The Effects of Social and Cognitive Strategies Instruction on the Mathematics Achievement in Secondary Education.

Field: Social Sciences (Social Sciences)

Studies show that training students in the use of social and cognitive strategies contributes to learning; however, low-achieving students seem unable to benefit from such interventions. This intervention study addressed the following question: In secondary mathematics, what are the general and differential effects of training students in social and cognitive strategies on learning in cooperative groups? Two instructional programs for cooperative learning were compared: (1) an experimental program with training in the use of social and cognitive strategies, and (2) a control program similar in mathematical content and overall instructional design but lacking instruction in use of social and cognitive strategies. Teaching cognitive and social strategies had an expected, positive effect on the mean Mathematical Reasoning Ability test and on the domain-specific test on measurement and measures. Intervention had no effect on the mean achievement of the domain-specific test for information processing. Differential effects between highand low-achieving students were found on both the Mathematical Reasoning Ability test and the Information Processing test, but none on the Measurements and Measures test. Low-achieving students in the experimental group gained more on the domain-specific test than low-achieving students in the control program. Contains 58 references. (Author/PVD) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** The effects of social and cognitive strategies instruction on the mathematics achievement in secondary education Paper to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, United States, March 1997 Dirk Hoek University of Amsterdam Graduate School of Teaching and Learning Pieter van den Eeden Vrije University Amsterdam Department of Social Research Methodology Jan Terwel Vrije University Amsterdam Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogy University of Amsterdam Graduate School of Teaching and Learning Mailing address Dirk Hoek Wibautstraat 4 1091 GM Amsterdam The Netherlands E-mail DirkHoek@ilo.uva.n1 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMI ATE THIS MATERIAL HAS EN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Researcn and improvement E UCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as ved from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. HST COPY AVAILABLE 2 Abstract This paper reports on an intervention study into the effects of a program on student achievement in secondary mathematics education. The program involves instructions in social as well as cognitive strategies. In the development of the instructional programs special attention was given to low-achieving students in mathematics. Various studies show that training students in the use of social and cognitive strategies contributes to learning. However, low-achieving student seem practically unable to benefit from such interventions. The experiment addressed the following research question: in secondary mathematics, what are the general and differential effects of training social and cognitive strategies on learning results in cooperative groups? The answer to this question involved the design of an intervention study. In the present study two instructional programs for cooperative learning in mathematics are compared: (1) an experimental program with training in the use of social and cognitive strategies, and (2) a control program without instructions in the use social and cognitive strategies. The programs are similar in respect of mathematical content and overall instructional design. Three hypotheses were formulated N The program hypothesis : The program has a positive effect on learning outcomes, (ii) The differential effect hypothesis: Highand low-achieving students will benefit differently from cooperative learning and (iii) The remedial instruction hypothesis: Low-achievers in the experimental program will benefit more from working in small groups than low achievers in the control program as a result of the special remedial instruction in the experimental program. The research was conducted in two schools for secondary education, comprising 18 classes with a total of 450 students. The design was a pretest posttest control group design. The data were analyzed from a multi-level perspective. The outcomes show a number of effects of the intervention. However not all hypotheses were confirmed. Analyses of variance and multi-level analyses were performed: (1) on Mathematical Reasoning Ability as measured by a standardized test; and (2) on two different experimenterdesigned, domainspecific tests in mathematical achievement. Teaching cognitive and social strategies has an expected, positive effect on the mean Mathematical Reasoning Ability and on the domain specific test on 'Measurement and Measures'. The effect size regarding the Mathematical Reasoning Ability test is 0.2, which is a small effect. The effect sizes of the domain-specific 'Measurement and Measures' is 0.50, a medium effect. No effect of the intervention was found on the mean achievement of the domain specific test 'Information Processing' (Cohen, 1988). In addition, differential effects were found both on the 'Mathematical Reasoning Ability' test and on the Information Processing' test, but none on the Measurements and Measures' test. The differential effects on the standardized Mathematical Reasoning Ability test relate to the high-achieving students, while the differential effects on the Information Processing test relate to the low-achieving students. However, the direction of these effects was different per criterion measure. Low-achieving students in the experimental condition gain more on the domain specific test than low-achieving students in the control program.This paper reports on an intervention study into the effects of a program on student achievement in secondary mathematics education. The program involves instructions in social as well as cognitive strategies. In the development of the instructional programs special attention was given to low-achieving students in mathematics. Various studies show that training students in the use of social and cognitive strategies contributes to learning. However, low-achieving student seem practically unable to benefit from such interventions. The experiment addressed the following research question: in secondary mathematics, what are the general and differential effects of training social and cognitive strategies on learning results in cooperative groups? The answer to this question involved the design of an intervention study. In the present study two instructional programs for cooperative learning in mathematics are compared: (1) an experimental program with training in the use of social and cognitive strategies, and (2) a control program without instructions in the use social and cognitive strategies. The programs are similar in respect of mathematical content and overall instructional design. Three hypotheses were formulated N The program hypothesis : The program has a positive effect on learning outcomes, (ii) The differential effect hypothesis: Highand low-achieving students will benefit differently from cooperative learning and (iii) The remedial instruction hypothesis: Low-achievers in the experimental program will benefit more from working in small groups than low achievers in the control program as a result of the special remedial instruction in the experimental program. The research was conducted in two schools for secondary education, comprising 18 classes with a total of 450 students. The design was a pretest posttest control group design. The data were analyzed from a multi-level perspective. The outcomes show a number of effects of the intervention. However not all hypotheses were confirmed. Analyses of variance and multi-level analyses were performed: (1) on Mathematical Reasoning Ability as measured by a standardized test; and (2) on two different experimenterdesigned, domainspecific tests in mathematical achievement. Teaching cognitive and social strategies has an expected, positive effect on the mean Mathematical Reasoning Ability and on the domain specific test on 'Measurement and Measures'. The effect size regarding the Mathematical Reasoning Ability test is 0.2, which is a small effect. The effect sizes of the domain-specific 'Measurement and Measures' is 0.50, a medium effect. No effect of the intervention was found on the mean achievement of the domain specific test 'Information Processing' (Cohen, 1988). In addition, differential effects were found both on the 'Mathematical Reasoning Ability' test and on the Information Processing' test, but none on the Measurements and Measures' test. The differential effects on the standardized Mathematical Reasoning Ability test relate to the high-achieving students, while the differential effects on the Information Processing test relate to the low-achieving students. However, the direction of these effects was different per criterion measure. Low-achieving students in the experimental condition gain more on the domain specific test than low-achieving students in the control program.