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Groups and teams

Colloquially, groups and teams are often used synonymously. However, in the context of the classroom, we make some important distinctions between a group and a team. We use the word group to talk about cooperative learning and team for collaborative learning. Which of these will be right for your class will depend on your learning outcomes, your teaching philosophy and the structure of your course. 

Working in a team or group has many benefits for students. It provides opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and creates community. It mirrors the real world. It can be a dynamic way to engage and get to know your students. 

Cooperative vs collaborative learning

Cooperative learning requires students to process ideas or practice skills together. This type of group learning is generally short term and focused on a single task or question. These groups are often temporary or ad hoc. You may put students in groups for a single activity or for a class session. 

Collaborative learning requires students to work together to produce a shared product. You may se teams for a collaborative project lasting a whole semester or longer. The teams formed for collaborative learning support each other's learning longer term. This means they need dedicated team building efforts. You may also want to include opportunities for peer feedback on their teamwork.  

Strategies for the classroom

There are many ways to use groups and teams within your teaching. These range from in class, short-term activities to year-long initiatives. We summarize a few of them here. 

Think-Pair-Share 

This activity gives everyone a chance to form their own ideas before any discussion. The use of pairs and small groups also ensures everyone has a chance to talk. 

  1. Give your students the question or problem and time to think about it on their own. 
  2. Put your students in pairs and give them time to discuss their answers. If you have an odd number of students, groups of three can work here too. 
  3. Give each group an opportunity to share their answer with the class. 

Say Something 

This activity helps students process complex topics and practice conversation building skills. 

  1. Invite your students to form a circle so they can all see each other 
  2. Each student must briefly summarize the conversation or comment that came before them. Then they need to say something new. They may add to the current idea, play devil's advocate, or bridge to a related idea.  

Summarizing reinforces the idea that no one's comments stand alone. The discussion is not a series of statements to their instructor. Each contribution is part of a large conversation between peers. Students will have to think broadly about the topic because they aren't able to repeat ideas. 

You will need to be ready to interject and point out repeated ideas. You may also need to help students build the conversation. You can model how to summarize, build on the conversation and ask questions. 

Jigsaw

This activity can be a great way to cover a large amount of material in a more concentrated timeline. In the jigsaw activity, each student is only responsible for one section of a topic. 

  1. Divide your students into groups 
  2. Give students the overarching topic and suggest ways they can split it among their group. For a more structured version, you can assign specific sub-topics. Alternately, you can let the group to decide how to divide the research based on their interests. 
  3. Each group member will do research on their piece of the topic. They will prepare something to share back with thier group. 
  4. The group reconvenes and each member shares what they have learned. After this sharing out, the group should have a solid understanding of the whole topic.  

Before the groups reconvene, you can have the 'experts' on each subtopic meet with each other. This allows them to check in with peers doing the same work before sharing with their group. This will only be possible if you have assigned the divisions of topics for the activity. 

Team Based Learning (TBL)

Team-Based Learning (TBL) is a highly structured, comprehensive instructional method. If you are using TBL it will be core to the design of an entire course. TBL promotes student autonomy and responsibility for acquiring and using information. 

Some critical components of TBL are:

  1. Teams are permanent. The consistency of the team creates the conditions for students to perform at their best. It also allows students to give each other meaningful feedback on their teamwork at the end of the term. 
  2. A process to ensure individual student readiness for group work;
  3. Assignments that require students to work collectively on rigorous application of course content.
  4. Peer evaluation. 

If you want to learn more please connect with CIEL at learnsupport@viu.ca. We love to hear what you are doing with your students, what is working well for you and where you we can support you. 

Additional resources

There are many ways to engage students in your classroom. Having them work collaboratively and/or cooperatively can be very stimulating and fun. Along with the techniques presented here, many others exist. Please visit these resources for inspiration and techniques.