Organizing Students into Groups
I always choose the group. If you don't, friends end up working together and the dynamic of one helping the other is often the case. They will also exclude someone they don't care for. I usually count off determined by how many groups.
What are some ways to organize students into work groups?
I do it randomly but try to have a diversed group. If I have enough students in the classroom, I assign a number to each one and then group them in teams.
While I often resort to a seating chart for maximum effectiveness in the classroom, I tend to let fate decide groups. Random selection is the process I use most often. When there is trouble within a group, I remind the students that this too is part of learning, dealing with conflict. Employers don't care who likes someone, they only care about the task being completed on time to high standards. A word in this regard oftens reinvigorates the group.
I think random grouping is the best way to set up group assignments. Allowing the students some time to get to know each other and setting up get to know you activities will help calm any nervousness.
I teach students at 2 different level at the same time, so I always try to split them up into groups outside of their comfort zone. Senior with a Junior, spit up friends and cliques. This is a little less random, but gives them a sence of leadership and working with those you dont know. This diversity is important for learning to be professional even with those they do not like. I have made it a point before, to pair up 2 students that did not like one another in an effort to teach professionalism. Luckily for me it worked!! I want students to understand the concept of being professional at all times in the work place.
I agree with random assignment of individual students to groups. I think most students will tend to choose for social reasons. And, there is at least one member of each of our classes who will simply not be chosen. This is just to negative for that student and an unfortunate lesson for other students.
If the group assignment is at the beginning of class, I randomly select the groups. If I've had a chance to get to know the students and am familiar with their work, I choose students with different strengths that I think will compliment each other. That way, students weak in one area can learn from others that have a better grasp on that material. Different personalities and experience levels can really ignite discussion and the end product is so much more interesting than if only one perspective is considered.
My job has me teaching to multi-national, multi-service audiences. Many of my courses use the "lecture then practical exercise on what was just lectured" method. We divide the class into groups to do things like mission analysis and course of action development. I divide the groups up so that they are as diverse as possible. I make sure that one nationality or one service (Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines) does not dominate the group. Each nation and each service has their own culture and experiences. I try to make the best use of that diversity and breadth of experience as I can.
I find like attracts like. If I allow groups to be organized by the students they will pick others that are similiar to themselves. I prefer to have groups that mix the class up and encourage diversity.
This is very difficult to do. Our classes run for approx 1 year. By the end of their educational year, they know each other very well. If allowed to form their own group it can lead to hurt feelings. However, if every instructor has assigned groups alphabetically, they will be tired of the same group members. I try to do either a random assignment or diversity (ie., no groups with all the same nationality, no groups of all the same sex, not all tall people, not all short people, etc.)
This is the method I use and it works well for me.
I like to place total opposites into groups, like someone in their fifties with an individual in their twenties..or have varied ethnic groups join together to create open minds and tolerance which in the long run is beneficial to all.
I recently divided class into groups based on ability and motivation, good students with ones that were struggling, students that participated with students that often seemed unconnected. I was amazed at how the dynamics began to change in the classroom. They all were sucessful and I even had one student that had been struggling take a renewed intrest and moved from the back of the room to the front. I will be using this method again.
Debbie
Random is a good way to do it. I have tried different methods with my Clinical 1 class. Since I do not know them on the first few days of class, it is very difficult to form a truely diverse group. I usually end up with one group that does really well and another that does poorly for the class project,
For our Senior Team Project class, we had the students take a communication assessment (DISC) to evaluate their style of communication. We would form a team of four students, one from each of the four catagories: Dominate, Interactive, Social, and Controlling. The teams interacted well. You mentioned that a team of 5 to 6 members seem to work the best. We no longer run this class, but if we did, I would like to evaluate how more members on a team would perform.
I've always hesitated at forming groups within the first week, I like to observe behaviors to produce assigned groups that will work together well. I rotate the positions within the groups as well this gives the students shared responsibility and a great way to give them change within the daily setting. Groups are a great way to bring out teamwork in the classroom as well.
Thank You,
Byron
I really try to have a balanced group. I will also place those that excell with those that are a little more quite. It helps break them out of their shell.
When I am using formal groups I like to break up the students to ensure there is balance and diversity in the groups. By having a mix of various skill sets and talents in each group it lets the students know you have put some thought into planning the exercise. Informal groups the make-up can be more random.
I prefer to do it on a random basis, this allows students to get to know eachother. I often remind them that in the workplace employees rarely get to choose who they work with.
