Restructuring the Classroom: Conditions for Productive Small Groups - Essay Example

The study aims to observe the advantages and risks involved in grouping and the ways to promote the interaction and authentic engagement levels. The study identified that teacher training is required to form the effective groups and in improving the student engagement levels. The study also observed that peer directed small groups can help in effective grouping techniques that eliminates the discrimination and improve positive learning outcomes. Introduction Most activities in science classes involve group work. When students work in groups, the experience is meant to be authentic and engaging, and should lead to meaningful learning. Teachers have often seen, however, group interactions that lead to student frustration. Often, poor group dynamics result in poor cooperation and communication. A lack of cooperation and communication will lead to passive compliance, rebellion or a refusal to participate. The purpose for choosing this topic is to research how to create positive group dynamics to improve student engagement. An overlying goal of this research is to develop a systematic approach to with-in class grouping, which promotes and fosters positive social interactions, increased student performance, and high levels of authentic student engagement. The Social Development Theory of learning suggested by Vygotsky will correspond to this review of research. Social Development Theory states that children learn through social interaction (Kearsley, 2008). These types of interactions are key to forming work groups that do, indeed, produce positive learning outcomes. Review of Literature As student behavior in grouping differs from individual learning , the study tries to find out the ways and means of group learning and their learning outcome by making a literature review on the aspects like- group learning, collaborative learning, student engagement levels, learning outcomes and how the grouping effects the learning outcome. Student Grouping Student grouping have different opinions put forward by the scholars. Though student grouping is usually observed to give more attention to the students during the learning process, a social attitude may develop during the same process that may hider the social development of the student in the long and short run. When some students are performing equally well with other students, a grouping of such students can help to revise the syllabus items for those students. However, there are different grouping styles observed in classes called, ability grouping, tracking etc., depending on the circumstance and need. Ability grouping also called instructional grouping, usually used for reading purposes in elementary schools. Whereas, tracking is usually observed in middle and higher classes to direct them to take particular courses basing on their performance levels in previous classes. Many teachers and scholars believe that grouping leads to 'discrimination and permanent labeling', hence do not observe grouping in teaching-learning process. One study conducted on Japanese teachers notified teacher's expressing that grouping hurts students emotionally, so they prefer having mixed-ability classrooms instead of grouping. Also some argue that grouping not only brings discrimination but also makes the children adopt the unwanted behaviors from other children in grouping, as grouping is a close social context. Though placing students into groups is an instructional technique to maximize the effectiveness of learning and classroom management, it should be done with careful planning and clear purpose. However, Cohen E.G., specifies some conditions that help the class room grouping to be productive and effective for the learning process. The paper observes the review of studies of interaction and while concentrating on the aspects like - interaction and achievement; task and interaction; the helpfulness of helping; interdependence and interaction; and reward interdependence. The author identified the aspects like- structuring the interaction, ensuring equity, and classroom influences as the factors that effect the interaction. Teacher training and follow up are recommended for the effective utilization of cooperative learning between student groups in school organization. Peer Interactions Peer interaction is possible in the schools during the different instances of the day like- breakfast time, group leaning time, practical demonstrations, sports and games, team games etc., According to, Bill Varie as cited in Deanna Pledge, Peer groups offer children and adults alike the opportunity to develop various social skills, such as leadership, sharing or teamwork, and empathy. Peer groups also offer the opportunity to experiment with new roles and interactions, and can have positive or negative influences on an individual. On the positive side, peer interaction and the cooperative learning goes side by side among the students in schools. Ann Robinson defines the cooperative learning as "a set of instructional strategies 'which employ small teams of pupils to promote peer interaction and cooperation for studying academic subjects.' As an evidence, the study of Gillies, R.M observed that the children in the structured groups were more willing to work with others on the assigned tasks and they provided more elaborate help and assistance to each other than their peers in the unstructured groups. Further Gillies observed a stronger perception of group cohesion and social responsibility among the children in the structured groups that was resulted from the higher opportunities of working together than the children in unstructured groups. While the study of Hogan Kathleen conducted on making environmental management decisions, for students revealed that grouping and peer interaction enabled the students to consider the themes that scientists consider to be important for making environmental management decisions. Authentic Student Engagement Student engagement is the involvement of the students in the student oriented tasks. Level of student engagement can be termed as the type or category of student response to tasks assigned to them. Schlechty, (2002) gives the classification of categories according to which the level of student engagement can be measured: They are - Authentic engagement, ritual engagement, passive compliance, retreatism, or rebellion. Authentic engagement can be said to exist when the student finds the tasks assigned to them as personally meaningful, challenging enough to pursue even in the difficulty, when it gives a great sense of achievement and accomplishment and when the activity needs his or her best effort. When the primary reason for the work is not the reason the student does the work, the engagement can be shifted to ritual engagement. In such Ritual engagement, extrinsic motivators like class ranks, goals, parental and college acceptance and approvals become the goals of student engagement. Student's engagement levels are oriented around the outcome instead of task itself. If the outcome or reward does not meet the student's expectations, student engagement will not be found in it. The other two engagement types called non-engagement and passive compliance occurs when the assigned work has no meaning to the student. The student tries to engage only to avoid or to minimize the negative consequences. The other type called - Rebellion occurs when the student is disengaged with the assigned activities, refuses to accomplish the task, disrupts others, or some times tries to substitute other tasks for the assigned tasks in the school. So the authentic student engagement can bring out the best out put for the school activities. The student can with authentic engagement can ask, "What and how do I pursue the task to accomplish it". The student will be engaged in the task, mentally, emotionally and physically. The student spends all of his/her energy to accomplish the task as the perception of relevance to his/her life is there in such engagement; With such kind of engagement motivation of other students is also possible by involving the authentically engaged student in the group. The study conducted by Jeremiah Newell on the student engagement in the community activities observed that the sincere interest and excitement of the students has motivated the adults to improve the quality of public education in Mobile. Also the student's engagement made the issue as community issue and drew much attention from the community. However, in order to increase the level of student engagement, Zorfass & Copel, (1995) expresses that the teachers should provide a variety of learning experiences and resources, including technology. The study conducted by Petty Paul, evaluated a program for increasing student engagement and retention through the use of authentic assessment and cooperative groups. The study made a review of solution and strategies and came out with two major categories of interventions. They are the use of cooperative groups within the classroom, and the application of authentic teaching and evaluation devices. The study also observed the implications of these interventions and the they proved their worth in improving the student involvement and ownership, and an increase in retention and transfer of learning. Positive Learning Outcomes Learning outcomes are what people have "learnt" as a result of an experience, programme or event. They can beVery specific or very broad according to the purpose of learning objectives. The teacher can aim for developing speech articulation in 10 months or can keep some thing like, developing student interaction levels etc., The learning outcomes are set by the teaching authorities like, teachers, organizations or by the learners themselves. Teachers use the learning outcomes to assess and describe the learning which has taken place. The learning outcomes can be Positive or negative. When the aimed objective is achieved through the learning process and aspects, then it can be said as positive learning outcome. If the outcome is not expected and is against to the aimed objective, then it is termed as negative learning outcome. Learning outcomes are derived from aims and are usually the precise statements of intention. While framing the learning outcomes they should be simple, measurable, achievable and if possible time bound. Such learning outcomes can have maximum possibility to become positive. Teachers usually adopt many teaching- learning procedures to bring the positive learning outcomes. One of the intervention advised for such positive outcome comes from the study conducted by Webb, N. M. The author suggests Collaborative peer learning environments can create increased attention in classrooms with the created potential for improving learning and achievement. The author also cautions that collaborative learning process does not work for all students automatically. So he goes on to further explore the nature and structure of peer groups that can help learning process and finds that peer-directed small groups are most effective for learning. These groups help much, especially for students who have difficulty with the material. Such peer -directed small group interaction builds the social context of learning. The study observed the positive learning outcome using the collaborative groups in a US middle school. The study found that the group facilitated two kinds of students- help seekers and help givers. The observed behavior with help seekers was they always seek help from others with short and precise questions. Where as the help givers give answers as solutions with lengthy explanation and try to encourage other s towards the mathematic solutions. The study also observed that forming such peer directed small groups limited the teacher activity and responsibility only up to creating the conditions that bring about effective helping behavior. Conclusions They study observed that student grouping though quite vulnerable to debate for discriminatory issues, has many more advantages if organized in a structured way. The study observed that interaction and achievement; task and interaction; the helpfulness of helping; interdependence and interaction; and reward interdependence are the aspects that are involved in effective grouping. The teacher should be trained enough to promote positive learning outcomes by introducing new technology and methods. Student authentic engagement is the one aspect that can be used to gain the student motivation through interaction in grouping. The more engaged a student is in group the more he can engage others in group activity. However, collaborative learning and grouping should be done carefully otherwise, the effort of grouping may raise unwanted behavior in students. Peer directed small groups are found more effective in achieving the positive learning outcomes limiting the responsibility of the teacher as a facilitator to create the interactive condition among the student groups. References Cohen, E. G. (1994). Restructuring the classroom: Conditions for productive small groups. Review of Educational Research, 64(1), 1-35. Gillies, R. M. (2004). The effects of cooperative learning on junior high school students during small group learning. Learning and Instruction, 14(2), 197-213. Hogan, K. (2002). Small groups' ecological reasoning while making an environmental management decision. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 36(4), 341-368. McFadden, M., & Munns, G. (1999). Student engagement and the relations of pedagogy. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 23(3), 357-366. Michaelsen, L. K., Fink, L. D., & Knight, A. (1997). Designing effective group activities: Lessons for classroom teaching and faculty development. To Improve the Academy: Resources for Faculty, Instructional and Organizational Development, 1997, 1-17. Poole, D. (2008). Interactional differentiation in the mixed-ability group: A situated view of two struggling readers. Reading Research Quarterly, 43(3), 228-250. Richmond, G., & Striley, J. (1996). Making leaning in classrooms: Social processes in small-group. Journal of research in science teaching, 33(8), 839-858. Smith, K. A., Sheppard, S. D., Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (2005). Pedagogies of engagement: Classroom-based practices. Journal of Engineering Education, 1-15. Retrieved October 16, 2008 from http://ce.umn.edu Webb, N. M., & Mastergeorge, A. (2003). Promoting effective helping behavior in peer-directed groups. International Journal of Educational Research, 39(1-2), 73-97. Wilkinson, I. A., & Fung, I. Y. (2002). Small-group composition and peer effects. International Journal of Educational Research, 37(5), 425-447. Read More