-Group+Learning+Spaces

=Student Grouping in the Future=

====In education students are traditionally put into groups for a variety of reasons, whether it be for small group work, guided teacher instruction, or centers, groups are ever present in education and will also be present in future classrooms. Student groups are essential for collaboration to take place in the classroom, and can help students to form connections, reinforce learned skills and materials, and teach young students how to work with others, which is an essential skill so that students can function in the "real world" But one has to wonder - how will groups be structured in the future? This page will explore grouping and the potential student groupings in the future.====

Individual students have an opportunity to explain and discuss their suggested solutions aw well as their misconceptions New understandings are developed by the individual, by the team, and, finally, by the whole class. Group and class discussions (and solutions) provide immediate feedback to the student. ||  A team plan of operation and goals is specified, and teams are highly structured. Each student has a clearly defined role in the team such as recorder, questioner, reporter. The teacher takes time to teach each student role. Team members share leadership within the framework of specific roles. All team members must contribute or the team cannot progress. (Teams "win or lose together.") The end product represents the entire team. The team focus is on cooperation as well as on achievement of goals. Awareness of the group process is as important as completing the task. ||  Student roles are flexible and may change throughout the project or assignment. Students observe (and help with) other students' work, and critique, evaluate, explain, and suggest ways for improvement. Open communication and multiple approaches are emphasized. All students are involved in honest discussion about ideas, procedures, experimental results, gathered information, interpretations, resource materials, and their own or other students' work. Students are constantly aware of the collaborative communication process, as well as the product or goals. They know they can change direction to meet goals. || (Kizlik, 2011).
 * ** Three Learning Group Strategies  ** ||
 * ==== Problem-Solving Partnerships  ==== || ====  Cooperative Teams  ==== || ====  Collaborative Groups  ==== ||
 * Two to three students per group.  ||   Three to four students per group.   ||   Three to six students per group.   ||
 * The duration of group work is short (part of a class period to a few days).  ||   The duration of group work ranges from several days to several weeks.   ||   The duration of group work can be short (days) or longer (weeks or even months).   ||
 * The specific task or problem to solve is limited in scope (a single problem or question or a limited set) and is usually a challenge or practice activity for students to apply recent learning.  ||   The problem or task is clearly defined by the teacher.   ||   The task or problem is open-ended and may cover large amounts of course content.   ||
 * Multiple approaches to solving the problem are encouraged. There is no single "right" way to solve most problems, and all reasonable solutions or answers to the problem are honored

**In**
====Those who think that ability grouping should stay support the ideas that if students are grouped by their ability, they can create shared goals within the group since they are all at similar academic levels. They would all be actively involved as well, and cooperation is valued over competition since the more competitive students would most likely be in the same group. The teacher would still be involved in the students' learning process, but more as a resource person, questioner, guide, evaluator, and coach. The learning goals and timeline would also be monitored by the teacher and understood by all the students in a group. Also the teacher would be able to use multiple means of assessment for each group, picking the appropriate assessment to match the strength of each group (Kizlik, 2011).====

====Especially with the trend of individualized instruction that seems to be emerging in the future, many say ability grouping should be eliminated. In one study of ability grouping done in the 80s, the results showed that grouping students as a class by ability for all subjects doesn't improve achievement. Also the criteria usually used to group kids are based of subjective perceptions and narrow views of intelligence. We also tend to associate a student's placement with the type of learned they are, and create different expectations based off of those assumptions. Once the students are placed in a group, they tend to stay at that level for most of their school careers, creating a somewhat self fulfilling prophecy. Also the labels placed on students tend to follow them and student can confuse the pace of their group with their capacity to learn (Hopkins 2009).====

===="Nongraded instruction is instruction that groups students according to ability rather than age and that allows students to progress at their own rates---can result in improved achievement" (Hopkins 2009). In fact some studies have shown that students who tend to be in the younger half of a traditional class tend to achieve at lower levels than students who are in the older half of a class (Gladwell, Many schools have opted to create multigrade classes at their school and one teacher, Terri Peterson, who had taught multigrade classroom was interviewed as part of an article:====

===="Multi-grade teachers need to use lots of flexible groupings, Peterson noted. Don't do the same thing with everyone at the same time, she said. If kids don't need three days on a skill, just don't teach it that way. Look at where students are as opposed to where they should be. You want them to go as far as they possibly can. If a fourth grader is ready for fifth-grade skills, teach him or her those.====

====Students in multi-age classes tend to grow at least one academic year in the first year and about a year-and a half in the second. Higher achieving students always show growth, according to Peterson. "For about six years, we had at least one student skip sixth grade every year" (Delisio 2011).====

====So although these classrooms don't have extreme age gaps within the classroom, they are effective for success because students are the same ability levels can be together in a class and because the teachers can be flexible with their teaching.====

//**Groups Across the Globe**//
====In the classroom of the future learning can happen anywhere. So it is safe to say that student groups can also happen/collaborate from anywhere on the globe. With the use of Skype and other teleconferences devices, group members can physically be anywhere on globe, and can meet in virtual spaces to collaborate and work together. This allows for group members to come together to share their multicultural viewpoint with one another, which can expand many students' perceptions of the world. See the "Anywhere-Anytime" section for more information on learning outside of the traditional classroom setting.====


 * ===="They must include every member of the group====
 * ====Each person has a valid job to perform with a known standard of completion====
 * ====Each member is invested in completing the task or learning goal====
 * ====Each member is accountable individually and collectively" (Johnson 2011).====

====This can happen in heterogeneous or homogeneous groups, but it is more likely to happen when students are grouped with other students who have the same ability level as themselves. If students are having to teach others within their groups the skills or knowledge they need to know, it can hold a group back from being effective. So in the classroom of 2025, student grouping should be ability grouped in order to individualize instruction, and for groups to be effective. Also nongraded instruction will be an effective classroom strategy because learners in the future classroom will be able to teach themselves independently. So it will be important for learners to work with others of their same ability level.====

**References**
====Delisio, Ellen R. (2011). Differentiated Instruction, Flexibility Makes Multi-Age Classes Work. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev184.shtml====

====Hopkins, Gary. (February 24, 2009). Is Ability Grouping the Way to Go- Or Should it go Away?. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin009.shtml====

====Johnson, Ben. (August 2, 2011). Student Learning Groups: Homogeneous or Heterogeneous?. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-grouping-homogeneous-heterogeneous-ben-johnson====