Teachers can feel overwhelmed trying to support the different needs of their students. A group work activity can be a perfect strategy to make students work together and support each other, improving the skills of all students.
What is groupwork?
Cohen & Lotan (2014, p. 1) define groupwork as “students working together in a group small enough so that everyone can participate on a clearly assigned learning task” which should be carried out “without direct and immediate supervision of the teacher”. These two characteristics are essential because they allowed students not only to develop academic knowledge and competencies but also to learn social skills, such as collaboration and responsibility.
However, designing groupwork is not easy even in a homogeneous classroom, it becomes a big challenge in a heterogeneous classroom, where students have different cultural and language backgrounds, levels of knowledge, and many other distinct characteristics.
Thinking about possible challenges of groupwork, Cohen & Lotan (2014) suggests that the group and the tasks should have some features that may help to minimize inequalities in educational settings.
The status problem
Cohen & Lotan (2014) highlight a serious problem in educational places: student has a different status in the classroom based on both external or internal schools factors. For example, students who have more facility in mathematics tend to have a high status for their peers and teachers. Another example, students whose English is their second language tend to have a lower status in school. The idea is that schools tend to value some knowledge and skills more than others and, consequently, students from some groups will not be considered “good students” because their competencies and knowledge do not have a “high status” in school settings.
Having these points in mind, the authors suggest that groupwork can help change students’ status and, consequently, improve their learning. However, groupwork should follow some orientations related to group composition and the nature of the task:
Tasks
Since the purpose is to show that all students have equal importance to conclude group activity, the task should be designed to value different competencies and knowledge. Besides that, students should not be able to conclude the task without the collaboration of all members. In this sense, Cohen & Lotan (2014, p. 85) suggest that a task should:
• are open-ended, productively uncertain, and require complex problem solving;
• provide opportunities for students to use multiple intellectual abilities to access the task and to demonstrate intellectual competence;
• address discipline-based, intellectually important content;
• require positive interdependence and individual accountability;
• include clear criteria for the evaluation of the group’s product and of the individual report.
Group composition
Cohen & Lotan (2014) argue that three points should be considered when a teacher will plan the composition of a group:
1) size of groups: they should not be too small that do not allow a complex interaction between members, but also not too big that prevent that all members have quality participation.
2) composing groups: the ideal composition is the one that balances different skills, knowledge, and status. The authors recommend randomizing students, avoiding any bias in group composition. However, teachers may want to think about specific intentions trying to diminish inequalities in their classroom
3) Hold Individuals and groups accountable: even though students are working in a group, it is important to think of both individual and group assessments. It may help to understand individual progression without taking out the value of group work.
Individual roles
Cohen & Lotan (2014) suggest that each individual in the group should have a different role because it helps to balance power since all members will be essential to complete the task. In addition, it allows the teacher to plan to rotate the roles between students, giving more voice for students who usually do not participate or inducting some students to develop specific skills.
The role can change, but below you can find some ideas:
Facilitator: Sees to it that everyone gets the help he or she needs to do the task; is responsible for seeking answers to questions within the group; the teacher is only queried if no one in the group can help.
Time Manager: Makes sure that the group is progressing and will conclude the task on time.
Materials Manager: Is responsible for getting materials and resources and putting them away properly.
Participation Manager: Is responsible to guarantee that all members have space to expose their ideas.
Reporter: Is responsible for organizing the group report and its presentation to the class.
How to implement group work in the classroom?
This post from the University of Waterloo discusses essential steps to think when teachers design and implement group work in their classrooms.
Guest post by Peer Tutor Ariane Faria dos Santos (Ph.D. EDCP), 2021
References:
Cohen, E. G., & Lotan, R. A. (2014). Designing groupwork: strategies for the heterogeneous classroom third edition. Teachers College Press.