Throughout the years teachers have been providing students with the ability to participate in group work for various reasons. Due to this, select students feel that this privilege enhances their learning capabilities while others feel that group work is a gateway to failure. It is only logical to assume that certain students are going to enjoy partaking in group work more than others. Sophomore Brittney Deaton gave her opinion on working better in groups by saying, “No and yes. No because I like to be by myself and do my own thing, but yes because working in groups can be fun and it’s less stress having to do a project all on your own.” Freshman John Mills gave a similar view while stating, “Some times, it depends on my group.” Freshman Emma Daniels said she did not work better in groups because she “has trouble trusting others to do their portion of the work.”
A variety of students feel that they not only work better in groups, but think it is easier to complete an assignment in groups. Junior Erica Rodriguez said, “Yes because we have many people to split the assignment.” Opposing, Sophomore Jessica Drury said, “I don’t think it is easier to work in groups. For one I feel rushed with my work, most teachers assuming that since the work has been divided that the project will take less time. I also feel that the information is too divided between the members to be properly retained and understood by each of the students as you only need to know part of it to complete your section of the project.”
Several yearbook students spend class time working in groups to complete their assignments. Photo by: Chandy Schuler
Select students such as Junior Wilmer Hernandez, think that students like working in groups better than completing work by themselves. Hernandez said, “I think students prefer to work in groups because they have more help and more ideas.” Accordingly, Senior Kristen McNeal said students might like working in groups better so they can “get the right answer and help if they don’t completely understand.” Based upon McNeal’s and Hernandez’s opinion, it can be concluded that select students feel their peers might enjoy partaking in group work to receive help or support they otherwise would not have been given.
Contrary to these students, Drury said, “For most I believe it is because there is less work to do for them and there are other people that can do your work and raise your grade. Some however I think stay more concentrated when working in a group with the knowledge that there are other people dependent on them.” Homogeneously, Daniels said, “I think they like to work in groups because they can get by with little to no work done.”
A variety of those partaking in group work feel there are downsides, however. Freshman Bryana Thomas said one downside to working in groups is, “You most [of the] time get to choose your group and its basically a clique thing if you choose.” Senior Hope Fish also said, “My downside is that sometimes the other people don’t pitch in and help out like they should.” Similar to Fish’s opinion, Senior Stephanie Anderson said, “One person always gets stuck on doing the work.”
Students have recently given their opinions to whether or not group work increases students’ desire to work harder than working individually. Deaton said, “No, it gives them more chances to slack off, some people just want to get it done so they don’t care what the others do, so they’ll do all the work and still let the other person claim credit.” Resembling her opinion, Drury said, “I don’t believe it does because the students that need the motivation to work on the project in the first place are paired with those that already have motivation to do it, and from what I have observed are often less engaged in the project as they no longer need to be with others there to do work for them.” However, select students feel that group work does encourage students to work harder. Senior Jordan Kelly said, “I think so because I think it is more fun [in groups].” From these students, it can be concluded that more students than not believe that working in groups will not encourage students to work harder.
Students from the Weidner School of Inquiry participate in project based learning, often times in groups. Photo by: Chandy Schuler
Naturally, students enjoy working in groups on certain assignment rather than others. Freshman Yohoni Torres said he liked working in groups for “big projects, [or] anything that involves creating something, so really anything that has to do with using imagination.” Similar to Torres, Rodriguez said, “Power points, reviews, essays, study guides, projects, [and] labs. Things that will take a long time, not homework and class assignments unless they are super long.”
Conclusively, students have shown that although group work can be an efficient way to complete classwork, group work can also serve as a disadvantage if select students to not use their time and resources effectively.