SMALL TEAMS
SMALL TEAMS SEEM WORK VERY WELL IN MY SITUATION, BY WORKING TOGETHER THEY CAN HELP EACH OTHER OUT WHEN IT COMES TO UNDERSTANDING A CONCEPT OR FIGURING OUT HOW SOMETHING OPERATES.
I find that when I work with teams of 2 or 3 students and go over the lesson and then give them additional information pertaining to the lesson. The extra time that it takes to cover the 10 groups is worth it because the students enjoy the one on one coaching and reinforcement.
Louis, how often do your students with with small teams and how often do they select their partners versus you making the assignments? Thanks for anything you can share.
James Jackson
I agree small teams typicaly 3 is the max is perfect they can learn from each other fast helping the slow, perfectionist to help the sloppy, and so on.
I've always leaned towards individual projects, but recently learned the values of small team in a totally unrelated activity. Since I personally never cared one way or another I didn't realize how intimidating individual project were for some people. Next term I'll try the small team method.
Jeff, each situation can be a bit different and while I like the idea of small groups I have certainly seen groups of 3 or more be very successful. If your lesson plan is better accomplished with groups of 2 then this is great but do not be afraid to open up your research for some group activities to be larger than two and for each member of a team to have a specific task or role that they must perform for the entire team to be successful.
James Jackson
The saying two is company and three is a crowd.I agree with Jack Two studant on a team works very Well But three or more, students hide or stand Back.
Thomas, thanks for the feedback and looks like a great plan. I will be interested to read others and their comments. Thanks.
James Jackson
Two way approach-First, the other students in the group will tutor the student that does not understand. Second, if that is not effective, then I step in and spend 1 on 1 time with that individual.
Thomas, I like your approach. What do you do however for those that are not able to perform all of the tasks? For some different tasks are easier than others so may be valuable to allow some students to focus on their strengths versus becoming frustrated over their weaknesses. The more you know about your students individually the better you can make such determinations on what roles they will be able to perform and which ones will take more effort or may even be best to focus more on their strengths. Thanks for any feedback you can provide and others are welcome to provide their feedback as well.
James Jackson
Keith, what controls do you have with respect to class size? Can you create the small groups regardless of how many students are in your classroom? For some subject matters the limitation of resources may dictate the size of the class and the size of the groups.
James Jackson
Michelle, be careful with this technique. You are making a huge assumption that motivation is directly related to aptitude and this tends to NOT be the case. By putting your less successful students together you could cause them to focus more on their weaknesses versus working harder towards their strengths. Focus more on what makes each student successful then place each student in situations where success can be achieved through working more with their strengths. Please let me know if I can assist you in any way.
James Jackson
I prefer the small teams, but I also have each team member peform a different task for each seperate lab. That way, they learn each role by personally doing them.
I prefer smaller teams so they all will learn the subject, and help each other out.
I totally agree with you that small teams work better so everybody gets a chance to do the task.
I like small teams for safety reasons. With less hands in the operation less safety issues. I find smaller teams tend to help each other in understanding tough concepts. The students also get their lab sheets filled out correctly because they communicate with each other better in small groups.
I start out the term with a small group activity and this shows me what students are motiviated and which students depend on the partner to complete the task. Then last one in the class I will put the less motivated students together so the group is forced to contribute.
I agree completely. Smaller groups does force everyone in the group to participate. That being said I also like to use larger groups but then provide a list of jobs for each group member to select. Once they have a specific job/task to complete that they have chosen it is up to them to complete this task for the group. That way they're not "riding the coat-tails" of the smarter students.
With Industry training, smaller group size is many time safer, and easer to see to moviavated student and ones who are not, and seeif you can change that their outlook
I think that jack is right again...Small teams and small groups puts more of the responsibility of the learning on each student.
