The effect of cooperative learning method used for 7th grade math classes on academic achievement, attitude and critical thinking disposition

This study aimed to investigate the effects of collaborative teaching methods and techniques on students' academic achievement, attitudes toward mathematics, and critical thinking disposition in the field of "data analysis." The research was carried out in a kids club in the Anamur district of Mersin province in the 2020-2021 academic year, with 40 students, 20 of whom were in the experimental group and 20 in the control group. The research was carried out with a pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design. In the experimental group, the Team Game Tournament (TGT) technique with StudentTeamsAchievement Sections (STAS), and in the control group, the activities in cluded in the secondary school mathematics curriculum of the Ministry of National Education were applied for four weeks. In the study, the 32-item "Data Analysis Achievement Test" developed by the researcher, the "Attitude Scale towards Mathematics" developed by Önal (2013), and the "Critical Thinking Tendency Scale" developed by Kılıç and Şen (2014) were used. All three data collection tools were applied as a pre-test before and as a post-test after the application. The obtained data were analyzed by applying the independent samples t-test, dependent samples t-test, Mann Whitney-U test, and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that students' academic success in experimental and control groups increased at a significant level. Attitude scores towards mathematics decreased significantly in the experimental group but increased insignificantly in the control group. There was an insignificant decrease in the critical thinking disposition scores in the experimental group and a significant increase in the control group. Keywords: Cooperative learning method, attitude towards mathematics, critical thinking, data analysis.