Improves participation, and communication amongst students; student can bounce ideals off of one another; in some cases a student may be able to assist a peer with the understanding of a topic that the instructor was not been able to do.
Carmen,
this is very true. And so many of the careers today involve teamwork that utilizes these skills.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
One major positive outcome is through diversity of the group itself. By having many different students from different backgrounds and skill sets, they can look at problems from many different directions, and come up with more ideas than they would on their own.
Better understanding of the lessons. using peers generates, good orbad a sense of competition between groups that make it eaiser.
Students will put their skills to use they need to succeed, They need practice in areas like discussion , active listening, work together as a group
yes, this helps students learn to think through their own positions as well as to appreciate & respect the opinions/ideas of others.
This is a great way for students to get to know students "on the other side of the classroom". Students will make partnerships this way and will find a greater sense of commeraderie now that they have had a chance to work with someone they may not have otherwise.
When they enter the career field they will have a better sense of security knowing that they don't have to fear coworkers they don't know.
Cheryl,
this is so true. Just yesterday I had a student ask why there are many group projects in classes & this was my exact response.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Students need to learn how to work in teams of varied skill sets and personalities n the job. Putting them into learning groups touches on this needful skill. In addition, this enables students to fill in each others' knowledge. Each student may get a particular facet of the information presented - putting the students into learning groups enables them to swap and share understanding to reinforce the classroom learning.
Some positive outcomes of putting students into learning groups are that it can increase the student’s participation in the curriculum. An instructor can use a learning group to help expose students to additional aspects of the curriculum through the interaction of fellow students and their experiences and thoughts on the subject at hand.
Some of the positive outcomes of putting students into learning groups is that the stronger student can some how reach out to the other students in that group that are lacking and help pull them to where they need to be sometimes.
I have seen this happen before and I think that the enviroment of being shadowed by other students helps sometimes until that one or two that are dragging will get on board with the rest of the group.
It seems sometimes to help boost their self esteem and gives them encourage to do better when applying themselves.
To improve teamwork. When going out in the work force, students will have to work with others to accomplish things and by putting them in a learning group they learn to work with others.
dividing the class into small groups enhances student participation. In addition it promotes student participation.
Ardiana,
this can be helpful as long as the students don't feel like they are being put into groups.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I like the idea of indentifying the advanced students. Because the assignment distribution would be done based on students skills and abilities.
Kathryn,
this is a benefit of groups. Do you have any particular strategies to encourage that participation?
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
some of the positives are the students get to know each other and are likly to help one other and they can learn from one onther, also it will show if some are not doing their part. i found that students will call each other out, and say they are not doing their part.
Quieter students may become more likely to speak up
Tony,
this is definitely one of the benefits of group work & it also helps with division of duties/tasks.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
They learn to take initiative and work with others towards a common goal.
