فاعلية استراتيجية طرح الأسئلة (العنقود) في التحصيل والاستبقاء لدى طالبات الصف الثاني المتوسط في مادة التاريخ
This research aims at investigating the efficiency of the strategy of asking Cluster-Questions in the achievement and retention of female the students of the secondary of schools in the subject of History. To achieve this purpose the researcher has relied on the experimental design of partial control of equivalent groups. Hence, a deliberately selected sample has been chosen from the second grade of Al-Furat Secondary School” of the Babylon Education Directorate for applying the experiment during the scholastic year 2013-2014. The research sample has included 61 female students of which 31 students represented the experimental group who have been taught by the strategy of asking Cluster- Questions. While 30 students represented the control group who have been taught by the regular method. The researcher determined the material to be taught to the students of both groups of the study which included the last three chapters of the textbook entitled Arabic-Islamic History for the second grade of secondary schools assigned by the Ministry of Education for the year 2013-2014. On the light of the content of the material the researcher has determined behavioral aims which included 187 aims then the cluster-questions of the experimental group were prepared: these included 18 clusters covering the material, after that lesson plans were made by the researcher; and in order that the number of lesson plans complies with the number of clusters the researcher has made 18 lesson plans for each of the two research groups. In order to verify the accomplishment of the aim of the study the researcher has prepared a multiple-choice achievement after-test that has four options, it included 50 items. The validity, consistency and all psychometric qualities have been verified. After concluding the experiment and after the researcher applied her research tool represented by the achievement after-test on the research sample individuals, data has been collected and statistically processed using the (Spss) statistical package of social sciences. After the results have been statistically analyzed the researcher found out differences of statistical significance in the responses of the sample individuals of the experimental group which has been taught using the strategy of asking cluster- questions in the achievement after-test and in their retention rather that in that of the control group which has been taught using the regular method; a fact that signifies the supremacy of the experimental group students on the control group students in both the achievement after-test as well as in the retention test. In the light of the research results the researcher has recommended the necessity of using the strategy of asking cluster-questions in teaching History to the second grade of secondary schools as the strategy has been proved to be efficient in comparison to the regular method. And as complimentary to this research the researcher has suggested conducting similar studies on other grades and subjects. (Author’s abstract)