The Development of 2nd Grade Students’ Analytical Thinking Ability and Learning Achievement In the Science Subject of “The Materials around Us” through the STAD Cooperative Learning Technique

Abstract

          The objectives of this research were 1) to compare the 2^nd grade students’ pretest and posttest analytical ability in the science subject of “The Materials around Us” after being taught through the STAD Cooperative Learning Technique and 2) to compare the 2^nd Grade students’ pretest and posttest learning achievement in the science subject of “The Material around Us” after being taught through the STAD Cooperative Learning Technique.  The study applied the One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design to the experiment.  The target group consisted of 12 grade II students in Ban Pawai School, Ban Koke Sub-district, Muang District, Mukdahan Province, which was purposively selected during the second semester of the 2020 academic year.  Research instruments included l) 6 lesson plans on the science subject of “The Materials around Us” which took 12 instructional periods to complete, 2) a 15-item objective test for testing the students’ analytical thinking ability and 3) a 20-item objective learning achievement test.  The collected data were analyzed by means of arithmetic mean, standard deviation and a t-test.
          The findings show that:
          1. The students’ mean pretest score was 6.67 (S.D. = 1.07) whereas their mean posttest score was 12.92 (S.D. = 1.37). Results of a hypothesis test, therefore, proved that their posttest analytical thinking ability was significantly higher than their pretest one at the .05 level,
          2. The students’ mean pretest learning achievement score was 13.17 (S.D. = 1.74) whereas their mean posttest learning achievement score was 16.92 (S.D. = 2.15). Results of a hypothesis test, therefore, proved that their posttest learning achievement was significantly higher than their pretest one at the .05 level.