The effectiveness of 'Cooperative Learning Approach' in learning Science among SK Tabuan Year 6 pupils / Kaerrah Haji Samu

The study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of cooperative learning approach in improving the Year Six students’ achievement in Science at Sekolah Kebangsaan Tabuan, Kuching. The main focus is to improve the performance of pupils in science subjects by using cooperative learning approach as one of the alternative methods. Another focus of this research is to increase the participation and interest of students in learning and also controlling students that have disciplinary problems. This study is based on the action research method which involve sampling method, consisting of 29 pupils in Year 6 Cem erlang who have a variety of abilities. The instruments used are a set of questionnaire and a simple observation. The data collection was conducted in one week by using two hours of teaching periods. The results show that many of the respondents agreed on the effectiveness of cooperative learning in science subjects. The respondents enjoyed themselves during the activities where cooperation had occured during the learning process and the respondents helped the others when doing their tasks. Students’ participation in the learning activities has also increased during the observation. The observation results showed that the respondents were more interested in Science subjects when utilising this approach and their discipline can be controlled. Besides, they are more confident, cooperate more in groups, more disciplined and praticed punctuality and they dared to try in the presentation and answering questions posed by the teacher. Therefore, it is evident that Cooperative learning strategy is more effective in the teaching and learning science than
traditional instructional method.