The effect of cooperative learning methods on the success and the permanence of learning on the subject of decimal representation for 5th grade maths

This study, compared to the current teaching method, aims to examine the effect of Students Teams-Achievement Divisions method (STAD) and Team-Assisted Individualization (TAI), which are among the cooperative learning methods, on the success and the permanence of learning on the subject of decimal representation for 5th grade mathematics, and to reveal the opinions of the students in the experimental group on Cooperative Learning methods. The study is planned as mixed, using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. An exploratory sequential design is adopted as the mixed pattern. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design, one of the experimental research methods, is preferred on the quantitative aspect. Two classes are determined as the experimental groups, and one as the control group. On the qualitative aspect, semi-structured interview is conducted in order to determine the students' opinions on the methods. The study group consists of 55 5th grade students in a state school in Seyhan in the city of Adana with convenience sampling method in 2021 – 2022 academic year. The study data is gathered by implementing "Student Interview Form" to determine the opinions of the students on cooperative learning and by an "achievement test for decimal representation" created by the researcher to measure the academic achievement and permanence of learning. SPSS Statistics 26.0 Pack (ANOVA, The Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Kruskal Wallis H and Mann Whitney U) and TAP (Test Analysis Program) are used for the analysis of quantitative problems, in which the effect teaching methods on the success and the permanence of learning is examined. The findings of the qualitative problems are expressed by content analysis. The results of the study showed that all of the 3 methods (STAD, TAI and the current one) improved the academic achievement significantly; STAD and TAI, compared to one another, didn't make a notable difference in improving academic success and the permanence in learning whereas there was a remarkable difference between TAI and control groups in favor of TAI; and another remarkable difference between STAD and the control groups in favor of STAD in terms of the effect on improving academic success and the permanence in learning. In this case, it can be concluded that both cooperative methods have a considerable effect on academic success and the permanence in learning on the teaching of decimal representation. The qualitative findings suggested that students overall found both cooperative methods as creating more engaging lessons, fostering cooperation and communication skills; teaching materials were beneficial, and improved their achievement, motivating each other to get rewards, noting that these methods should also be included in other mathematics topics as well as other subjects. Keywords: Cooperative learning, students teams – achievement divisions method (STAD), team – assisted ındividualization method (TAI), permanence