This study explores the outcomes of delivering economics courses in the senior vocational commercial high school. This study performed experimental teaching to determine the effects of instructional methods (including cooperative learning and didactic instruction) and ability levels on learning achievements of economics and class climate. The instruments of this study comprised “Class Climate Inventory” and “Achievement Test of Economics”. 63 students (including 30 students in the experimental group and 33 students in the control group) were sampled from the department of data processing in commercial high school. This study applied the quasi-experimental unequal group design, and in addition to the means and standard deviation, conducted statistical methods, such as two-way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and one-way Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA), to analyze the data. Additionally, this study required classroom observation, teacher reflection journals, the creation of teaching files, and student feedback to examine the effectiveness of cooperative learning. The results revealed that students in the cooperative learning group significantly absorbed more information in Economics and displayed improved class climate compared to students in the traditional didactic instruction group, and that the practice of social skills in the process of cooperative learning is significant. The conclusions of this study list recommendations for teachers and future research regarding cooperative learning.
