ABSTRACT: The study examined Co-Operative Learning Method and Academic Achievement in Physical Education. The quasi-experimental design was employed in the study. The population of the study was 1614 JS2 students who registered for physical education in 2015/2016 academic session in all the 9 public secondary schools and used as the sample size using simple random sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was a Physical Education Performance Test (PHET). The data collected were analyzed using independent t-test.
Co-Operative Learning Method and Academic Achievement in Physical Education
Findings showed that there is a significant difference in academic achievement of male and female students who learn using co-operative learning methods and that were is no significant difference in academic achievement of male and female students who learn using co-operative learning method in Physical Education in secondary schools. Based on the findings, it was recommended that: students should be hard working while studying in group and that teacher should interact healthfully to know the abilities of the students so as to be able to assign those groups to study co-operatively.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The quest for quality in education in nations throughout the world is the foundation for qualitative development. The quality physiology and principles have become central to international educational reforms as every nation seeks quality products and services through educational renewal and school instruction (Caldwell, 1985) in Akpan Uwandu & Ekanem (2013). This has given rise to the experimentation of several teaching and learning strategies which one is co-operative learning.
To cooperate simply means working together towards achieving the same aim or goals for common interest. Cooperative therefore pictures ones willingness to assist or help in solving problems in a joint effort often time the teaching/learning system has been seen to be one sided on the grounds that only the teachers do the talking while made to be learners set and listen.
But recently, the teaching/learning process has been made to be learners centered especially in the area of science by introducing new teaching methods that involves the learners with teaching learning process. According to Akpan (2008) activity based method of teaching are the best in getting individual learners into active participation with classroom situation. Here Akapan looks at learning as an individual thing which can only take place when the learners are involves as one cannot learn for another and without being present in the class to be instructed.
Furthermore, the fact that some learned are faster than others makes the general or convention classroom to suffer some set backs, thus to carry everyone along the teacher must often time share learned into groups work is sometimes referred to as cooperative learning. For learning to be effective in this group, some strategies must be put in place. Some of such are that each group must have learners that learn at the same rate.
The ages and abilities of individual learners must be known to the teacher so as to get the best from each cooperative group since we have always seen learners working together in our schools for the purpose of learning. When the participation of all the learners are needed for the realization of a common goal, individualized involvement can be developed through the use of cooperative learning. Individual differences may be difficult to cater for in a large class of diverse individuals but when the class sub-divided into groups of five or fewer each students can be reached and the class becomes manageable as well as cooperative spirit being instill in the learners.
Co-Operative Learning Method and Academic Achievement in Physical Education
1.2 Statement of the Problems
Science education is a veritable tool for scientific and technological advancement of any nation. This fact is enriched in the National Policy on Education (NPE) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2013) which states that science education should among other things equip students to live effectively in the modern age of science and technology. Despite the expected benefits of teaching science (PHE inclusive) in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination as noted by Effiong (2015). This failure has been attributed to several factors as it has become a cause of concern not only to teachers but to parents and society at large.
According to several researchers like Hardner (2014), Noah (2015) most people blame teachers, their qualification, their experiences, limited available resources, method of lesson delivery, lack of student’s concentration amongst others. This become a motivating background for the researcher to ask whether the learning strategies such as cooperative learning could influence the academic achievement of students since it has been noted that group work in school gets everybody involve and benefit all members of the group. The quest for answer to the above question triggers the researcher’s interest to investigate into cooperative learning and academic achievement of student sin PHE in secondary schools in the study area in view of proffering a lasting solution to the problem.
