in which they work with each other and engage in the use of specific disciplines’ language. When they try to communicate their concepts about problems they are working on regardless of whether discussing graph algorithms, programs, or proof that they will eventually be able to understand the terms that define these items.” Tannenberg (1995) adds that integrating into the world of our fields is a way for them to be capable of understanding specialized literature and converse with more experienced practitioners. Learning the language of the discipline will open up the doors to the wealth of information within the discipline. Therefore, we should not underestimate the importance of having our students talk to one another about their work within the fields we teach. The social environment of collaborative learning offers this possibility, and that is why it is more beneficial when students interact with each other rather than with experts because they do not have to worry about appearing silly and being considered novices about not being proficient in the new language or discipline, or about being tourists in a foreign land, and how simple to talk with other travellers.
Schunk and Hanson (1985), students typically benefit from watching their classmates more than they can learn from an authority figure such as the teacher (Levin, Glass & Meister 1984). Peers are often more knowledgeable and better understand what students do not know or cause them to have difficulties in a way that the teacher cannot. The focus is on students and not on the teacher. In addition to shifting the burden of learning to students, cooperative learning allows students to show their expertise by helping other students (Bargg and Schul 1980); This is an important benefit over the lecture or class discussion style of teaching.
Bershon (1992) discusses the importance of speech in the development of children as outlined in Vygotsky (1978). Vygotsky (1987) states that children’s egocentric speech was not just a means of achieving the goal but also played a crucial function in solving the task. In this respect, he stated that children’s actions and speech had the same psychological process and aimed at solving the issue at hand. It is thought that the more complicated the task posed by the circumstance and the more indirect it is to the answer, the more importance speech plays in the resolution.”
Students can work and speak out orally in groups, and three benefits are realized. The first benefit is that more advanced students show appropriate methods to approach an issue and how they think about content and develop arguments and rationales to justify their choices. By being questioned by peers, these students become much more conscious of the thought methods they employ. Instead of looking at a problem in tiny increments or as a group, tends to view an issue from a broader view and look at a range of alternatives as solutions. They will also be challenging the more experienced students. The less knowledgeable students can be part of the solution to the issue and then be able to solve the problem with the help of classmates. Additionally, LeGall (1992) mentions that “Through the encouragement of the group members to explore new approaches, which are more active, as well as through support from the group and social rewards for efforts that are not entirely successful, individuals in the group begin to believe that they are competent to engage in interpreting”.
The primary purpose of collaborative learning is the development of teams. This can be achieved by using a variety of methods throughout the semester. At the beginning of a group class, exercises to warm up and get familiar with classmates’ names and exercises for practice help acclimate students to cooperative learning. The semester continues to progress group building exercises and group processes are crucial strategies to help students realize the way they function within their groups and how they can improve their performance. In terms of individual accountability and individual accountability, at the end of each section, an examination or paper or any other assessment method is used to assess how each student has grasped the subject (Slavin, 1983). Group projects or group tests could be offered as well. Exams throughout the semester could be administered separately, ensuring a sense of accountability for every group member. Numerous grading strategies combine both components, like giving bonus points to each member of the group when the group is higher than its previous average in the test by a certain amount; This is why it is in this context, the study aims to investigate the impact of group versus individual learning experiences on the achievement of tasks in primary school students.
1.2 The statement of the issue
Today in Nigerian schools, most primary school teachers or coordinators are not willing to take the time to discover the best way the students can be expected to improve their learning. The issue with the majority of primary schools in the present is that they cannot determine how children learn more quickly. In other words, they do not conduct tests to determine if the students will do better and more effectively when they are taught as groups. The students in the class are comprised of diverse backgrounds. Teachers do not spend time analyzing these diverse communities, families, and cultures and how it could assist in developing their education; This has led to the issue of how to improve schools’ performance and fail in mass schools, especially at higher levels.
1.3 The purpose of the study
This study aims to accomplish the following goals:
- Choose the learning environment that will allow students to do better at school.
- Determine whether children learn better when taught in a group or groups.
- Study the effects of individual and group experiences on children’s ability to complete their tasks or participate in in-class tasks.
- Establish the connection between the learning experience and the achievement of tasks.
1.4 Research Problem
- What is the major distinction in the performance of pupils exposed to group and individual learning?
- What is the main distinction in the achievement of tasks for female and male pupils who participated in group learning?
- What are the main differences in the performance of female and male students who were exposed to learning on their own?
- What is the major distinction in students’ performance from intact or single-parent homes that had the opportunity to participate in individual and group instruction?
1.5 Important to the analysis
The results of this research study will help teachers determine what they can do to improve their teaching practices. Teachers will also benefit when they design and offer numerous learning opportunities that assist their students in building the foundations for advanced learning and the future ahead of them. This research will improve teachers’ quality of their teaching programs for elementary school children.
This research could also help school administrators and parents determine the most suitable learning style for their child or ward.
1.6 Scope
This research will concentrate mostly on Individual and Group accomplishments in task performance.
1.7 Assumptions
The experiment was conducted at AL-MISBAH KIDDIES SCHOOL ALGBADO KILLINGTON LAGOS State. The classroom used by the pupils in the primary 6 class was especially used to experiment. The first phase of the test occurred within the primary Six Classrooms’ where they were instructed. The second portion of the study was conducted within the Primary Five and primary four classrooms, where the tests were administered.
1.8 Operational Definition of Terms
- Learning: It means learning knowledge or information via education.
- Collaborative Learning: This can be when two or more persons try to learn together. The study was conducted on students who participated in collaborative learning in four-person groups. (4).
- Independent Learning. This kind of learning is when the accomplishment or learning of one student is purely independent and is distinct from the achievements of the learners in the class.
- Task Achievement is described as the achievement of tasks performed to achieve an objective. In this research, the achievement of tasks refers to a student who scores higher than 7 on the tests.
- Learning Experience is the learning process that an individual is through while learning.
- Student: This is someone who is enrolled in an institution. In this research, the students are those who range from the ages of 10 and 12.
- Group, It is the gathering in groups of more than two persons to accomplish an objective that is common to all. There were two groups (2) each with four pupils in each group in this case.
1.9 Theories
- There will be a big difference in students’ achievements exposed to the group and individual learning.
- There will be a distinguishable difference in the performance of female and male students who received individual learning.
- There is a noticeable distinction in the performance of female and male pupils who participated in group learning.
- There is a substantial distinction in the achievement of children from single-parent homes who had the opportunity to learn individually.
- There will be a substantial variation in children’s performance in single-parent homes exposed to group learning.
