NEW APPROACH IN COOPERATIVE LEARNING: SCOUTING

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of scouting technique, which was developed and applied by the researchers. scouting is a cooperative learning technique in which the principles of scouting are applied into the classroom. after the scouting technique was developed by the researchers, its first application took place in vocational high school to tenth students (n=35). secondly, the technique was carried out to third grade students (n=97). the data was collected through individual and focus group teacher interviews, focus group student interviews, pre- and post-tests. the results indicate that the scouting techniques has positive effects on learning, developing communication among students, facilitating classroom management, fulfilling the academic responsibilities, decreasing the level of misbehaviors in the classroom and supporting teacher-student communication. it is suggested that by using scouting technique, teachers have opportunities to give easy and more homework and spending more time on guidance of students.