Background & Objectives: Attending to school bonding is a critical issue during school years, as it significantly impacts students’ personal and social lives. Among the numerous instructional methods, collaborative teaching based on group discussion stands out as a method that focuses on active learner engagement, immediate feedback, and the creation of a safe environment for trial and error, thereby increasing motivation and participation. As a form of student–centered instruction, collaborative teaching based on group discussion shifts the focus from the teacher to the student; in this approach, learners, in collaboration with the teacher, take responsibility for their own learning and act as supporters and collaborators rather than competitors. A review of theoretical and empirical literature regarding the impact of active learning methods, such as collaborative teaching based on group discussion, indicates that these methods positively influence students’ academic behaviors. However, very few studies have examined the impact of this specific instructional method on school bonding. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of collaborative teaching based on group discussion on school bonding among junior high school students.

Methods: The statistical population consisted of all junior high school students in Ardabil during the 2024–2025 academic year. For sampling, one girls’ school and one boys’ school were first selected using convenience sampling. All students in these schools (N=460) were requested to complete the School Bonding Questionnaire (SBQ) as a pretest. Following the calculation of means, it was determined that the average score for ninth–grade students was below the cutoff score of 120. Since this group aligned with the overall objective of the present study, 30 eligible volunteers entered the study after providing informed consent. They were then randomly assigned to two groups of fifteen: the experimental group (girls’ school) and the control group (boys’ school). The inclusion criteria for participants were: enrollment in junior high school, obtaining a low score on the School Bonding Questionnaire (SBQ), and the absence of acute psychological disorders. The exclusion criteria were as follows: receiving psychological interventions prior to the study; lack of willingness to continue participation in any research stage; absence from more than two training sessions; receiving other concurrent interventions; using psychiatric medication at least two weeks before the intervention began; suffering from severe physical or mental illnesses. Ethical considerations were addressed as follows: all participants received verbal information regarding the study, and their participation was voluntary. Participants were assured that all information would remain confidential and would not be recorded in a way that compromised their privacy. Subsequently, the experimental group received eight 90–minute weekly sessions of the collaborative teaching based on group discussion in Social Studies and Natural Science courses, administered by their teachers. The control group teacher was requested to continue with their usual teaching methods, which primarily consisted of traditional lecture–based instruction. Throughout the training period, the researcher remained in constant contact with the teachers, providing necessary guidance and consultation. Following the training period, the School Bonding Questionnaire (SBQ) (Rezaei Sharif et a., 2014) was re–administered, and the scores from both sessions were entered into the analysis as pretest and posttest data. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics (frequency, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (univariate analysis of covariance) via SPSS version 27 software. The significance level for all statistical tests was at a significance level 0.05.

Results: The results showed that, after removing the pretest effect, the effect of collaborative teaching based on group discussion on school bonding in the experimental group was significant (p < 0.001). According to the effect size, 30.1% of the changes in school bonding at the posttest pahse were explained by receiving the intervention.

Conclusion: Based on the results, collaborative teaching based on group discussion has effectiveness on increasing school bonding in junior high school students; thus, using this teaching method in schools is recommended.