Importance of group work for students

Groupwork

Organising students into groups provides an opportunity for students to work closely with their classmates. The group(s) can be asked to solve a problem, perform a certain task, or to debate a topic.

Benefits of group work

-Involves students actively in class
-Facilitates the exchange of ideas and opinions
-Develops communication skills
-Promotes team working skills
-Develops leadership skills
-Demonstrates the value of exchanging ideas
-Highlights how to consider more extreme/radical opinions and negotiate for a consensus opinion
-Requires students to deal with conflict, or establish ground rules for managing disagreements
-Enables students to discuss course content in the specialised language of the subject
-Encourages students who may be reticent about presenting their ideas in large group/class situations
-Requires students to divide work/task into manageable blocks
-Ensures co-operation on the delegation of tasks
-Allows students of mixed abilities to work side by side and draw on individual strengths to complete the task