GROUPING

1

• GROUPING GROUP WORK An aid to cooperative
  learning.
• Maurice Galton
• Faculty of Education
• University of Cambridge

2
GROUP WORK

• Promotes independent thinking such that pupils
  gain a sense of control over their learning.
• Develops speaking and listening skills allowing
  pupils to share feelings and ideas.
• Encourages positive self-esteem allowing pupils
  to build confidence in their own abilities
• Improves relationships enhancing pupils sense of
  social responsibility
• Thus Group work in classrooms brings pupils
  together to share information,confront different
  opinions and to support each other.

3
3 TYPES OF GROUP ACTIVITY

• Collaborative groups Stresses social
  inter-dependence where pupils work cooperatively
  to complete a common task (e.g. pupils act out a
  chapter in a story)
• Cooperative groups Stresses individual
  accountability. Pupils work independently on
  their own tasks as a contribution to a common
  goal (e.g. each pupil makes their own drawing for
  a collage)
• Seated groups Individual work but pupils help
  each other by checking, comparing, suggesting
  etc. (e.g. write a story, do maths calculations )

4

• Developing Group Work

5
Developing Group Work

• Training Pupils must be taught how to
  communicate clearly, how to listen effectively,
  how to maintain an activity productively.
• Evaluation Time must be allocated for debriefing
  where pupils can explore the positive and
  negative aspects of working in the group and
  discuss on how to improve next time
• Tasks should be carefully structured initially to
  reduce the need for teachers to intervene in the
  groups until ideas/solutions have begun to
  emerge.

6

• TRAINING PUPILS FOR GROUP WORK

7
TRAINING METHODS

• Establishing rules for working in groups
• Establishing trust so that pupils are not afraid
  to speak their minds
• Improving speaking
• Improving Listening
• Maintaining group activity

8

• ESTABLISHING RULES FOR GROUP WORK

9
GROUP RULES

• The aim of the exercise is for the children to
  arrive at a set of common rules for conducting
  discussion in their Chinese, English and maths
  groups. It is important that pupils feel the
  rules are not imposed by the teacher. Here is an
  example
• Children sit in groups of 4/6. And discuss the
  six most important rules for making the group
  work well (10 min). Each group reports back and
  the teacher writes down their suggestions ticking
  any statement which is repeated. The final six
  rules should be written on a poster and put up on
  the wall. If too difficult a task, the teacher
  picks a list of rules and ask groups to decide if
  each one is fair (e.g. If you want to be heard
  shout or Only agree with your friends or
  Everyone should get a turn to speak etc.)

10
SOME EXAMPLES OF RULES

• We share ideas
• We involve everybody
• We listen to each other
• We talk one at a time
• We give reasons
• We think before we speak
• Dawes, Mercer and Wegeriff (2000)

• We listen to each other
• We take turns to speak
• We try to agree
• We respect other peoples ideas
• We explain our idea
• We dont shout or get angry

11

• GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER ESTABLISHING TRUST

12
ESTABLISHING TRUST

• Sometimes in groups pupils are frightened or
  embarrassed to express their ideas and feelings.
  The following are examples of exercises to help
  overcome this problem. Class Debriefing is
  essential.
• Each group is given a bag and told there maybe a
  nasty creature inside. Pupils are asked to tell
  each other how they would feel if they had to
  place their hand inside the bag
• Each person in the group picks another member
  who is not a special friend and completes the
  sentence, Today I have noticed The group
  discusses what new things they have found out
  about each other.
• Prepare an outline drawing (of a tree, house
  etc). A group of 4 is given colouring pencils
  (red, green, yellow, blue) all tied together by
  means of short pieces of string. Pupils have to
  complete the picture using all the colours.

13

• EFFECTIVE SPEAKING

14
EFFECTIVE SPEAKING

• Pupils need to learn how to communicate
  information and ideas to others so that they can
  be clearly understood. It is important initially
  for pupils to appreciate that talking at is
  less effective than talking with other group
  members. The following exercise can be used as a
  basis for class discussion
• Ask a pupil to come out to the front of the class
  and instruct the class to draw a figure made up
  of squares. The pupil has his/her back to the
  class and no questions are allowed. Pupils
  compare the results while the teacher displays
  the figure on the OHP. The exercise is repeated
  with another pupil and another drawing but this
  time the pupil faces the class who are allowed to
  ask questions. The class discusses the advantages
  and disadvantages of the two methods of
  communicating.

15
One-way speaking
Two-way speaking
16
EFFECTIVE SPEAKING

• Good speaking behaviour in Groups
• Stops every so often to check if audience is
  following ( Is that OK?)
• Gives reasons or explanations for instructions/
  ideas (e.g. I decided to stop running
  because..)
• Considers views of others in the group (e.g.
  Thank you for that. Lets add that to the list
  of things to do.)
• Offers examples to make a point clear( e.g. You
  have to get as near as possible without the
  person seeing you, like a tiger who is trying to
  creep up on its prey.)
• Makes certain that everyone has a chance to put
  their point of view (e.g. Who else wants to
  say something?)
• Some of these aspects of speaking are quite
  complex and the teacher needs to judge what is
  and what is not appropriate for a particular
  class or age group.

17
HELPFUL QUESTIONS TO SPEAKERS

• Others in the group need to help the speaker
  present his/her ideas by asking relevant
  questions. This is best practised as a class with
  the teacher questioning a pupil and then getting
  pupils to ask the teacher questions. Questions
  should
• Clarify What do you mean? Please explain?
  Can you say more about that please?
• Seek evidence How do we know that?
• Look at implications Where does that get us?
  What can we work out from what youve just
  said?
• Explore alternatives Do we all think the
  same? Do we all agree? (If some disagree then
  What do you think? etc.
• Again teachers need to decide just what is
  possible with younger pupils etc.

18

• ACTIVE LISTENING

19
ACTIVE LISTENING

• Pupils need to do more than listen passively.
  They must learn how to encourage others in the
  group who may be shy and also how to help others
  to explain their ideas more fully. This starter
  exercise seems to work well
• Ask a pupil to come out and tell you, the
  teacher, about a recent event (e.g. what s/he had
  for dinner, What s/he did at the weekend). The
  teacher sits on a chair and displays all the
  usual signs of inattention ( fidgets, looks away
  from the speaker, yawns etc.) Teacher then asks
  class if they thought s/he was a good listener.
  If not why not.
• The exercise is repeated with another pupil but
  this time teacher listens carefully.(eye contact,
  nods appreciatively etc.) Class in pairs take
  turns to practice being good listeners

20
ACTIVE LISTENING

• Good Listening behaviours
• Maintaining eye contact, smiling or shaking the
  head at the right time.
• Making encouraging comments, Oh yes! Thats
  interesting. Do go on.
• Asking for clarification, Im not sure I
  understand-Please tell me more.
• Not rushing to fill silences
• Not finishing off speakers sentences in
  anticipation of what s/he is trying to say
• Not interrupting or over-shouting the speaker

21

• MAINTAINING GROUP ACTIVITY

22
KEEPING THE GROUP ON-TASK

• Groups often go wrong because pupils move off the
  point, lose track of time etc. Pupils need help
  in identifying key maintenance tasks. It is
  important to make sure that different pupils
  practise different roles so that, for example,
  one pupil isnt always the leader
• Organising Allocating different tasks, making
  sure everyone has a say, gets a turn etc.
• Practical Fetching equipment, making
  measurements etc.
• Timekeeping Making sure tasks get finished, not
  too much time is wasted etc. (How much time have
  we left? What else have we still to do?)
• Summarising (Where have we got to?)

23

• EVALUATION The importance of briefing and
  de-briefing

24
BRIEFING AND DEBRIEFING

• We are good at telling pupils what to do but we
  dont often explain why they are being asked to
  do it or give them opportunities to reflect on
  the activity.
• BRIEFING Explaining why the task is being done
  in groups (e.g more efficient way of collecting
  information, more chance of coming up with a
  solution by sharing ideas etc.). It is also a
  chance to remind the class of the group rules or
  to emphasise particular aspects of group working
  (e. g. listening, turn taking etc)
• DEBRIEFING Did the task work well? Did the
  groups work well? What would you change next
  time?

25
SELF- EVALUATION

• From time to time, particularly during training
  in the skills of group working, it is important
  to give pupils extended opportunities to reflect
  on their performance. That way pupils become
  metacognitively wise about what it is to be a
  group person.
• For example when considering active listening
  each pupil could be asked to fill in the
  following check sheet and then to compare the
  results with the rest of the group

26
HOW DID WE DO
Not sure
Yes
No
Did I listen carefully to the others? Did
everyone get a turn to speak? Did I interrupt
other speakers? Did I show I was interested in
what others had to say? Can I be a better
listener next time?
27

• GETTING STARTED

28
KEEP THINGS SIMPLE

• Start with pair work until children build their
  confidence, learn to trust each other and master
  the rules. Then combine pairs into groups of 4.
• Dont allocate mundane tasks to group members in
  an attempt to ensure everybody is kept busy.
  Holding the ruler level while a partner takes
  measurements soon leads to boredom and
  distraction. Better to watch and take turns, then
  compare results.
• Include practical tasks when possible. Cutting
  and sticking for example allows pupils to discuss
  the best way to arrange the objects, how to label
  them etc.

29

• SOME REFERENCES

30

• Dunne, E. Bennett, (1990) Talking and Learning
  in Groups, London Macmillan.
• .Battistich, V Watson, M. (2003) Development
  in Preschool Early Grades in Gillies, R.
  Ashman, A. Eds Cooperative Learning, London
  Routledge Falmer
• Galton, M. Williamson, J. (1992) Groupwork in
  the Primary Classroom, London Routledge Kegan
  Paul
• Johnson, D. Johnson, F (2000) Joining Together
  Group Theory and Group Skills, Boston Allyn
  Bacon
• Race, P (2000) 500 tips on Group Learning,London
  Kogan Page.
• Slavin, R (1995) Cooperative Learning, Boston
  Allyn Bacon.