Students Reflect on Group Work

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Konrad Glogowski[Edit][Delete]: Students Reflect on Group Work, Blog of Proximal Development [Edit][Delete] November 23, 2006
His comments on group work, he says, "follow him around." I'm not surprised. Questioning group work is like questioning the Pope. Glogowski reports on some parent and student reactions to group work, including a memo from the principal to all staff pointing out "some students feel that they are 'left out,' 'stuck with,' or 'looked past' during group work. Many of these kids have other social stresses to deal with. Can we all please make every effort to alleviate this stress during class time?" People continue to say group work sometimes benefits students. I don't deny that. But I will argue that its use cannot be justified unless it can be known that it does not produce harm. But there is, sadly, no "do no harm" principle in education. More...