Karen,
and sometimes the student who "gets it" can explain things in a clearer way to the struggling student.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I like to sometimes group a student who "gets it" with one that is struggling. This reinforces what the knowledgeable student knows and helps give individual attention to a struggling student.
Assigning a project where each student must take on a task in order to have the assignment completed will envolve them as well as help them function in a group enviroment.
Christina,
yes, these pairs are useful for helping students understand concepts, when it is project related I tend to like a little larger group.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Depending on the size of the class, I have tried groups of two, three, and four. Groups of two seem to work best. I like to pair a strong student with a weaker student and allow them to bounce knowledge off one another.
I use ice-breakers to organize students into groups. I randomly pick students based on the color of M&M's or skittles I give them. Then I give them time to come up with one commonality they all have, and it can't have anything to do with school, kids, or work. Then based on the types of learners I have in that group, I split as necessary, based on the assignment given.
Steve,
I like this approach as it can help overcome one of the obstacles to the group work.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I think it depends on the class size, and the comradarie of the students. Some classes are eager to work in groups and create a lot of positive energy and other times they don't seem to want to be in groups.
If they don't seem excited about it, i'll let them pick their own groups. Sometimes this will get them accited because they can work with people they feel comfortabl with.
If the class is happy about working in groups, i'll assign groups randomly.
I keep my groups between 3 and 4 students with the lab task split up so every member of the group has his/her own job. In my opinion any more then 4 and you have students standing around doing nothing
irina,
this is a great idea as it helps the students to spread the work & also have the benefit of experience in each role.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I form the group of 3-4 students and usually assign members, but rotating them for different tasks, so all students can get a chance to work with one another
I use student groups in all of my courses. When I create the groups, I always make sure to distribute seniority and regional backgrounds as evenly as possible across the groups. This helps me to make sure the junior and less experienced students get an opportunity to interact with their senior and more experienced classmates, something that likely wouldn't occur otherwise.
Aileen,
and I would say that if they are working on a specific project, the strategic construction of groups is even more important.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I will often breaking them up into groups of 3-4 for group discussion but to be honest I had not really looked at the group themselves. It was just done by numbers not looking at the individuals. Will start to look at breaking up the students into specific groups.
This is a great concept. I get great responses when I mix up the diversity and such of the students.
Theresa,
this is an excellent way to construct the groups & to help balance things out.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I find that organizing students by strength and weakness helps. For example, if there is one student is able to understand the content easier then another I will put them together in a group. I will not add more than the other as I am trying to keep the group balanced.
Since I teach anatomy and physiology, I set my students into groups according to the systems of the body which allows them to focus on just one section. Then they work on sharing that info with the other groups
By skill level, between those in need of team building skills and most importantly balanced groups make more in depth investigations and elaborated work.
Thomas,
I think this also helps students get used to working in groups that they did not pick as most of them will not have the luxury of selecting their work groups in the professional world.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
