EFFECT OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING METHOD ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF COST ACCOUNTING STUDENTS IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN OGUN STATE

This study was embarked upon to determine the effect of cooperative learning method on academic achievement of cost accounting students in colleges of education in Ogun State. The study adopted a 2X2X2 factorial design comprising of two groups (control and experimental) in their intact classes, gender (male and female) and ability level (high and low). Four research questions and four null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study was conducted in two colleges of Education in Ogun state using 405 final year cost accounting students as the population. The entire population was studied because it was not too large for the study to manage. Cost accounting achievement test (CAAT) is the instrument used for data collection. The CAAT and the Lesson plans for both control and experimental groups were all validated by three experts. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was computed using cronbach alpha and was found to be 0.97. Mean was used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was employed to test the hypotheses. The result showed that cooperative learning method is more effective than the traditional lecture in the teaching of cost accounting. The study also revealed that gender did not contribute significantly to varying students’ achievement scores and that cooperative learning method significantly improve the achievement of low ability students. After pointing out some educational implications of the findings, it was therefore recommended that cooperative learning method should be adopted in teaching cost accounting among other courses in colleges of education.