It's very true that a student who feels powerless is likely to lose motivation; however, the issue then is that it's the teacher's job to ensure that they retain control.
For example, it doesn't have to be true that a single slacker can force the rest of the group to carry them or fail (or do worse, at least). The teacher can be sure to hold each student accountable for learning the group material, or for turning in separate components that they work on in a group; that way, the component grades can allow a teacher to see where a problem lies.
An effective teacher will perform these checks frequently over the course of a project; they can even have students perform peer evaluations of their group members, or record who does what work at what times. When a problem comes to light in these daily check-ups, the teacher can then speak with the student causing the issue; if they can be redirected to the task, the group has an opportunity to learn social and leadership skills. If they remain intentionally obstructive, the teacher can remove them from the group temporarily (or permanently) and provide individual counseling or similar.
An IN-effective teacher might let the situation run its course, and thus leave students powerless, but by combining group interdependence with individual evaluation (and possibly that peer evaluation I mentioned), the teacher can empower students to solve their own problems (vital to their feelings of efficacy; basically, their ability to control their own fate) and also monitor & adjust using their own authority when needed.
So, yes, you're right that it can teach exactly the wrong lesson if mishandled. And, unfortunately, a lot of teachers aren't effective teachers. As I'm doing my homework and studying for this Masters, I'm finding more and more about what the teachers I had in highschool and college did WRONG :-P However, things like this discussion are a good way to work out solutions to those problems. An effective teacher can counter them by planning ahead and adjusting in response to frequent evaluations.
Of course, the more frequent the evaluations, the greater the strain on the teacher's time and energy. A chapter I just read on the subject of cooperative group learning suggests that finding a workable balance between individual and group assignments within a project group can be the key to both managing time effectively, and also keeping everyone on-task and successful. Finding that balance, though, is something that requires effort and experience on the part of the teacher, as well as a knowledge of the students at hand. As a result, I like that chapter's suggestion to start students off working in pairs. This gives them the opportunity to learn group work skills (social, explaining, and leadership skills, as the book terms them), and gives the teacher some time to evaluate the temperament and habits of his class.
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Date: 2008-10-04 06:05 pm (UTC)For example, it doesn't have to be true that a single slacker can force the rest of the group to carry them or fail (or do worse, at least). The teacher can be sure to hold each student accountable for learning the group material, or for turning in separate components that they work on in a group; that way, the component grades can allow a teacher to see where a problem lies.
An effective teacher will perform these checks frequently over the course of a project; they can even have students perform peer evaluations of their group members, or record who does what work at what times. When a problem comes to light in these daily check-ups, the teacher can then speak with the student causing the issue; if they can be redirected to the task, the group has an opportunity to learn social and leadership skills. If they remain intentionally obstructive, the teacher can remove them from the group temporarily (or permanently) and provide individual counseling or similar.
An IN-effective teacher might let the situation run its course, and thus leave students powerless, but by combining group interdependence with individual evaluation (and possibly that peer evaluation I mentioned), the teacher can empower students to solve their own problems (vital to their feelings of efficacy; basically, their ability to control their own fate) and also monitor & adjust using their own authority when needed.
So, yes, you're right that it can teach exactly the wrong lesson if mishandled. And, unfortunately, a lot of teachers aren't effective teachers. As I'm doing my homework and studying for this Masters, I'm finding more and more about what the teachers I had in highschool and college did WRONG :-P However, things like this discussion are a good way to work out solutions to those problems. An effective teacher can counter them by planning ahead and adjusting in response to frequent evaluations.
Of course, the more frequent the evaluations, the greater the strain on the teacher's time and energy. A chapter I just read on the subject of cooperative group learning suggests that finding a workable balance between individual and group assignments within a project group can be the key to both managing time effectively, and also keeping everyone on-task and successful. Finding that balance, though, is something that requires effort and experience on the part of the teacher, as well as a knowledge of the students at hand. As a result, I like that chapter's suggestion to start students off working in pairs. This gives them the opportunity to learn group work skills (social, explaining, and leadership skills, as the book terms them), and gives the teacher some time to evaluate the temperament and habits of his class.