Researching Teaching Methodologies in the Classroom

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the findings of a research project comparing the effectiveness of two teaching models used in a graduate social work practice course. Two teaching methodologies, the lecture/discussion model and the cooperative learning model, were used in two separate sections of Foundations of Social Work Practice, a first semester graduate course in the MSW program at a large public university.

A pretest/posttest comparison group model was used. One section of this course used a cooperative learning model while the other used the lecture/discussion model. Both sections spent the same amount of time on the material in the knowledge questionnaire and administered the posttest and follow-up on the same date. T-test and effect size statistics were used which demonstrated the greater efficacy of the cooperative learning model, particularly on long term retention of information.

In the course of describing the teaching models used in the study, the cooperative learning model and its history is discussed in some detail. It is expected that after this introduction many social work educators will be motivated to use the model in their own classrooms.

This paper further serves as a model for how instructors can effectively conduct small scale research in their own academic setting. It is an example of how educational research can be done expeditiously and with limited resources.