#68 Make groups explicitly random and change them reguraly
It stops students falling into certain roles
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💡 A tip to try in class this week 💡
Building thinknig classrooms in mathematics by Peter Peter Liljedahl is a book that really challenged me. I didn’t agree with a lot of it, but it certainly made me think.
The book discusses the benefits of students working in groups. I have previously shared one recommendation: have groups of size 3 instead of the more conventional 4. Here are three more:
Change the groups regularly
Make group allocation random
Make this random allocation explicit
Let’s look at the reasons for each in turn:
Change the groups regularly
If groups remain consistent over time, students are likely to fall into certain roles within a group. One or two students always lead the thinking, while other students in the group adopt the role of passengers. Changing the groups regularly—Liljedahl recommends doing this every lesson - means each group provides an opportunity to start afresh.
Make group allocation random
Students always have a suspicion as to why they have been put into a particular group - oh, I am not as smart as those guys, so my job is to be a passenger. A random group allocation stops this from happening.
Make this random allocation explicit
Even if you genuinely do randomly allocate the groups, students are unlikely to believe it is random. So, they need showing. Liljedahl recommends asking students to pick a card from a deck upon entry to the classroom and then sit on the table corresponding to the number on their card. But a random name allocator on the board would work just as well.
Of course, allocating the groups is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of getting group work right, but thinking about it is an interesting place to start.
And for more thoughts on group work, check out my conversation with Sammy Kempner.
What do you think of this idea?
What would you need to change to make this tip work for you?
When could you try it for the first time?
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This idea may work for many students, but please be aware that for autistic students this level of uncertainty every lesson is potentially abusive behaviour on the part of the teacher
I started reading Liljedahl's book this spring and, like you, don't agree with everything. (For example, he states that mimicry is not a precursor to thinking, which I think is incorrect.) But I do love the parts about creating groups, especially making them visibly random. I'd stumbled on this myself shortly before starting the book. I was using a group generation app and the students wanted to show me the screen while I clicked the buttons so that they could verify that it was actually happening randomly.