Powerful Group Activities
that Work!
Christine Harrington Ph.D.
Middlesex County College
charrington@middlesexcc.edu
University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire
January 8, 2015
1
Agenda
Research on Active
Learning and Group Work
Discuss and Engage in a
Variety of Group Activities
Making Research Based
Changes in your Classroom
2
Turn and Talk:
Why is Group Work Important?
3
Employers want….

Teamwork skills

Communication skills
Koc (2011); Costigan & Donahue (2009)
4
Group Work Works!
Springer, Stanne & Donovan (1999)
Increases in…

Achievement

Persistence

Attitudes
Meta-analysis of 37 studies!
5
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
Social
www.eca.usp.br
Language
Cognitive
6
Not all group work is equal…
Unstructured Group Work
Talk to others about a
topic




7
May get off topic
Monopolizers/Social loafers
Minimal investment
Cooperative Group Work



Structured
Clear purpose
Everyone is involved and
accountable
BrainstormingThe Power of Groups?
8
BrainstormingThe Power of Groups?
Brainstorm
Work together to
create a list
Nominal
Work independently
until I tell you, then
share answers to
create a list
(Mullen, Johnson, & Salas, 1991)
9
Problems with Brainstorming

Production Blocking


10
My idea is not “good enough”
Forget idea by time other
member is finished

Group Think- support
others and avoid conflict

Social Loafing- view
contribution as not
important or needed
Brainwriting
(Paulus & Yang, 2000; Heslin, 2009)
11
Direct
Instruction
is BEST
for Novice
Learners
12
Clark, Kirschner & Sweller (2012)
Brief Opportunities for Active Learning:
How Often?
13
Prince (2004)
Jigsaw Classroom
(Aronson et al., 1978)
HOME BASE GROUP:
3-5 students
EXPERT GROUP:
Work together to learn the topic and be ready
to teach your home base group members
HOME BASE GROUP:
Teach each other
14
Your Task:
Decide on “experts”:
1.
2.
3.
15
Self-selection vs.
assigned groups
Strategies to
equalize workload
Grading group work
In “expert” groups:
 Discuss the topic
 Determine 2-3 most
important points
 Be prepared to “teach”
your home base group
members- they are
depending on you!
In Expert Groups, Answer:
SELF-SELECTION vs. ASSIGNED GROUPS
Should you allow students to choose groups or should you
assign students to groups? Why?
EQUALIZING WORKLOAD
How can you reduce social loafing and increase the
likelihood that all students are contributing?
GRADING
Should you give individual, group, or combination grades?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each
approach?
16
Jigsaw Classroom
(Walker & Crogan, 1998)



17
Improved academic
performance
Better attitude toward
peers
Reduced prejudice
Self-Selection Vs. Assigned
Groups
18
Assign Groups
Assign Groups to avoid homogeneous
groups and to increase individual and
group outcomes
(Hinds, Carley, Krackhardt, & Wholey, 2000; McClelland, 2012)
Self-selection has NEGATIVE
impact on minority and low ability
students (Shimazoe & Aldrich, 2010)
19
Optimizing Creativity
(Paulus, 2000)
Cognitive diversity leads to more ideas
20
Change Groups After a Few Sessions

Changing groups led to better results than groups who
stayed together for more than half a semester
(Tomcho & Foels, 2012)
21
Strategies to Equalize Workload
22
Group Training, Rules and Roles
23
The 5R Approach to Group Work
Establish
Rapport
Develop
Rules
Determine
Get
Roles
Ready to Work and Support One Another
Remember to Evaluate
24
(Harrington, 2016)
Group Roles

Group Leader

Note-Taker

Visual Aid Leader

Finishing Touch Specialist

Questioner

Rehearsal Director
Harrington (2016)
25
Training students on group process works!
26
Peterson (2012)
Team Skills TrainingPrichard, Stratford, & Bizo (2006)
Groups in
Experiment
Trained
Together
Trained
Re-assigned
Two 45 minute training sessions
27
Untrained
Individual
And
Group
Learning
Outcomes
n=108
Results…
Individual Score
Group Score
70
60
50
40
30
20
Group
Score
10
0
Not significantly different
28
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Individual
Score
*Significantly different p <.05
Group Work – Research Based Tips
Working individually on entire
project BEFORE working
together resulted in better
academic performance
Knowing full CONTENT first
(vs. part of the content) led to
better performance
(Sarfo and Ellen, 2011)
29
Inter-teaching
Boyce & Hineline (2002)
Prep Reading Guide to be completed before class
• 10-12 questions
• 10-15 pages
Clarifying Lecture
• Based on prior record sheets
Pair with another student to review Reading
Guide
• Professor answers questions
• Record sheet on discussion, identifying difficult concepts
30
Inter-teaching
Class Time
Clarifying Lecture
Work in Pairs on Guided
Reading Sheet
31
Save the Last Word for Me
Inter-teaching
Skim Saville, Lambert & Robertson (2011) article
Identify one quote or statement that you find
interesting- write this on your index card.
On the back: Why did you choose this quote?
Group Share
1.
2.
3.
4.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Share Quote only
Other members react to the quote
Initial member shares thoughts and reflects on group
contributions
Repeat until everyone has shared their quote
(Vaughan & Estes,1986; Short, Harste, & Burke,1996)
32
Structured Problem Solving Approach


Group members are
informed that someone will
be randomly chosen to
report out on their work
No one knows who is
presenting what until the
day of the presentation
(Millis 2002)
33
Individual Accountability
to Group
11.5
11
10.5
Told
Not Told
10
9.5
9
8.5
Performance
34
(Sarfo and Ellen, 2011)
Grading Issues
35
Grading Issues

High achieving students
often receive lower grades

Low achieving students
often receive higher grades
on group work
(Almond, 2009)
36
Grading Group Work:
The Student Perspective
Barfield (2003)
Inexperienced group members
more likely to believe everyone should
get the same grade
Part time workers more likely to
believe grading is fair as compared
to full time workers
Older students were most
dissatisfied with group grades
37
What about Introverts?
64
Although extraverts
like group work more
than introverts, they
performed equally
well on assessments
62
60
58
56
54
52
38
Extroverts
Introverts
Grading Self and Others
 Students
tend to
give high grades to
self and peers
(Breneiser, Monetti, & Adams, (2012)
39
Group Accountability Log
40
Individual vs. Group Grade
http://decker.com/blog/tag/pros-and-cons/
41
Grading Considerations
42
(King & Behnke 2005)

Not everything needs to
be graded

Avoid “Firing” members

Group grades can have
negative interpersonal
impact
Applying What You’ve Learned
What “take-away” did you get from
this workshop? What might you
do differently as a result of
participating today?
43
Brainwriting
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
44
Write down one “take-away” from this workshop on
the index card.
Pass the card to your right.
Read the card. Add another “take-away”. It can’t be an
idea written on the card or one you have already
written on a card.
Continue passing the card to your right and writing
additional “take-aways” until we tell you to stop.
Discuss the “take-aways” with your group.
Questions? Contact me at charrington@middlesexcc.edu
Thank You and Best Wishes with
Group Work in your Classroom!
45
References

Almond, R. J. (2009). Group assessment: Comparing group and individual undergraduate module marks. Assessment & Evaluation In Higher Education,
34(2), 141-148. doi:10.1080/02602930801956083

Aronson, E., Blaney, N., Stephan, C., Sikes, J. and Snapp, M. (1978) The Jigsaw Classroom, Sage, Beverley Hills, CA.

Barfield, R. L. (2003). Students' perceptions of and satisfaction with group grades and the group experience in the college classroom. Assessment &
Evaluation In Higher Education, 28(4), 355-369. doi:10.1080/0260293032000066191

Boyce, T. E., & Hineline, P. N. (2002). Interteaching: A strategy for enhancing the user-friendliness of behavioral arrangements in the college
classroom. The Behavior Analyst, 25(2), 215-225.

Breneiser, J. E., Monetti, D. M., & Adams, K. S. (2012). The Nexus between the Above-Average Effect and Cooperative Learning in the
Classroom. Educational Research Quarterly, 36(2), 42-61.

Clark, R. E., Kircshner, P. A., & Sweller, J. (2012). Putting students on the path to learning: The case for fully guided instruction. American
Educator. 6-11.

Costigan, R. D., & Donahue, L. (2009). Developing the Great Eight Competencies with Leaderless Group Discussion. Journal Of Management
Education, 33(5), 596-616.

Heslin, P. A. (2009). Better than brainstorming? Potential contextual boundary conditions to brainwriting for idea generation in organizations.
Journal Of Occupational And Organizational Psychology, 82(1), 129-145. doi:10.1348/096317908X285642

Hinds, P. J., Carley, K. M., Krackhardt, D., & Wholey, D. (2000). Choosing work group members: Balancing similarity, competence, and familiarity.
Organizational Behavior And Human Decision Processes, 81(2), 226-251. doi:10.1006/obhd.1999.2875
46
References

Hoffman, J. R., & Rogelberg, S. G. (2001). All together now? College students' preferred project group grading procedures. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, And Practice,
5(1), 33-40. doi:10.1037/1089-2699.5.1.33

King, Paul E., and Ralph R. Behnke. (2005)). Problems associated with evaluating student performance in groups. College Teaching 53.2, 57-61. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier.

Kirschner, F.; Paas, F.; Kirschner, P. A (2009). A cognitive load approach to collaborative learning: United brains for complex tasks. Educational Psychology Review, 21, 3142. doi:10.1007/s10648-008-9095-2

Koc, E. W. (2011). Getting Noticed, Getting Hired: Candidate Attributes That Recruiters Seek. NACE Journal, 72(2), 14-19.

McClelland, G. P. (2012): The influence of randomly allocated group membership when developing student task work and team work capabilities, Journal of Further and
Higher Education, 36:3, 351-369.

Millis, B. J. (2002). Enhancing learning-and more! Through cooperative learning. IDEA Paper #38. Retrieved from:
http://www.theideacenter.org/sites/default/files/IDEA_Paper_38.pdf

Mullen, B., Johnson, C., & Salas, E. (1991). Productivity loss in brainstorming groups: A meta-analytic integration. Basic And Applied Social Psychology, 12(1), 3-23.
doi:10.1207/s15324834basp1201_1

Paulus, P. B. (2000). Groups, teams, and creativity: The creative potential of idea-generating groups. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 49(2), 237-262.
doi:10.1111/1464-0597.00013

Paulus, P. B., & Yang, H. (2000). Idea generation in groups: A basis for creativity in organizations. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 82 (1), 76-87. doi:
10.1006/obhd.2000.2888

Peterson, C. (2012). Building the Emotional Intelligence and Effective Functioning of Student Work Groups: Evaluation of an Instructional Program. College Teaching, 60(3), 112-121. doi:10.1080/87567555.2011.645258

Prichard, J. S., Stratford, R. J., & Bizo, L. A. (2006). Team-skills training enhances collaborative learning. Learning And Instruction, 16(3), 256-265.
doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2006.03.005

Sarfo, F., & Elen, J. (2011). Investigating the impact of positive resource interdependence and individual accountability on students' academic performance in cooperative
learning. Electronic Journal of Research In Educational Psychology, 9(1), 73-93.
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References

Saville, B. K., Lambert, T., & Robertson, S. (2011). Interteaching: Bringing Behavioral Education into the 21st Century. Psychological Record, 61(1), 153-165.

Saville, B. E. (2011). Interteaching. New Directions For Teaching & Learning, 2011(128), 53-61.

Saville, B. K., & Zinn, T. E. (2011). Interteaching. New Directions For Teaching & Learning, 2011(128), 53-61. doi:10.1002/tl.468

Shimazoe, J., & Aldrich, H. (2010). Group Work Can Be Gratifying: Understanding & Overcoming Resistance to Cooperative Learning. College Teaching, 58(2),
52-57.

Short, K. G., Harste, J., & Burke, C. (1996). Creating classrooms for authors and inquirers (2nd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Springer, L., Stanne, M., & Donovan, S. S. (1999). Effects of small-group learning on undergraduates in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology: A
meta-analysis. Review Of Educational Research, 69(1), 21-51.

Tomcho, T. J., & Foels, R. (2012). Meta-analysis of group learning activities: Empirically based teaching recommendations. Teaching Of Psychology, 39(3), 159169. doi:10.1177/0098628312450414

Toomela, A. (2007). Sometimes one is more than two: When collaboration inhibits knowledge construction. Integrative Physiological & Behavioral Science,
41(2), 198-207. doi:10.1007/s12124-007-9015-x

Vaughan, J., & Estes, T. (1986). Reading and reasoning beyond the primary grades. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Walker, A. (2007). Group work in higher education: Are introverted students disadvantaged?. Psychology Learning & Teaching, 6(1), 20-25.
doi:10.2304/plat.2007.6.1.20

Walker, I., & Crogan, M. (1998). Academic performance, prejudice, and the jigsaw classroom: new pieces to the puzzle. Journal Of Community & Applied Social
Psychology, 8(6), 381-393.
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