If a student has the opportunity to work collaboratively with a group of other students of different skill levels, then each student will increase their knowledge of the subject being studied because they will be required to think critically in order to defend their position and bring all members of the group to a shared understanding of the issue.
Teachers must give their students a certain amount of freedom to learn on their own. They must understand that students need to take responsibility for their own learning. Teachers should supply the students with the tools they need to take on this task and then slowly decrease their presence in the learning process in order to allow room for the students to begin to think critically. The teacher should become more of a guide to keep the students on track, while still giving them the freedom to do their own thinking.
Marianne,
ReplyDeleteI like where you are at with this post. How about taking it somewhere concrete? Can you provide a couple of specific examples of how you might accomplish optimal group learning in your classroom?
Keep pressing!
GNA
I believe, as did Vygotsky, that there are certain students who know more about certain subjects than other students in the class. In order to accomplish optimal group learning in my classroom, I will be sure to mix the groups so that there are students of all different skill levels in each group. I also think it is important to put students together who might not choose to work together on their own. Students should work with as many different people as possible in order to learn the most. If they always work with the same students, who are their friends, they will not learn as much. They need to get out of their comfort zones and be challenged.
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