Comparison between effects of cooperative and individual computer based learning on students achievement and retention of learning

The aim of the study is to test the effects of cooperative computer based learning method on the achievement and retention of learning by making comparison between this method and individual computer based learning method in 9th grade computer lessons. This research was carried out to 58 nineth grade students of Anatolia and Industry Vocational High School during the educational year of 2006 ? 2007 school year, in Gölbaşı, Ankara. Groups were selected by random method and divided into control and experimental groups. In the research, pre-post, retention test with control groups model was used. Cooperative computer based learning method was applied to the experimental groups while computer based individual learning method was applied to the control groups. ?Electronic Tabulation? unit was applied 6 weeks with worksheets and tutorial developed by the researcher. 40 question which were used in the research and prepared as a measurement tool were applied to both of the groups as a pre-post and as a retention test after 4 weeks of application. For the independent samples, t-test used with the help of SPSS program was employed to assess whether there were statistically significant differences between the achievement and retention points of students in the experimental and control groups where the level of significance is 0.05. The result of the research states that there is no significant difference between achievement of the experimental group and control group while there is a significant difference between retention points of them in favour of the experimental group. According to the result of the research; it is suggested that, cooperative computer based learning could be applied for increasing the retention of learning.