Date

4-2018

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Chair

Scott B. Watson

Keywords

Cooperative Learning, Grouping, Heterogeneous, Homogeneous

Disciplines

Curriculum and Instruction | Education | Educational Administration and Supervision | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Other Education

Abstract

Cooperative learning is a proven teaching strategy that teachers have been using for over 40 years. Teachers often group students heterogeneously so that students that are lower achieving are learning from higher achieving students and higher achieving students support and solidify their learning by restating and re-teaching to their lower achieving partners. The purpose of this study was to test homogeneous and heterogeneous grouping while using cooperative learning teaching structure. This dissertation aimed to answer the question, should students be grouped homogeneously or heterogeneously while participating in cooperative learning. The research design for this study was quantitative, quasi-experimental. A convenience sample of fifth-grade students was drawn from a Georgia Christian elementary school in the 2017-2018 school year. The data were analyzed using paired and unpaired T-test. The independent samples t-test was run to compare the scores from the FOSS Survey/Posttest, and the analysis showed no significant difference between the homogeneous and heterogeneous posttest scores. Both groups made significant gains, however in this study the grouping did not have a significant impact on the difference in posttest scores for the two groups.

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