Abstract

The goals of this study were: 1) to study the situation, problems and needs for a learning model to enhance the social skills of sixth grade students; 2) to develop a learning model that would address those needs; 3) to study the effectiveness of that learning model; 4) to compare performance on pretests and posttests of social skills; and 5) to inquire of the opinions of students and teachers on the resulting learning model. The samples were 146 teachers in the development phase, and 18 teachers and 364 students in 18 different sixth grade classrooms in the implementation phase. Schools represented three different sizes. Data analysis was done with mean, percentage, standard deviation and dependent sample t-test.  The research findings showed that teachers teaching in grade sixth need the proposed learning model, consisting of six components and six learning stages, to enhance social skills ranking. Its significance includes: the development of interpersonal relationship and communications skills, decision making and problem solving skills, and coping with emotional and stress skills. Its effectiveness was higher than the specified criterion. The experimental students’ post-test scores were significantly higher than the pretest by .05. The pretest/posttest mean scores were 54.86/70.94 for small schools, 58.54/70.82 for medium schools, and 54.17/67.90 for large schools. The students and teachers’ opinion on learning model, in overall, was in “High” level. 

Key words: Interpersonal relationship and communication skills,  decision making and problem solving skills, coping with emotion and stress skills.