The Comparative Effects of Small-Group vs. Teacher-Led Discussion Sessions upon Student Achievement and Perception in Educational Psychology

EVER SINCE Levine and Butler (1952) pointed out that group discussion was more effective in chang ing behavior than the lecture method, there has been some doubt as to the necessity and efficiency of the teacher's participation in various classroom activi ties carried on in the name of learning. If, as Hare (1952) concluded, there is an increase in participation in small groups as compared with large ones, one may question the efficiency of a teacher-led discussion involving more than 6 or 8 students at a time. If the teacher were to withdraw at intervals in favor of smaller divisions of his class, one might find his absence more of an aid to learning than his presence with the larger group. On the other hand, some teachers and many stu dents feel that unteachered small groups merely share their ignorance and waste valuable time. These possibilities raise two major issues: l)Is the teacher's presence ever indispensable for maxi mum achievement in such sessions? and 2) What does the teacher's presence doto the students' per ception of the value of the course? This study compares the achievement of two classes in educational psychology. One group was taught by a small group discussion method ( SGD ) and the other in a more conventional teacher-led class discussion (TLD). In addition, the investiga tion attempts to measure any differences in the stu dents' perception of the practicality, interestingness and understandability of the course. Some Definitions