These students (20 from the four classes) will form Group A. The rest of the students (Group B) will be taught using existing teaching methods used by the school for teaching the subject. In the event that more time is required to gather more conclusive data, the researcher will extend the study to the second semester. Before the commencement of the study, both groups will undergo a pre-study test and questionnaire to determine the level of their competency in history, level of critical thinking skills and attitude towards history. The researcher will grade the test using a marking scheme. The marking scheme has incorporated different levels of answers which correlate to the level of critical thinking expressed by students. This will be repeated after the study with a different set of questions but with the same level of difficulty for the two groups and a comparison study between the two sets of data will be conducted.
Before the commencement of the research, a familiarization session with the CSCL tool will be provided for Group A students. The researcher will give the students a user's guide, which detail the training, introduce the most common screens and features of the platform.
Throughout the semester, the researcher will observe students during their classes. The researcher will take notes pertaining to the following:
1.
Students' behaviors during the study of the history
2.
Interest level of the two groups when attending history lessons.
3.
How well students absorb history knowledge over the span of one semester
4.
How students express their critical thinking skills over the span of one semester.
The researcher's observations will supplement the data gathered from the pre and post-study questionnaires and tests.
Group A will complete CSCL online assignments as part of their curriculum. The researcher will design the online assignment in accordance with the school's history curriculum. These CSCL exercises will take place online (synchronously) using Groove software. All collaboration sessions of the students will be electronically recorded and these transcripts will be used to help teachers in the assessment process for all collaborative projects that the students produce. The student-computer ration will be one student to one computer. Students will not depend entirely on the tool. The researcher will guide students in the discussion. With the presence of computers in class, the researcher may opt to vary the method of teaching by letting these students be exposed to various historical places, events and people that can be shown on the computer. Also, instead of quizzes that are traditionally written on paper, quizzes and exams will now be taken using the computer as well as essay type questions that will actually challenge them to think critically about issues. Another means of developing critical thinking among these students is to provide them questions about some current issues in the country or society that needs to be addressed. These issues may not be very familiar to students, so they will be given ample time to research for meaningful and helpful information to assist them in answering the questions. The research of information can be done using computers which are connected to the World Wide Web. This will provide students with information in a faster manner, so that they can compose their answers and present them to the class during that same time when the question was given to them. Each student is to answer a different issue so that there will be no duplication of researched information and that everyone will be better informed about various happenings around them.
In a CSCL environment, students can easily collaborate with one another as they learn. The teacher's role when monitoring the collaboration is essential to keep the collaborative discussion "on track." By guiding students in their online discussions, the researcher can ensure that all students participate constructively and teacher moderated discussions will ensure that all students participate equally, thus eliminating domination by any individual. Good collaboration among students should enhance their knowledge of the subject and positively influence their attitude toward history.
The researcher will develop the additional elements to the history curriculum and assessment practices for the online collaboration project of Group A. Part of this preparation will occur during the semester prior to the implementation of the study while the remainder will occur during the study itself.
Schedule for the research
Assessment of the CSCL learning will be through usage of AskNLearn platform, which permits...
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