solve the problem and also could train them on facing the world. It is one of the important aspect of Cooperative Learning that is to promote behavior and better
group relations among students.
2. The Characteristic of STAD
Robert Slavin proposes the characteristic of STAD. He states that STAD consists of five major components; class presentation, teams, quizzes, individual
improvement scores, and team recognition.
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The description of those characteristics is presented as follows:
a. Class presentation
Firstly, the teacher should introduce the material in class presentation. Mostly, the teacher conducts a direct instruction or a lecturer-discussion,
but could include audiovisual presentation. Class presentation in STAD must clearly focus on the STAD unit, it is not same with the usual
teaching. The teacher has to manage the students that they have to pay attention to the presentation. It is because in the class presentation, the
teacher would give the material which would be asked in the quizzes. Students have to do well on the quizzes, and their scores determine their
team scores. b.
Teams After students listen to the teacher presentation, they would have team
session. But firstly, the teams are composed of four or five members who present a cross-section of the class in terms of academic
performance, sex, and race or ethnicity. Making sure that all the team members are learning and prepare its member to do well on the quizzes
is the major function of the team. On the team session, the students would to learn and do worksheets from the teacher. Moreover, the
session involves students discussing about problem in the team, answering the answer of the worksheet then comparing, and correcting
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Slavin, 1995, op. cit., p. 71.
any misconceptions if teammates make mistakes. In the team, students could support for the other academic performance which is essential for
learning. It also presents the common concern and respect that are essential for such product as intergroup relations, confidence, and
reception of ordinary students. c.
Quizzes After the students are having a team, they are permitted to move back to
their own seat before having a team to do quizzes. Quizzes are taken after roughly one or two periods of teacher presentation and also one or
two periods of team practice. During the quizzes, students are not permitted to have a discussion or helping each other. Therefore, in this
quizzes every student is individually responsible for comprehending the material.
d. Individual Improvement Scores
Giving the individual performance score that achieve after quizzes then compared with the past score is the main idea of individual improvement
scores. The scores is depend on the students’ work during the class, whether it is better than the score in the past or not. The past scores are
the scores that are given to the students as a “base” score. Base scores
derived from the students’ average performance on similar quizzes. Any student can give greatest points to his or her team in this scoring system,
but no student can do so with no doing his or her best effort. e.
Team Recognition This is the last components of STAD, which is derived from the average
of individual improvement scores on teams. Teams may receive certificates or other rewards if their average scores go over a definite
standard.
Another expert proposes the characteristic of STAD as Donald R. Cruickshank proposed. He explains that there are three main characteristics of
STAD; preparation, delivery, and closure.
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The description of those characteristics as follows:
a. Preparation. In this characteristic, teacher has to prepare the presentation
of the material that would be learned by the students. After that, the teacher may divide the students into the heterogeneous group to learn
and master the material. b.
Delivery. According to Donald R. Cruickshank, delivery of STAD involves two steps; the presentation and initiation and monitoring of the
teamwork. In the teamwork, the teacher should do some steps such as, set the team goals, prepare students for teamwork, give the teams the
assignment, monitor the teams, quiz the students, score the quizzes, and recognize team accomplishment.
c. Closure. In the closure, the students should be reminded of what they
have just learned and attached to what they already know or what they will learn next, and they should have the opportunity to apply the
information in some way.
Those are the characteristic of STAD from Robert Slavin and Donald R. Cruickshank that arose in this paper. The writer elaborates that the characteristic
of STAD includes the preparation of information, the team work, individual student quizzes, team scoring and recognition. Those characteristic of STAD is
implemented to make the students work together and master the material.
3. The Purpose of STAD
The Students Teams-Achievement Divisions was developed for some purposes. The main purpose is of course to make students comprehend with the
material and show the improvement. Robert Slavin highlights that, “The main
idea behind Student Teams-Achievement Divisions is to motivate students to
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Donald R. Cruickshank, et al., The Act of Teaching, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006, pp. 242-6.
