Comparison of formal and informal cooperative group’s impact on academic achievement and knowledge retention

The aim of this study was to compare the impact of formal and informal cooperative group’s on students’ academic achievement and knowledge retention. For this purpose among 680 students in grade 9 at Karaj city, 60 students were selected by cluster sampling and divided into three groups. The first group by traditional way, the second group by formal cooperative group and third group with informal cooperative group in social studies lessons were taught. Collected data from the implementation of the three strategies using covariance analysis and Tukey test were analyzed. The findings show that academic achievement and knowledge retention level of students who receive education with formal and informal collaborative groups better than students who trained by lecture method, But students’ knowledge retention between the formal and informal cooperative groups was not significant difference. According to the findings, formal and informal collaborative groups can be effective in students’ academic achievement and knowledge retention.