1.0 PREFACE Mathematics education plays an important role in enhancing the development of our nation and country. It is one of the main contributors that produce young generation with creative and critical thinking. The creative and critical thinking enable youngsters to make wise and rational decisions in their daily lives. Therefore, it is important to equip our young generations with the mathematical knowledge and increase their interest in learning mathematics since their elementary schools. The mathematics performance shown by the pupils through examinations or tests in school is one of the methods used to evaluate pupils’ mastery of mathematical concepts and skills. In this research, one of the cooperative models, Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) was applied to enhance the pupils’ academic performance as well as their attitude towards mathematics. In addition, the common errors made by the pupils in the mathematics tests are analysed and the effectiveness of STAD model in helping the pupils to make less common errors were also evaluated.
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Enhance Year 5 Pupils Performance in Mathematics through STAD model
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1.0 PREFACE
Mathematics education plays an important role in enhancing the development
of our nation and country. It is one of the main contributors that produce young
generation with creative and critical thinking. The creative and critical thinking
enable youngsters to make wise and rational decisions in their daily lives. Therefore,
it is important to equip our young generations with the mathematical knowledge and
increase their interest in learning mathematics since their elementary schools.
The mathematics performance shown by the pupils through examinations or
tests in school is one of the methods used to evaluate pupils’ mastery of mathematical
concepts and skills. In this research, one of the cooperative models, Student Teams
Achievement Divisions (STAD) was applied to enhance the pupils’ academic
performance as well as their attitude towards mathematics. In addition, the common
errors made by the pupils in the mathematics tests are analysed and the effectiveness
of STAD model in helping the pupils to make less common errors were also
evaluated.
1.1 Introduction
Mathematical thinking benefits us as members of this modern society not just
because of its application in workplaces but also in businesses and finance. Most
important of all, it is very useful in facilitating personal decision making process.
Mathematics itself is a powerful tool in providing means in understanding
engineering, science, technology and etc.
In education field, mathematics equips pupils with essential mathematical
knowledge to solve problems in their daily lives. Normally, pupils who excel in
mathematics have good financial management. Furthermore, they are able to think
independently and wisely in practical and abstract ways in solving problems or
challenges faced inside or outside of the classroom.
In the olden days or even nowadays, most of the mathematics teachers let their
pupils sit by themselves with papers, workbooks and pencils to struggle
independently to understand lessons or solve the problems assigned to them. This
learning process can be boring, lonely and frustrating. Therefore, it is not surprising
that most of the pupils lost interest in learning mathematics. Subsequently, this leads
to poor performance in the class for mathematics subject.
Cooperative learning is one of the effective methods used in enhancing
pupils’ performance in mathematics. According to Gillies and Ashman (2003),
cooperative learning is able to promote higher achievement and liking among
students which include the promotion of high-quality cognitive strategies, the
constructive management of controversy and debate, time on task, elaborate sharing
and processing information, peer encouragement of effort, active peer group
involvement in learning, interaction between students of different achievement levels,
perceptions of psychological support, positive attitude towards subject areas and
perceptions of fairness in grading.
Student Teams Achievement Divisions, namely STAD model is one of the
cooperative models. According to Davidson (1990), the main idea behind STAD is to
motivate students to encourage and help each other in mastering skills presented by
the teachers. If pupils want their teams to succeed, they must help and encourage each
other to learn the materials. The application of STAD requires the pupils to work in
pairs and compare answers, discuss any discrepancies, and help each other with any
roadblocks faced during teaching and learning in mathematics. The word “team” is
the most important element in STAD. The team provides peer support for academic
performance that is significant for positive effect on learning mathematics.
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1.2 Teaching and Learning Reflection
Based on researcher’s observation, it was discovered that most of the pupils’
performance in mathematics subject of the researched school were weak or could be
said as poor. Their academic performance in most of the subject especially
mathematics was below expectation. Most of the pupils either failed the mathematics
examination or just flied above the passing marks. If this problem was not well
tackled from the early learning stage, it was believed that the pupils would not be able
to proceed further to achieve higher achievement in mathematics subject now or in
the future.
After observing the normal teaching and learning process in the mathematics
class, it was discovered that pupils were seldom exposed to team or group works.
They were often asked to do work individually. This had caused the weaker pupils to
lose interest in learning mathematics as they could not catch up with the learning
progress in the teaching and learning during the class. When the pupils themselves
felt unable to cope with the lesson taught, they would choose to give up their learning
in mathematics. This circumstance would cause the pupils’ low academic
performance in mathematics and also brought negative effect on pupils’ attitude
towards mathematics. Moreover, researcher also discovered that the common errors
made by the pupils when solving the mathematics questions or problems was one of
the contributors that caused the pupils to lose marks in the mathematics tests and thus
affected their academic performance in the mathematics tests. Due to the above
scenario, a suitable strategy or technique should be created or designed in order
enhance pupils’ performance in mathematics.
During the previous teaching and learning experiences, researcher had tried to
expose the pupils to cooperative learning during her mathematics lesson in the class.
Researcher let the pupils do their work in group or team. It was delighted to see the
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pupils were showing their interest in learning mathematics in cooperative manners
with their team members and improving from time to time. They tended to make less
common errors in the mathematics tests and able master most of the previous
mathematical knowledge and skills learnt in the class. This was proven that the
strategy had successfully increased most of the pupils’ academic performance in
mathematics as well as reinforced their learning attitudes in mathematics. Hence, it
was hopeful that the STAD, one of the cooperative learning models, was able to help
the pupils in increasing their performance in mathematics.
According to Orlich et al. (2007), cooperative learning fosters the pupils’
positive interdependence by teaching pupils to work and learn together in a small-
group setting. It is an approach that organises classroom activities into academic and
social learning experiences where pupils are encouraged to learn in a group or as a
team. Cooperative learning is an approach to group work that minimises the
occurrence of those unpleasant situations and maximises the learning experience and
satisfaction that are the results of working on a high-performance team (Felderl and
Brent2, 2008).
Through cooperative learning, pupils’ learning time is able to be increased
while reduces teacher’s workload by teaching pupils to assist each other with
learning, completing a task and also monitoring one another’s learning progress
during the teaching and learning of mathematics in the class. As stated by Huang
(2008) which extracted from Kagan and Olsen (1992),
“Cooperative learning is group learning activity organized so that
learning is dependent on socially structured exchange of information
between learners in groups and in which each learner is held
accountable for his or her own learning and is motivated to increase
the learning of others.”
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The STAD strategy in cooperative learning is aimed at enhancing pupils’
learning as a team or group to achieve the goal. It is considered as the simplest of the
Student Team Learning (STL) methods. By implementing the STAD strategy in
mathematics subject, pupils need to help each other in their learning and work
together as a team to resolve obstacles faced in solving a mathematical problem. The
team members at last will share their team achievement together. The cooperative
learning model requires student cooperation and interdependence in its task, goal and
reward structures (Miller and Peterson, n.d).
1.3 Educational Values Reflection
Education is an act or process of imparting, or acquiring general knowledge,
developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself
or others intellectually for mature life. It could be a certain degree, level or kind of
schooling (Jackson, 2010). With the reference to Macdude (2006), GATE's chairman
and CEO, Mr. Glenn Jones, has said that "Education is the great hope for the survival
of humankind and for the forward progress of civilization."
Education makes man a right thinker. It tells man how to think and how to
make decision. Beside that, through the attainment of education, man is able to
receive information from the external world; to acquaint himself with past history and
receive all necessary information regarding the present (Maulana Wahiduddin Khan,
n.d)
Values are the ideals or standards that people use to direct their behavior;
values are what people strive to realize in their lives (Lombardo, 2008). Values are
very important for us as they are the standards that we have to use in making
judgments or decisions about what is important in our life and what is right or wrong
in human behaviour.
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There are many values connected with education. For example, learning,
thinking, integrity, honesty, growth, and excellence. These values mirror the general
goals and principles of behaviour among educators and schools. These values define
the elements that are important in the educational process. Educators need to try to
encourage their students to pursue these values through the teaching and learning
process in the schools not only in mathematics subject but also all the other subjects.
These values are able to help the students to embrace and practice them in their daily
lives, enhance their academic performance and also serve as the foundation for the
students to acquire factual knowledge and also intellectual skills that they require in
their learning process. For example, the value of the love of learning and thinking.
This value enhances students not just in academic performance but also aids the
students to explore and achieve knowledge and skills which are beneficial to
themselves, others and also the society.
The educational values are able to help an individual to become a life-long
learner. According to Jones (2009), making lifelong learning part of one's life also
fosters a sense of personal empowerment and increased self-esteem. In other words,
life-long learning ensures individuals which include the students, to have continued
growth and intellectual stimulation, leading to a more fulfilling, enjoyable, and
enriched lifestyle in their education.
2.0 RESEARCH FOCUS
The challenge in education today is to effectively teach pupils of diverse
ability and differing rates of learning (Effandi Zakaria and Zanaton Iksan, 2006).
Therefore, teachers are expected to teach in a way that enables the pupils in acquiring
process skills, positive attitudes and values and problem solving skills besides
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learning the mathematical knowledge. Various types of strategies have been
advocated for the use of teaching and learning of mathematics. Cooperative learning
is one of the effective strategies.
Focus of this research is to apply STAD model during teaching and learning
of mathematics subject in the class to improve year 5 pupils’ performance in
mathematics from the aspect of their academic performance. Besides, the changes of
their attitudes towards mathematics after the implementation of STAD model in the
teaching and learning of mathematics are also observed. This research also examines
and analyses the common errors made by the pupils in the mathematics test that bring
negative effect towards the pupils’ performance in mathematics.
2.1 Research Issue
Mathematical thinking is important for all of the members in our society as it
is used widely in the workplace, business and finance as well as for personal
decision-making in daily life. Mathematics is fundamental to national richness in
providing tools for understanding science, engineering, technology and economics
and also in public decision-making. In the education field, mathematics equips pupils
with exclusive powerful ways to describe, analyse and change the development of
world. It can motivate moments of pleasure for all pupils when they solve a problem
for the first time, discover a more elegant solution, or notice hidden connections.
Pupils who are functional in mathematics are those who able to think independently
in applied and abstract ways. They can reason, solve problems and evaluate risk.
Therefore, it is important for pupils to master the subject of Mathematics.
In the Section 1.2, the previous teaching and learning reflection had been
discussed. It was discovered that the year 5 pupils’ academic performance in
mathematics was weak and the pupils were showing low interest and confident in
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learning mathematics. The social interaction in the class during the teaching and
learning of mathematics in the class was low as well. Moreover, it was discovered
that most of the pupils often made some common errors that caused them to lose
marks in the mathematics tests due to their inappropriate attitude and low mastery in
mathematical concepts. It was also realised that pupils were bored with the teaching
and learning strategy applied by the teacher in the class in which the pupils were
asked to do their study and work individually. However, pupils showed a high interest
in learning when they were asked to work as a team and do their work cooperatively
with their team members.
Therefore, it is important for us as mathematics teachers to use and apply the
cooperative learning strategy especially the STAD model during the teaching and
learning in the mathematics class so that our pupils can learn mathematics effectively.
2.2 Literature Review of the Research Issue
Based on Huang (2008) which adapted from Chong (1994), cooperative
learning is formed based on three main theories. The theories are social
interdependence theory, cognitive developmental theory and behavioral learning
theory. According to INTIME (2008), interaction with other people is essential for
human survival. In an education setting, social interdependence refers to students’
efforts to achieve, develop positive relationships, adjust psychologically, and show
social competence.
There are two main theorists that play important roles for the cognitive
development theory. They are Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Piagetian perspectives
suggest that when individuals work together, socio-cognitive conflict occurs and
creates cognitive disequilibrium that stimulates perspective-taking ability and
reasoning (INTIME, 2008). This means that different views from peers can put a
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child in disequilibrium, prompting them to accommodate this and make sense of
different ideas and perspectives. Vygotsky presented the theory that children learn
through their interaction with others, thus the people in their world hold great
influence on their learning (Driscoll and Nagel, 2002). "What the child can do in co-
operation today he can do alone tomorrow." (Myers, 2001 adapted from Vygotsky,
1986, p. 188). It is believed that children learn through their peers. When they are
working together with their peers on a task or learning together with them, they are
learning at the same time. After they have learnt the knowledge or skill needed from
their peers, they can perform the same task again by themselves.
For behavioral learning theory, the contributors are Watson, Skinner, Pavlov
and Thorndike. The behavioral-social perspective presupposes that cooperative
efforts are fueled by extrinsic motivation to achieve group rewards (INTIME, 2008).
The extrinsic motivation can be in the form of praises, presents and also formal
recognitions. With the help of extrinsic motivation, children tend to be more
motivated to work with other group members in settling a task or achieving a goal.
The various features of cooperative learning, particularly positive interdependence,
are highly motivating because they encourage achievement-oriented behaviours such
as trying hard, praising the efforts of others, and receiving help from the group
members.
It is understood that children are learning in numerous ways. They learn from
reading, observing, listening, and also teaching others. As stated by Putnam (1997)
which excerpted from Acorn et al. (1970) about what people learn:
“ 10% of what they READ
20% of what they READ and HEAR
30% of what they SEE
50% of what they SEE and HEAR
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70% of what they SAY*
90% of what they SAY and APPLY in life*
95% of what they TEACH others*”
It is clearly shown that we learn the most when we teach others so as for the pupils.
When the pupils are discussing ideas with the other, they are learning most at the
time.
Lourenco (1998) claimed that the more time that the pupils invest in their own
learning process, the more they will learn. This has shown that pupils learn more
when they spend more time and effort in doing their own learning. This approach is
believed to enhance students’ performance and achievement in various subjects and
aspects of the language and producing positive social outcomes (Syafini Bt. Ismail
and Tengku Nur Rizan Bt Tengku Mohamad Maasum, n.d.). According to Slavin
(1989) in Gillies and Ashman (2003), cooperative learning may be an effective mean
of increasing students’ achievement, opportunities for learning can be maximised
only if group goals and individual accountability are embedded in the cooperative
method used. Armstrong et al. (1998) mentioned that pupils commented that using
STAD made learning fun and the content easier to understand.
According to Snyder and Shickley (2006), the National Council of Teachers
of Mathematics (NCTM) expresses that learning with understanding is essential to
enable students to solve new kinds of problems that they will inevitably face in the
future. This is because not all pupils are participating regularly in the whole class
discussions; teachers need to monitor their participation to ensure that some are not
left entirely out of the discussion for long periods. The use of small groups will
permit the pupils to have the chance to share important thoughts and ideas with their
group members, thus improving confidence in sharing of ideas and communicating
about mathematical ideas.
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Besides, cooperative learning groups set the stage for students to learn social
skills. These skills help to build stronger cooperation among group members.
Leadership, decision-making, trust-building, and communication are different skills
that are developed in cooperative learning (Dahley, 1994). In addition, cooperative
learning has been shown to improve relationships among students from different
backgrounds (Lyman et al., 1988). Effandi Zakaria et al. (2010) mentions that
cooperative learning emphasises on social interaction and relationships among groups
of students in particular and among classmates in general.
STAD is one of the simplest and most flexible of the cooperative learning
methods, having been used in grades 2 through 12 and in such diverse subject areas
as math, language arts, social studies, and science (Mifflin, n.d. excerpted from
Biehler/Snowman, 1997). Slavin (1980) claims that STAD has shown positive
improvement towards pupils’ academic achievement as well as encouraging pupils to
have higher cognitive thinking skill. Teaching and learning in mathematics through
STAD model in cooperative learning brings positive effects towards the academic
performance and also their achievement in mathematics (Wong, 2007).
Cooperative learning experiences promote more positive attitudes toward the
instructional experience than competitive or individualistic methodologies. In
addition, cooperative learning should result in positive effects on pupils’ achievement
and retention of information (Rosini B. Abu, 1998 excerpted from Dishon & O'Leary,
1984; Johnson & Johnson, 1990; Slavin, 1991). According to Wong (1998) adapted
from Gan and Wong (1995), cooperative learning has positively improved the
attitudes of their participants towards learning mathematics.
All cooperative learning structures are designed to increase pupils’
participation in learning. The more opportunities pupils have to participate, the
greater likelihood that they will become empowered to do mathematics in
Encoding error occurred when the participants solved the problems but did not
write the solution in appropriate and acceptable forms. Encoding the answers for the
mathematics questions was the last part of solving the questions. However, some
participants unable performed this step well and made such kind of error and thus
caused them to lost marks in the mathematics tests. The analysis and interpretation of
the participants’ encoding errors were shown in Table 9.
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Participant did not
do the second step
Table 9: Analysis of Encoding Errors
No
.
Question and Solution Error and Explanation
1. What is the mixed number for
136
?
Solution:
62
|13 12 1
Answer: 2 16
Error:
62
|13 12 1
Answer: ?
Explanation:
The participant worked out the correct
solution to the problem, but unable wrote
the correct answer that required by the
problem and that was “mixed number for
136
” .
2. Jaafar earns RM 345 901. He
spent RM 290 000. How much
money does Jaafar have now?
Solution:
RM 345 901+ RM 290 000 RM 635 901
Error:
345 901 +290 000 635 901
Explanation:
The answer written was not together with
its unit. Although the calculation of this
question was correct, participants lost
marks because no unit “RM” was added
together with the answer obtained.
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Error
Error
9.0 RESEARCH FINDINGS REFLECTION
This research was carried out to apply and evaluate the effectiveness of STAD
model to enhance Year 5 pupils’ performance in mathematics especially their
academic performance in mathematics. Besides, this research also aimed to help the
year 5 pupils to have positive attitude towards mathematics and analyse the common
errors made in mathematics tests.
The instruments in this research were achievement test, observation and
questionnaire. Each of the instruments was respectively used to evaluate the
effectiveness of STAD model in enhancing the participants’ academic performance in
mathematics, analysing participants’ common errors in the mathematics tests,
observing and determining the constraints faced in each of the cycles when carrying
out this action research, and evaluating participants’ attitude towards mathematics.
This action research was carried out in total of 3 cycles. 5 previous tests’
scores of the participants were collected and counted to get the participants’ base
scores. A post-test was carried out every after 2 weeks of the implementation of
STAD model to obtain the data needed to compare the participants’ test’s scores
before and after the implementation of STAD model. Action plan was modified for 2
times based on the constraints faced in the previous cycles. The post-tests were meant
to identify participants’ improvement shown in academic performance and also the
common errors made by the participants in mathematics. Questionnaire was the
instrument used to evaluate participants’ attitude towards mathematics from the
aspects of interest in learning mathematics, mastery in mathematics and also their
social interaction in the class. Observation was done through informal observation in
the class, journal and reflection in the daily lesson plan. The aspects observed were
based on participants behaviours, social interaction and participants’ participation in
STAD model.
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9.1 Effectiveness of STAD in Enhancing Participants’ Academic
Performance
According to the analysis and interpretation of the data presented in Figure 2,
Figure 3 and Figure 4, the effectiveness of the STAD model in enhancing
participants’ academic performance was proven. The participants’ academic
performance was improving from the post-test 1, post-test 2 and post-test 3.
Participants gained better scores in the mathematics tests after implementing the
STAD in the teaching and learning of mathematics in the classroom. It was proven
that implementation of STAD model was effective in increasing participants’
academic performance in mathematics. The improvement scores obtained in their
post-tests were the best evidences.
These positive results gained verified that when participants were
participating actively in the teaching and learning of mathematics through STAD
model with the same group goals, the participants could easily understand the
mathematical knowledge taught to them and hence enhanced their academic
performance in mathematics. The positive results gained from this research was also
supported by Slavin (1980) in Wong (2007), Syafini Bt. Ismail and Tengku Nur
Rizan Bt Tengku Mohamad Maasum (n.d) and Slavin (1989) in Gillies and Ashman
(2003). Based on the analysis and interpretation of data done, the researcher
confidently concluded that the implementation of STAD model is effective in
enhancing year 5 pupils’ performance in mathematics.
9.2 Participants’ Attitude towards Mathematics
Based on the analysis of the questionnaire shown in Table 2, participants’
attitude towards mathematics were analysed from three aspects (interest, mastery in
mathematics, and social interaction). After analysis of the questionnaires was done, it
44
was discovered that the participants’ interest in mathematics had increased after the
implementation of the STAD model if compared to before. They found that learning
mathematics was fun and enjoyable when cooperative learning was applied. They
participated actively in the teaching and learning in mathematics with their own group
members through group activities. Through group activities, the participants initiated
to finish the tasks given to them. Researchers or teachers only played the role of the
guide most of the time when cooperative learning were applied. The findings agreed
with Armstrong et al. (1998).
The participants’ mastery in mathematics was also improved. This statement
could be proven through the analysis of the post-tests (Figure 2, Figure 3 and Figure
4) and also through the questionnaires taken by the participants (Table 4). Participants
agreed that the STAD model enabled them to understand better the mathematical
knowledge and skills taught to them in the class easily. The participants’ critical
thinking and problem solving skills were also enhanced throughout the group
discussion. These findings were similar with the findings of Effandi Zakaria and
Zanaton Iksan (2006).
Moreover, participants’ social interaction in the class was also enhanced after
the implementation of STAD model. Participants prefer to work together with their
peers or group members more when solving the tasks given in mathematics instead of
working alone. They loved to share ideas with their peers or group members and thus
maximized their learning. Through the discussion among their own group or with
other groups, positive interaction was occurred, hence fostered their relationship.
These findings were proven the findings Effandi Zakaria et al. (2010). Therefore,
based on these findings, researcher can confidently claim that STAD model is able to
enhance participants’ attitude towards mathematics.
45
9. 3 Participants’ Common Errors
The most common errors made by the participants in the mathematics tests
were also analysed in this research. These errors disabled the participants to obtain
good scores in mathematics tests. There were four main common errors made by the
participants in the tests. The errors were comprehension error, careless error,
procedural errors and encoding error. These errors occurred were mainly due to the
reasons of did not understand the requirement of the mathematics questions,
participants’ impatience in doing the mathematics tests, and their laziness in
rechecking their answers. However, most of these errors were pointed out and
improved through group learning. Participants taught each other through STAD
model and help in correcting the mistakes made by their peers or team members.
Hence, the participants would be more aware of the common errors made by them
and made less common errors when solving the mathematics questions in the tests.
The findings above were supported by the findings of Huang (2008).
10.0 FURTHER RESEARCH
Based on the research carried out, it is suggested that the time given to carry
out the research can be extended. The motive to do is so that the researcher can carry
out the research for longer time to collect more data to evaluate the effectiveness of
STAD in enhancing participants’ performance in mathematics. It is believed that the
data collected for this research can be more precise and accurate if more time is
given.
In addition, it is also recommended that further research can be carried out to
evaluate the effectiveness of STAD model in enhancing participants’ performance in
other subjects such as Science and English.
46
Thirdly, researcher also proposes that further research can be carried out to
overcome the constraints faced in the third cycle after the application of “System
Token” with STAD model. Further research should be carried out to analyse the
“System Token” in influencing the participants’ learning attitude in mathematics.
Lastly, it is suggested that similar research can be carried out in the other
primary schools especially the town schools. This is because the teaching and
learning styles of the pupils from the town schools might be different with the pupils
from the outskirt of the town.
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