The Effect of Cooperative Learning Activities on Pre-service Teachers' Attitudes and Cognitive Perceptions towards Environmental Problems
Abstract
Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the effects of different methods of cooperative learning model on pre-service primary school teachers' attitudes towards environmental problems, conceptual knowledge changes and to reveal their cognitive perceptions.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The study group consists of 50 pre-service primary school teachers (30 females and 20 males) studying in the first year of the Department of Primary School Teaching at a state university. An embedded mixed design, one of the mixed research designs, was used in the research. In the quantitative part of the research, a quasi-experimental design without a control group was used. Therefore, the study group consists of two experimental groups, namely Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) and Jigsaw, which are cooperative learning methods. In the qualitative part of the research, phenomenology was used. As data collection tools, the "Attitude Scale towards Environmental Problems (ASEP)," the "Environmental Problems Word Association Test (EPWAT)," and mind maps (MM) prepared by pre-service teachers were used.
Findings: According to the results obtained from the ASEP, it was determined that cooperative learning methods (STAD and Jigsaw) increased the post-test attitude scores of pre-service primary school teachers towards environmental problems compared to the pre-test scores, but this increase was not statistically significant. According to the results obtained from the EPWAT, cooperative learning methods increased pre-service teachers' conceptual knowledge and quality of concepts related to environmental problems. According to the results obtained from MM, it was determined that the pre-service teachers in the groups had perceptions about global environmental problems, types of environmental pollution and preventing environmental problems.
Highlights: It is seen that cooperative learning methods have positive effects on pre-service teachers' conceptual knowledge changes and cognitive perceptions about environmental problems. For this reason, it is emphasized that different methods of cooperative learning should be used in future research on environmental problems.
Keywords
Environmental problems, Cooperative learning, Attitude, Word association test, Mind maps
Ethical Statement
Ethics committee approval was obtained from the Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Committee of Muş Alparslan University, Türkiye (Date 01.04.2022 & No: 6/44).
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