Setting up work groups
How do you set up students in work groups and why? Is it better to have groups divided into 1 student with really good Cognitive and Psychomotor and two that do not. Or would it be best for groups to keep the stronger and weaker together.
Hi Dan,
I always tell my students choosing your group should be a business-minded decision and not personal in nature. By making this statement, they normally get it, and they stay away from friends when forming groups. Your group at work may not necessarily be your friends.
Patricia
I let the students pick their own groups. You can see after a few days they start to wonder if picking their friends as lab partners was the best idea. I can see the groups change as they see the faster groups progress.
Hi Paul,
You give your students great freedom. I like how you allow the faster students to help the slower ones. I always like to try to keep my groups balanced academically, therefore I always assign groups.
Patricia
setting up groups!! i allow them to chose their own people they work well together, you will always have group that excel and those who don't
the groups that excel and finish early i send them seperately t guide the slower groups to catch up,keep the faster students from getting bored
Hello Eric,
Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages, but the exposure to the different scenarios is great. Students must be able to adapt because in the workplace as an employee adaptability is a must.
Patricia
One of the other issues at hand is that when people work in group they have to get along. When the students get to my class, they have been together for almost 4 months and know each other quite well. I have tried both approaches: making the groups myself trying to pair people of different skill levels together and letting the students make their own groups with varying amounts of success depending on the classes.
I also have had the same students for several classes and made them switch groups in order to get them exposed to different work environments and try to foster more sharing of their skills and backgrounds.
Hi John,
I tend to try very hard whenever I am out of my comfort zone. I imagine it depends on the person. Some people may shut down whenever they are out of their comfort zone. How do you react whenver you are out of your comfort zone?
Patricia
I have yet to find the answer to this question and there may not be an answer as each class is diffrent. I have spent the time to divide the groups where there is one good cognitve and psycomotor student with two that are not with less success than just randomly dividing them. Is it possible that students try harder when they are out of their comfort zone?
I allow the students to gather in groups of equal proportions with no limit or restriction as to who they are with. Typically, the students have been in the school for awhile and already have formed into their own comfort groups. The groups that have a "know-it-all" attitude some of the times arent the best performers, I've found. Even though they know all of the material. I tell my students, "If you never make a mistake, how will you ever figure out what you've done wrong and fix the problem if you do?". Sometimes its a good lesson in humility.
This is a hard decision to make. Putting a top student with a more challenged student could benefit the slower student, or the top student could "run away",doing the workstation too fast for the slower student to comprehend.
