Effects of problem-solving and cooperative learning in mathematics on students’ higher levels of cognitive learning domains: The case of high school students, Awi-zone, Ethiopia

Pages: 278-281
Adem Ahmed (Department of Mathematics, Science College, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia)
Solomon Mengistie (Department of Curriculum, Education and Behavioral College, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia)
Tadele Wondimuneh (Department of Mathematics, Science College, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia)

The purpose of this study was to look into students’ higher-level reasoning skills in a high school mathematics class through cooperative problem-solving learning activities. The participants were fifty-five students in the experimental group and fifty-five students in the control group. The study included a pretest to find out students’ reasoning skills before the new teaching strategy. The experimental group encountered cooperative problem-solving learning and higher-level questions over six-weeks period. The changes were directed at helping them reach higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The control group received conventional teaching style. At the end of the six weeks, students in both groups were given a post-test to find out if they could answer higher-level questions. Analysis of paired t-test was employed to determine the results, which were substantial and establishing that the experimental group achieved at higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy than the control group. It is recommended for schools to incorporate the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy on a more frequent basis so that students will improve higher reasoning skills.