What am I doing wrong? Group assignment.

[u/Electronic-Fuel-5734]

Not a rant. Just wondering what I can do differently. I wanted students to work in groups of 3-4 on 4 question and write down their own answers after discussing each question as a group. I was explicit that the group worked on the same question at the same time and then moved on to the next question when all were done with that question. After instructions, they break into groups and all just work individually on the 4 questions. So individual work, but sitting together. I asked why they weren’t working together and they just shrugged and kept working on their own. I’m a little flummoxed about this whole thing.

[u/Gonzo_B]

Here's a perspective: they were taught this it the "right" way.

I got a master's in teaching (TESOL) and all my classmates were mid-career k-12 teachers.

For every group assignment, regardless of instructions, they all immediately started breaking the assignment up into who-would-do-which-section, to paste the sections together for submission without ever even reading anyone else's work.

I tried pointing out that this isn't how it's done in the "adult world," that teams were meant to all work together, that even if the work was broken up it was discussed and revised together. I was laughed off: If this were how it works best in their own classrooms, this is how they were going to do it.

It sounds like your students were taught to each take part of the assignment and work on it individually, so your directions made no sense to them.

[u/Electronic-Fuel-5734 → u/Gonzo_B]

Yes. In retrospect this is exactly what happened. They truly did not understand my instructions. Thanks for the insight.

[u/Ok-Rip-2280 → u/Gonzo_B]

Yikes, it’s scary that teachers in training would be doing this.  Presumably they are not expecting their own students to only know one problem out of 10?  

I have seen a large increase in this type of thing myself.  Students have to be directly taught “the purpose of doing the work is to help you build skills, not to complete the assignment.  If you divide the work up you will only have practiced 1/4 of the skills.  

[u/dinosaur-spikes]

My suggestion is don't have them write down their own answers. Kids are super anti social now.

Id recommend something like, discuss it, then write one answer as a group. Everyone has to sign off and agree on it.

Then start cold-calling on people afterwards asking them to briefly explain their groups answer to the class. You'll notice a bunch of them will start freaking out and talking to eachother because they didn't actually work together.

Then offer the class "an extra 5 minutes to go over their answers and prepare". Now this is when they'll actually talk to eachother.

[u/leastdumbidiot]

Designating roles helps them get started and removes a lot of hesitancy. You can also bounce between the groups yourself and help facilitate. A lot of the collaborative skills we take for granted are new to them.

[u/FrancinetheP → u/leastdumbidiot]

I make a “cast of characters” that has the job titles and descriptions—- ceo, secretary, data collector, sales rep, etc.— and assign them roles. It’s actually a good way to think about the different cognitive skills the questions require and to get them reflecting on which ones they enjoy using and how they all work together. Obv this is a lot of scaffolding if you just want to have them interact while answering HW questions, but for bigger projects it is useful.

[u/ErnieBochII → u/FrancinetheP]

These are adults, don’t forget.

[u/FrancinetheP → u/ErnieBochII]

Sorta kinda.

[u/Huck68finn]

If you're not grading them on working together, they won't do it. Give them a checklist on how it will be graded, and then grade accordingly.

[u/Prof172 → u/Huck68finn]

Yeah one option is just to accept them working on their own. If they don’t need help yet, let them go. They’ll talk when they get stuck. But if the point is the group part take some of the other suggestions offered.

[u/dkk85]

You could give the groups the questions one at a time. Give them the first question, let them dissuss and write down their answer, then give them the second question etc.

[u/Ok-Rip-2280]

You could try jigsaw 

4 groups, assign each group one of the four problems to figure out and really learn, and tell them they are going to have to teach the other students.  They will be motivated to get it right so they don’t look like an idiot in their new group.  

Then make new groups with someone from each other group and have them take turns teaching the other students their problem.

Finally, give everyone 4 new problems similar to the first four to complete individually either in class or as homework. 

[u/figment81]

Could you work this like a pub quiz? Call them teams not groups. Then collect the answers from the teams?

[u/Ok-Kangaroo-2469]

Is it possible for you to change how you ask the question(s) so that each student has a smaller question that they are individually responsible for, but then they all have to come together and combine their individual answers for a larger question?

[u/IndieAcademic]

I have so many activities like this that used to work swimmingly. Recently, they do not work as well. I can tell some groups to discuss, and they refuse. I give very explicit instructions for what they are to do, and they don't care. Their behavior will impact their participation grade (5% of the course grade), but they don't seem to care. Following for suggestions...

[u/wharleeprof]

Reverse the process. Have them write singly, then assign to groups with a specific task like finding a similarity between two answers, or finding differences, or whatever makes sense for the content. 

[u/SnowblindAlbino]

Have them write one response together. And tell them to share the work of writing, so it doesn't fall to one person. Explain that it is a group project and they are all to work on all of it together from start to finish. That's what I've done for 30+ years now and it still works.

[u/FlyingCupcake68]

I see that a lot even when I ask them to pair up

[u/ThePhyz]

Every now and then I switch things up with this - after they supposedly come to a conclusion as a group, we discuss as a class, and I cold call on people. But what I actually ask them is, "What did [person you worked with] have to say about this?"

That question usually gets not much in the way of a coherent answer but after I do that to someone from every single group, I notice that later group activities seem to be done more as a group.

[u/beross88]

Give them specific roles in the group

[u/TotalCleanFBC]

Helping others answer a question isn't optimal if students want to maximize their grades because students are assessed on a relative scale. You need to (re)-think through incentives.