A Quantitative Study Examining the Differences in Motivation and Achievement between Traditional versus Team-Based Learning.

摘要

Obtaining a degree from a community college could be the opportunity for students to advance their education or career. Nevertheless, nearly two-thirds of first-time community college students in the U.S. were required to take developmental mathematics courses. The problem was that approximately three-fourth of those students did not successfully complete a mathematics course at college level, despite the assistance and training in developmental courses. Therefore, the purpose of this quantitative, ex post facto study was to examine the differences in individual student motivation and achievement in developmental mathematics courses after incorporating team-based learning (TBL) strategy as opposed to traditional learning model (TLM). Invitations were sent to 120 students, who were enrolled in a three-hour credit developmental mathematics course in Fall 2015 at a community college in San Antonio, Texas. Forty-four results were analyzed, in which 21 were from the TLM group and 23 were from the TBL group. Participating professors completed the Teaching Style Inventory to determine their teaching style. Team-based professors incorporated the TBL activities once a week for four consecutive weeks. Participating students completed the Course Interest Survey, to assess their motivation reaction to specific instructional environment, and the ACCUPLACER Sample Questions, to measure their achievement before and after the treatment. The results of a one-way MANOVA showed that there was an overall significant main effect for learning environment, F(2, 41) = 3.98, p < 0.03. However, while there was no significant main effect for motivation, F(1, 42) = 0.1, p = 0.75, there was a significant main effect for achievement, F(1, 42) = 7.81, p = 0.008. Therefore, there was no significant difference in motivation; nevertheless, there was a significant difference in achievement. These results implied that the incorporation of the TBL strategy could be used to increase student achievement, but not motivation in mathematics courses. It was recommended that simple predesigned TBL activities be provided so that teachers and students may be more willing to implement and complete those activities. Moreover, future research should examine different types of TBL activities and components and their effectiveness on student motivation and achievement in mathematics classes.