A Comparison Study on the Effect of Two Teaching Methods of Brainstorming and Group Discussion by E-Learning on Learning Level and Interest in Teamwork in Social Studies Course

Since the prevalence of Covid-19 increased the use of e-learning and its dual importance in teaching methods, this study aimed to compare the effect of two teaching methods of brainstorming and group discussion by e-learning on learning level and interest in teamwork in social studies course.

This was an applied study in terms of purpose and semi-experimental with pre-test and post-test design in terms of implementation method. The study population was the third-grade elementary school students in district 20 of Tehran in the academic year of 2020-2021. The sample size was 60 students in two classes with 30 ones who were selected by available sampling method. One of the classes was considered as a teaching group with brainstorming method in a random way and the other class was considered as a teaching group with group discussion method. The teacher-made test of learning level in the social studies course and the teamwork interest questionnaire (Evans & Jarvis, 1986) were used to collect the data.

The results of paired t-test showed that both methods of teaching brainstorming and group discussion by e-learning enhanced the level of learning and interest in teamwork in social studies course (P <0.001). The results of univariate analysis of covariance showed that the group discussion teaching method in comparison with the brainstorming teaching method enhanced the learning level and interest in teamwork in the social studies course (P <0.001).

The results showed the effectiveness of both methods and the greater impact of group discussion teaching method compared to the brainstorming teaching method in both variables of learning level and interest in teamwork. Therefore, the use of group discussion teaching method should be prioritized to improve academic performance in social studies course.