THE EFFECTS OF A COOPERATIVE LEARNING TECHNIQUE, TEAMS-GAMES-TOURNAMENT, ON THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTITUDE TOWARD ECONOMICS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS ENROLLED IN A PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS COURSE

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of a cooperative learning technique, Teams-Games-Tournament (TGT), would increase academic achievement and improve attitude toward economics among college students enrolled in a principles of microeconomics course more than the conventional lecture-discussion method. Moreover, this study sought to determine the distributional or interaction effects of TGT on achievement and attitude among students in different ability levels.;Findings. The achievement variable was measured by a 50-item modified version of the Test of Understanding College Economics, which had a reliability of .64 (Cronbach alpha). Attitude toward economics was measured by a 20-statement Likert-new survey, Survey of Attitude Toward Economics, which had a reliability of .96 (Cronbach alpha).;It was found that TGT had no statistically significant treatment effect on academic achievement nor were there any statistically significant distributional effects of TGT among students in three ability groups. Regarding attitude toward economics, TGT had no statistically significant treatment or distributional effects. An interesting nonstatistical comparison of ability group means indicated that the TGT-low group had a mean attitude score 13.93 points higher than the Control-low group.;The lack of TGT treatment effects might be due in part to the small sample size resulting in too few students in each ability group and unequal cell frequencies. Subsequent research might provide sufficient evidence on the usefulness of TGT in college economics.;Procedures. This study utilized the posttest-only control group design. Sixty students in one intact principles of microeconomics class were randomly assigned to the control (conventional lecture-discussion) group or the experimental (TGT) group; 30 students in each group. Tests to determine the equivalence of the treatment groups indicated that the two groups did not differ. During the 10-week quarter, all students met together for four consecutive class periods of lectures. During the fifth day of the sequence, the class divided into two groups. The TGT group participated in team study and competition. The control group used the same study materials on an individual basis to more nearly simulate the lecture-discussion method.