Practitioner Enquiry

Jane Catherall
Maths tutor (Subject leader – Decision Maths)
"An investigation into group work –  does the way in which I allocate students to small groups for group work affect their learning, achievement and motivation."
 
 Background:
·         Previously I have always allocated students to groups in a random or systematic way. I wanted to know whether a better thought out way of putting students in groups would help their learning.
·         In particular, there has been a lot of research into learning styles, so how would allocating students into groups based in their learning styles affect learning?
 
Key Actions:
·         Arrange my class of students into groups of 4 according to: Multiple Intelligence; Maths ability; general ability; personality; friendship; random
·         Carry out lessons where the students work in groups and assess which grouping seem to have the biggest positive impact on learning.
 
Key Findings:
·         Grouping students according to their learning style seemed to be more effective than grouping students in a random way.
·         Students enjoyed the lessons where they worked in groups
·         Students appreciated the fact that I had thought out groups in advance rather than just randomly allocating them
·         Planning a group work lesson where students work in their multiple intelligence groups takes more thinking about than any other lesson!
Click hear to download full report

 

 

  

To find out about this project please contact:

 

jcatherall@farnboroughsfc.ac.uk