The effectiveness of collaborative learning on enhancing students' multi-perspectives thinking in liberal studies

Abstract

Under the New Senior Secondary curriculum, Liberal Studies is made one of the four core subjects. It emphasizes on enabling students to develop multi-perspective thinking. However, reports and studies showed that students failed in demonstrating their multi-perspective thinking. The use of collaborative learning is proven and argued to be effective in promoting interactivity among learners in exchanging ideas in multiple directions and to be beneficial in cognitive development. Therefore, this study is an action research emphasizes on examining the effectiveness of collaborative learning on enhancing student’s multi-perspective thinking.

The objectives of the research include (1) To address the problem of lacking holistic thinking among students such as giving one-dimension ideas without considering multiple perspectives; (2) To examine the effectiveness of collaborative learning on students’ holistic thinking; (3) To foster the learning of students in Liberal Studies; (4) To draw up conclusion of the research, listing the points to note in adopting collaborative learning in promoting multi-perspective thinking of students in Liberal Studies lessons; and (5) To develop the habit of learning in a dynamic process for teachers in school.

The results of the research show that collaborative learning is effective on enhancing students’ multi-perspective thinking under certain conditions, however, is not solely dependent on the teaching method adopted but also other variables contributed.