Student groups
I have had mixed success with groups. When I allow students toform their own groups they choose their friends and unvariably there are one or more students that are not picked. I find it far more conducive to group dynamics to assign group members so that the weak are put with the strong so that all students participate and learn.
But this can also be disasterous. I had one group where they allowed the "stronger" student to write the program for a microcomputer for their final project. He went onto the internet and copied the program. This caused his dismissal adn it also hurt the final grade for every member of the group since the project was not actually completed. I did make allowances, but since no one could complete their part of the project the grades were affected.
And then there was one group who divided the tasks. And one individual decided that another student was not doing the quality of work he expected of his fellow students, so he told her to stop and he would do her part. Unfortunately, this was done outside of teh classroom and I had no idea it was happening until after the project was completed and handed in.
The only issue we have with group assignments is some of the group allowing the others in the group to sit around doing nothing. This then takes time away from other groups when youu are almost forcing the slackers if you will to get up and do something.
I teach college math and dosage calcaulation to a class of 37 nursing students. Students generally are terrified of Math, so one of my strategies to assist their learning is to place them in groups. There is usually one member in a group who does well in the subject and is therefore able to provide effective peer-to-peer instruction. I find that this method of teching Math is very good since there are several methods of teching a particular topic. I plan on assigning students to different groups, though, since the groups are formed by students who sit close to each other. I'm going to try the number idea.
When forming groups in my classes I usually do this after the first few class settings this way I have learned a little about the students personality, friends, work habits etc. I then place students in groups based on their needs, I usually allow the students to call out a number from 1 thru however many students I have in the class and then I tell them who will be in what group. I already have my groups in mind but by allowing the students to choose a particular number they will think they choose the group they were in by the number they choose rather than the teacher being dominate and placing them where they want them to be. In the groups I usually place a "leader" a few strong students and a few students that I think need extra assistance (this allows for peer-to-peer teaching) while working together and collaborating and this process have worked for me.
