Organizing group work in primary science classrooms

Date of Award

8-1-2000

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Master of Education (M. Ed.)

Department

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Abstract

Teachers use many methods for enhancing learning. Group work can be used as a tool to enhance learning. It is a collaborative activity involving many pupils interacting with each other Group work can be defined as a collective work in which a collection of people work towards a common task. They work together to combine each others strengths. Group Work is a powerful methodology which can be used to allow all students in a classroom to be on task at the same time. In this methodology all students are involved in learning because it promotes maximum participation. As students participate actively in group tasks they are able to enhance their academic as well as social achievements. The purpose of this study was to explore different ways of organizing group work to support students' learning. From this study I wanted to know how a teacher can organize groups. What strategies can be used for this purpose? The strategy for this study was action research, which is a methodology to allow learners to move towards a better understanding and practical improvement. Researchers consider it as a process of total professional development. In this process learners improve their practices, skills, and conditions of learning and teaching. In the same way I improved my practices in this study. This study has found that to organize groups successfully the teacher needs to go in a systematic way by using different strategies. On this systematic way the teacher uses different aspects of organizing group work. These aspects are as follow: Assigning students to groups Assigning tasks in groups Teaching social skills Evaluating students' academic and social achievement.

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