How do we work productively in groups? 

Overview 

Groupwork is an instructional strategy that has the capacity to promote more equitable classrooms, provide opportunities for student interactions, and increase science discussion with the goal of improving student learning. However, groupwork can be challenging to implement. Student participation and the quality of the conversations and products can vary widely. Often the dynamics within a group and how students perceive each other become barriers to productive, equitable, and rigorous groupwork.

Groupwork takes significant time to learn to do well, for both students and teachers. That said, we recommend spending at most 2 weeks working in this unit before moving to Unit 6.1. Two weeks is enough time to introduce the structures of groupwork to students who have not used groupwork before, specifically the Groupwork Norms and Groupwork Roles that define student behavior. The activities in the unit are designed to take 6 instructional days, but there are optional extensions that can be used to reinforce ideas and routines that students struggle with, either at the beginning of or later in the year. In addition, you can continue to reinforce the use of Groupwork Norms and Groupwork Roles throughout the content lessons.

Make instructional decisions about the lessons in this unit based on the needs of your students and keeping within this 2-week time frame. For example, if your students have never worked in structured groups before, they may need 6–8 days to begin establishing these routines. If, on the other hand, students have been using groupwork in Science and Math class for a couple of years, they may just need a reminder before moving into content work. No matter what instructional decisions you make, remember to highlight the two main components of groupwork being introduced in this unit: Groupwork Norms and Groupwork Roles. Following are the focuses of each lesson:

Groupwork Norms

• Pay attention to what other group members need.
• No one is done until everyone is done.
• Play your role in the group.
• Explain by telling how/why.
• Listen and pay attention to what others are saying.
• Help others do things for themselves.
• Be concise.
• Rephrase and add on to others’ ideas.
• Everyone in the group participates.

Role-Playing Descriptions

Facilitator

Recorder/Reporter

The Facilitator is responsible for making sure that the group understands the task and that the work runs smoothly.

• Makes sure everyone understands the instructions.

• Makes sure all group members participate.
• Helps people ask for and get help when needed.
• Keeps the group on task.
• Sees that all Groupwork Roles are being performed.
• Encourages group discussion.
• Helps the group identify different parts of
  the task.
• Helps the group assign time limits to the task.
• Keeps the group aware of how much time is left.
• Encourages all group members to make good use of the time.

The Recorder/Reporter is responsible for making sure that group and individual written work is done and for reporting out to the teacher or class as needed.

• Makes sure the group product is completed and represents the group’s best effort.
• Organizes the group’s report for the class.
• Summarizes the activity to introduce the report to the class.
• Reports to the teacher and/or class on how the group worked together.
• Makes sure that all parts of the project are correctly labeled and turned in on time.
• Makes sure that everyone has notes or diagrams from the discussion/research.
• Records all the group’s thoughts and ideas.
• Makes sure everyone completes
  individual reports.

Resource Manager

Team Captain

The Resource Manager is responsible for accessing all types of resources, such as lab materials, research materials, and the teacher through group questions.

• Makes sure that all supplies and materials
  needed for the task are available.

• Makes sure that materials are used properly
  and safely.

• Supervises the cleanup and returns all materials.

• Sees that the group’s work space is clean and orderly.

• Looks up additional information for the group.

• Shares all additional information with everyone.

• Puts away all additional resource materials used by the group.

• Asks the teacher for help if necessary.

The Team Captain is responsible for making sure that the group works and learns well together.

• Makes sure all group members are talking to one another.

• Makes sure there are no put-downs.

• Encourages positive responses.

• Recognizes effort and contributions by individuals.

• Makes the group aware of individual contributions.

• Helps the group come to agreement.

• Helps the group form a consensus.