• Class size: any
• Time frame: 3-10 minutes
• Setting: no limitations
• Purpose: generate ideas/answers, re-stimulate student interest, gauge student understanding
Description: These groups involve students engaging in short, informal discussions, often in response to a
particular sentence starter or question. At a transitional moment in the class, have students turn to 1-3
neighbours to discuss any difficulties in understanding, answer a prepared question, define or give
examples of key concepts, or speculate on what will happen next in the class. The best discussions are
those in which students make judgments regarding the relative merits, relevance, or usefulness of an
aspect of the lecture (Brookfield & Preskill, 1999). Sample questions include, “What’s the most
contentious statement you’ve heard so far in the lecture today?” or “What’s the most unsupported
assertion you’ve heard in the lecture today?” Reconvene as a class and have a general discussion in which
students share ideas or questions that arose within their subgroups.
Comments: This method is very flexible: it is easy to implement in any size of class and in most classrooms,
even the most formally arranged lecture hall. Consider how to regain the attention of a large group:
turning the lights off and on is one simple yet effective method.
Group work can be an effective method to motivate students, encourage active learning, and develop key
critical-thinking, communication, and decision-making skills. But without careful planning and facilitation,
group work can frustrate students and instructors and feel like a waste of time. Use these suggestions to
help implement group work successfully in your classroom.
Preparing for group work
• Think carefully about how students will be physically arranged in groups. Will it be easy for groups
to form and for all students to be comfortable? Also think about how the layout of your classroom will
impact volume. Will students be able to hear one another clearly? How can you moderate the activity to
control volume?
• Insist on professional, civil conduct between and among students to respect people’s differences
and create an inclusive environment.
• Talk to students about their past experiences with group work and allow them to establish some
ground rules for successful collaboration. This discussion can be successfully done anonymously through
the use of note cards.
Designing the group activity
• Identify the instructional objectives. Determine what you want to achieve through the small group
activity, both academically (e.g., knowledge of a topic) and socially (e.g., listening skills). The activity
should relate closely to the course objectives and class content and must be designed to help students
learn, not simply to occupy their time. Roberson and Franchini (2014) emphasize that for group learning
to be effective, students need a clear sense that group work is "serving the stated learning goals and
disciplinary thinking goals" of the course (280). When deciding whether or not to use group work for a
specific task, consider these questions: What is the objective of the activity? How will that objective be
furthered by asking students to work in groups? Is the activity challenging or complex enough that it
requires group work? Will the project require true collaboration? Is there any reason why the assignment
should not be collaborative?
• Make the task challenging. Consider giving a relatively easy task early in the term to arouse
students’ interest in group work and encourage their progress. In most cases collaborative exercises
should be stimulating and challenging. By pooling their resources and dealing with differences of opinion
that arise, groups of students can develop a more sophisticated product than they could as individuals.
See our teaching tip “Group work in the Classroom: Small-Group Tasks” for some ideas.
• Assign group tasks that encourage involvement, interdependence, and a fair division of labour.
All group members should feel a sense of personal responsibility for the success of their teammates and
realize that their individual success depends on the group’s success. Johnson, Johnson, and Smith (2014)
refer to this as positive interdependence and argue that this type of cooperative learning tends to result
in learners promoting each other's success. Knowing that peers are relying on you is a powerful motivator
for group work.
• Allocate essential resources across the group so that group members are required to share
information (e.g., the jigsaw method). Or, to come up with a consensus, randomly select one person to
speak for the group, or assign different roles to group members so that they are all involved in the process
(e.g., recorder, spokesperson, summarizer, checker, skeptic, organizer, observer, timekeeper, conflict
resolver, liaison to other groups).
• Another strategy for promoting interdependence is specifying common rewards for the group,
such as a group mark. See the CTE teaching tip “Methods for Assessing Group Work” for more information.
• Decide on group size. The size you choose will depend on the number of students, the size of the
classroom, the variety of voices needed within a group, and the task assigned. Groups of four-five tend to
balance the needs for diversity, productivity, active participation, and cohesion. The less skillful the group
members, the smaller the groups should be (Gross Davis, 1993).
• Decide how you will divide students into groups. Division based on proximity or students’ choice
is quickest, especially for large and cramped classes, but this often means that students end up working
together with friends or with the same people.
• To vary group composition and increase diversity within groups, randomly assign students to
groups by counting off and grouping them according to number. Another idea is to distribute candy (e.g.,
Starburst or hard, coloured candies) and group students according to the flavour they choose.
• For some group tasks, the diversity within a group (e.g., gender, ethnicity, level of preparation) is
especially important, and you might want to assign students to groups yourself before class. Collect a data
card from each student on the first day of class to glean important information about their backgrounds,
knowledge, and interests. Alternately, ask students to express a preference (e.g., list three students with
whom they would most like to work or two topics they would most like to study), and keep their
preferences in mind as you assign groups.
• Allow sufficient time for group work. Recognize that you won't be able to cover as much material
as you could if you lectured for the whole class period. Cut back on the content you want to present in
order to give groups time to work. Estimate the amount of time that subgroups need to complete the
activity. Also plan for a plenary session in which groups’ results can be presented or general issues and
questions can be discussed.
Working in teams is a common part of the business environment and may be an approach companies take
to certain tasks, responsibilities or special projects. While it can be challenging for different personality
types to work together on a common goal, it has its advantages, both for the company and the people
involved. The advantages of group work are more than just business-oriented; there are generally
personal benefits for staff as well.
Shared Ideas
One of the main benefits of group work or a team environment is the ability to share ideas among the
group. Perhaps there are several possible approaches to a project, and as an individual, a staffer may be
unsure of which to take. However, as a team, the members can each contribute pros and cons of
approaches to tasks and methods to accomplish key goals. This kind of collaboration both benefits the
project and gives team members an outlet to bounce around ideas.
Increased Efficiency
Another key advantage of group work in the office is that things get done faster. When a group attacks a
project or task, it can be done more quickly and with greater efficiency than if just one person attempted
to muddle through it. A group approach can lead to cost savings for the company, since groups accomplish
more, as well as an ability to meet individual and team goals more quickly, since more people are attacking
the task.
Accountability for Weak Areas
Working as a team not only helps to showcase people's various strengths, but can also allow for
compensation of weaker areas as well. Staffers can distribute the workload so that people are playing to
their strengths with their work and team up to tackle areas where they are weaker to allow for
improvement. This create a stronger and more skilled workforce, as people use the teamwork opportunity
to improve across the board.
Improved Office Relationships
When people work together as a team, they not only become more invested in the project, they become
more invested in one another as well. Team members support one another, even outside of the team
structure, and adapt to each other's working styles. The team relationship may result in teamwork
approaches even outside of the official teamwork structure, resulting in employees lending a hand on
other assignments and sharing ideas or brainstorms to propel one another along to reach personal and
professional goals.
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