1. Powerful Group Activities that Work! 1 Christine Harrington Ph.D. Middlesex County College charrington@middlesexcc.edu University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire January 8, 2015

2. Agenda 2 Research on Active Learning and Group Work Discuss and Engage in a Variety of Group Activities Making Research Based Changes in your Classroom

3. Turn and Talk: Why is Group Work Important? 3

4. Employers want…. 4  Teamwork skills  Communication skills Koc (2011); Costigan & Donahue (2009)

5. Group Work Work s! Springer, Stanne & Donovan (1999) 5 Increases in…  Achievement  Persistence  Attitudes Meta-analysis of 37 studies!

6. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory 6 Cognitive Language Social www.eca.usp.br

7. Not all group work is equal… Unstructured Group Work Cooperative Group Work 7  Talk to others about a topic  May get off topic  Monopolizers/Social loafers  Minimal investment  Structured  Clear purpose  Everyone is involved and accountable

8. Brainstorming- The Power of Groups? 8

9. 9 Brainstorm Work together to create a list Nominal Work independently until I tell you, then share answers to create a list Better Quality and Quantity (Mullen, Johnson, & Salas, 1991)

10. Problems with Brainstorming 10  Production Blocking  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

11. Brainwriting (Paulus & Yang, 2000; Heslin, 2009) 11

12. Clark, Kirschner & Sweller (2012) Direct Instruction is BEST for Novice Learners 12

13. Brief Opportunities for Active Learning: How Often? Prince (2004) 13

14. Jigsaw Classroom (Aronson et al., 1978) 14 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

15. Your Task: 15 Decide on “experts”: 1. Self-selection vs. assigned groups 2. Strategies to equalize workload 3. 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!

16. In Expert Groups, Answer: 16 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?

17. Jigsaw Classroom (Walker & Crogan, 1998) 17  Improved academic performance  Better attitude toward peers  Reduced prejudice

18. Self-Selection Vs. Assigned Groups 18

19. Assign Groups 19 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)

20. Optimizing Creativity (Paulus, 2000) Cognitive diversity leads to more ideas 20

21. Change Groups After a Few Sessions 21  Changing groups led to better results than groups who stayed together for more than half a semester (Tomcho & Foels, 2012)

22. Strategies to Equalize Workload 22

23. Group Training, Rules and Roles 23

24. The 5R Approach to Group Work (Harrington, 2016) 24 Establish R apportDevelop R ulesDetermine R olesGet R eady to Work and Support One Another R emember to Evaluate

25. Group Roles 25  Group Leader  Note-Taker  Visual Aid Leader  Finishing Touch Specialist  Questioner  Rehearsal Director Harrington (2016)

26. Training students on group process works! 26 Peterson (2012)

27. Team Skills Training- Prichard, Stratford, & Bizo (2006) 27 Groups in Experiment Trained Together Trained Re-assigned Untrained Individual And Group Learning Outcomes n=108 Two 45 minute training sessions

28. Results… 28 Not significantly different*Significantly different p <.05

29. Group Work – Research Based Tips 29 (Sarfo and Ellen, 2011) 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

30. Inter-teaching Boyce & Hineline (2002) 30 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

31. Inter-teaching 31

32. Save the Last Word for Me Inter-teaching 32 1. Skim Saville, Lambert & Robertson (2011) article 2. Identify one quote or statement that you find interesting- write this on your index card. 3. On the back: Why did you choose this quote? 4. Group Share 1. Share Quote only 2. Other members react to the quote 3. Initial member shares thoughts and reflects on group contributions 4. Repeat until everyone has shared their quote (Vaughan & Estes,1986; Short, Harste, & Burke,1996)

33. Structured Problem Solving Approach 33  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)

34. Individual Accountability to Group 34 (Sarfo and Ellen, 2011)

35. Grading Issues 35

36. Grading Issues 36  High achieving students often receive lower grades  Low achieving students often receive higher grades on group work (Almond, 2009)

37. Grading Group Work: The Student Perspective 37 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

38. What about Introverts? 38 Although extraverts like group work more than introverts, they performed equally well on assessments

39. Grading Self and Others 39  Students tend to give high grades to self and peers (Breneiser, Monetti, & Adams, (2012)

40. Group Accountability Log 40

41. Individual vs. Group Grade 41 http://decker.com/blog/tag/pros-and-cons/

42. Grading Considerations (King & Behnke 2005) 42  Not everything needs to be graded  Avoid “Firing” members  Group grades can have negative interpersonal impact

43. Applying What You’ve Learned 43 What “take-away” did you get from this workshop? What might you do differently as a result of participating today?

44. Brainwriting 44 1. Write down one “take-away” from this workshop on the index card. 2. Pass the card to your right. 3. 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. 4. Continue passing the card to your right and writing additional “take-aways” until we tell you to stop. 5. Discuss the “take-aways” with your group.

45. Thank You and Best Wishes with Group Work in your Classroom! Questions? Contact me at charrington@middlesexcc.edu 45

46. References 46  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

47. References 47  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, 31- 42. 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 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.

48. References 48  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), 159- 169. 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.