Cooperative Learning - Research Paper Example

Cooperative Learning Affiliation: The study carried out by Wang and Holcombe ) about “Adolescents’ Perceptions of School Environment, Engagement, and Academic Achievement in Middle School” was purposed to find out the relationship of the perceptions of the adolescents towards school engagement, school environment and academic achievement. The subjects in this study were 1,046 representative and ethnically diverse students drawn from 23 different schools and who ranged from early adolescents to young adulthood mostly in seventh and eighth grade.

The information about their perceptions towards school environment, engagement and academic performance was collected through face to face interviews and self-administered questionnaires. These data collection process took place in the comfort of the participant’s home where there was no pressure from school.The findings of the study indicated that the student’s perceptions of their school environment affected their school engagement (this was especially so for the seventh graders and it affected their eighth grade engagement in school) and also that perceptions towards different types of school engagement affected their academic performance directly and indirectly.

If nothing is done to boost the morale of these students when it comes to school and especially by their teachers, then most adolescents will either leave school or end up as academic failures. Strategies to engage the students more in the classroom and school activities and ensure that their cognitive, emotional and behavioral dimensions concerning the school are addressed should be out in place. This way the adolescents will feel confident about their school engagement and this will lead to an improvement in their academic performance and change of perception of their school environment.

The article findings and the implications it mentions are relevant for the education of most adolescents whose perceptions and attitudes towards the school are often mistaken as truant behavior and a reaction towards the adolescence period. The findings will ensure that closer attention is paid to the real reason for adolescents having perceptions about school and their academic performance.ReferencesWang, M. and Holcombe, R. (April, 2010). “Adolescents’ Perceptions of School Environment, Engagement, and Academic Achievement in Middle School.

” American Educational Research Journal. Retrieved from: http://aer.sagepub.com/content/47/3/633.full.pdf+html