The effects of cooperative learning on academic achievement, retention and social skills

In this research, the effects of cooperative learning on academic achievement, retention and social skills of second graders in Maths lesson are researched. The research is applied by teaching fractions, geometric objects, patterns and ornamentations to 48 students who are second graders in a primary school in Aydın, between 2013 and 2014 academic year. In this research, the lessons are applied with the Team Assisted Individualization, Student Teams Achievement Divisions ve Team Game Tournements techniques of Cooperative Learning to the experimental group and recent Primary Maths teaching techniques and methods to the control group.As data collection tools, Geometry and Fractions Achievement Test which is formed by the researcher and its KR 20 value is .79 and validity is proved by taking an expert opinion, 21 items Social Skills Rating Scale(7- 12 aged) which is formed and its validity and reliability is proved by Avcıoğlu ve Akçamete (2005) and semistructured interview which is formed by the students are used. SPSS was used for data analysis process. Multiple covariance analysis and t test was used to analyse data and Bonferroni comparison test was performed to determine level of the meaningful difference among groups. At the end of the research it is understood that there are significant differences between the experimental group and control group. The academic achievement, retention and social skills rating average of the experimental group is higher than the control group and semi- structured interview supports these results. Keywords: Cooperative Learning, Social Skills, Achievement, Retention, Mathematics Training