Cooperative learning and the achievement of motivation and perceptions of students in 11th grade chemistry classes

One hundred and sixty eight students from five 11th grade chemistry classes participated for 2 months in an experiment that examined the effects of the Group Investigation (GI) method of cooperative learning on students’ achievement, motivation and perceptions of their experience. An achievement test and Harter’s Motivation Questionnaire were administered before and after the experiment. Students from experimental classes also wrote letters telling what they thought about the new method. Middle and low achieving students in the GI classes achieved higher scores, while motivation declined in the experimental group compared to the control group. Students’ letters revealed that 41.7% of the comments were critical, 28.8% were positive, and 29.4% were suggested ways of improving the new method.