Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) in a Twelfth Grade Classroom: Effect on Student Achievement and Attitude

Little research has been conducted on cooperative learning techniques used in the upper secondary school classroom. One cooperative technique, Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD), was used to determine if twelfth grade advanced placement students who were given instruction by the STAD method over a seven week period would score higher on a posttest than those students who were taught the same material by traditional methods. Quantitative results showed no significant difference between the adjusted means for the two groups. Additionally, a measure of student attitude was administered to determine if students taught through the STAD technique had an improved attitude toward social studies. No significant difference between the group means on attitude occurred. Yet, teacher and student surveys administered to the treatment group at the conclusion of the study indicated a liking for the STAD method of instruction. STAD was found to be easily adapted to the block scheduled secondary social studies class.