I have always hated group work. Why? Because the word
”
group
”
in the phrase
”
group work
”
may as well have been nonexistent.
”
Group work
”
consisted of me doing everything and everyone else sitting back
and getting the credit for it.
I have always hated group work. Why? Because the word “group” in the phrase “group work” may as well have been nonexistent. “Group work” consisted of me doing everything and everyone else sitting back and getting the credit for it.
Imagine my enthusiasm when I was told at the beginning of this school year that I would not only have to join one, but two study groups that had to meet regularly throughout the year.
One was for AP Literature and Composition, and the other for AP Calculus. This enthusiasm was greatly eased when we were told that we could choose our own groups, but I still generally prefer to work alone.
Then, I came upon an interesting blog post entitled, “Method of Action – The Racial Performance Gap Explained.” Though seemingly unrelated to the topic of study groups, it will connect itself in a moment.
The story that is told in this article occurred in 1974, at the University of California, Berkeley. Phillip Treisman, a calculus professor, was given an opportunity to investigate why African-American and Hispanic students did not seem to be performing as well as other members of their class – notably, the Asians.
He began by gathering the opinions of other instructors at Berkeley, which replied with the following ideas, “1) minority students are not as motivated as other groups, 2) they come unprepared, as they often enter university with fewer hours of science and math, 3) their families lack a strong cultural and intellectual background, and thus lack understanding of the importance of higher education, and 4) that income gap reflects on the educational gap, and if those variables are controlled there would be no performance gap.”
However, Professor Treisman was convinced that none of these hypotheses were correct, logical though they may have originally appeared.
Berkeley is a well-reputed and selective school, thus the minority students were not simply lacking motivation.
In fact, the accomplishment of getting into Berkeley negates most of the factors listed above. They had already made “huge social sacrifices to be able to get accepted into Berkeley.”
After interviewing the minority students’ families and studying the effect of family income, Treisman decided to alter his approach.
He decided to follow a group of high performing Chinese students and a group of the lower performing African-American students.
He found that the Chinese students would study on their own for a certain amount of time, and after they were done, they would come together as a group and review the problems they had completed.
They quizzed each other, asked each other questions and worked on old exams, which are kept in the library. They interacted with each other.
Professor Treisman suspected that this was the key to the racial performance gap.
He started a program involving “learning groups,” in which he required students to work with their classmates on a regular basis.
Treisman noted that, “one of the greatest challenges that we faced and still face today was figuring out suitable mathematical tasks for the students that not only would help them crystallize their emerging understanding of the calculus, but that would show them the beauty of the subject.”
However, his results were convincing. Minority participants supposedly “outperformed not only their minority peers, but their white and Asian classmates as well.”
More information is available on the subject of study groups and minorities at http://method.ac/blog/education/on_the_racial_educational_gap.html.
As long ago as 1974 was, it seems that teachers still believe in the positive power of group study.
If what Professor Treisman says is true, and success is only one study group away, then I suppose I could give group work another try.
Sabrina Werts is a junior at Ann Sobrato High School. In addition to writing, she enjoys piano and dance. we***********@***il.com.
