Cooperative Learning

Choosing Groups

If given the choice, students will want to choose their own group. However, when given the choice, students choose to be with their friends. There are many reasons why a teacher should be the one directing who participates in each group.

The teacher can choose group partners by ability. This allows the purposeful construction so each group will have one top level student, two middle level students and one struggling student in each group.
The teacher can choose group partners by personality. This allows the purposeful construction so each group will have an outgoing student, two students who are neither outgoing nor shy and one shy student.
The teacher can choose group partners by perceived status.
The teacher can choose group partners by leadership skills.
By communication skills
By past experiences
By Ethnicity
By Gender
By strength/knowledge in a particular subject, etc

Obviously you can’t split the groups to include all of the characteristics above but you can make purposeful decisions about splitting the groups to most effectively accomplish your learning objectives for the task at hand. You also want to be able to utilize the group beyond one task. A good rule of thumb is maintaining the same groups about every five to nine weeks. By the end of the year, most students have been involved with everyone else in the classroom. It’s also important to note that group size is dependent on the task. Students can be grouped in twos, threes and fours depending on the learning objectives, resources available and complexity of the task.

Use the links below to find out more information about cooperative learning and strategies to effectively use cooperative learning in the classroom.