The loud, contradicting voices of you and your group members echo across the classroom as you each try to prove your idea is better than the other. The other group members look bewildered, another is asleep, and the other does not trust either of the members. In the classroom, next door, the students sitting in rows seem tranquil, but a closer look shows some students craning their necks to find their friend’s seating location, their loud whispers and titters filling the classroom, and their fingers scrambling to text in class to communicate with their friend on the other side of the room, all with their worksheets being half-completed. Even if some students in groups and rows do their work, that does not eliminate the common theme of distractions. to yourself and your peers. Whether it is the people you are engaged with, your ability to focus for certain periods of time, the amount of work you are capable of completing in a group or individually, or your preferences, students tend to find and create holes in every environment. Some think positively about working in groups but groan when told to work individually, and vice versa. This is a common theme visible in classrooms, and every classroom is unique with different types of students with different mindsets. So how does an instructor figure out whether working individually or in groups is better? Working both in groups and individually has many benefits to improve one’s skills and get work done faster. However, there are factors that affect working in groups versus individually like one’s personality, the people they choose to surround themselves with, and skills, which prove whether or not the student(s) will be focused.
An investigation was conducted at Brooklawn Middle School, to observe the student's mannerisms and work completion in groups or individually. Mixed results have shown the answer to be inconclusive. So is neither better than the other? Or, what caused some classrooms to have the same or different results? According to observations from the investigation, positive results from classrooms with students working in groups include two rooms, which have findings written down such as, “Paid attention to the teacher when talking,” and “lively environment- and it’s a math class!” Negative results with students working in groups included four classrooms, along with more written observations such as, “Not on task, one kid especially distracted.” Positive results from classrooms with students working individually include two rooms, with mixed results from one of the classrooms. Written findings state, “Quiet- you can hear their pencils scraping the paper.'' Negative results from classrooms with students working individually include four rooms that described the students as “noisy, some looking sleepy.” Transition needed, Students working individually tend to look for their friends anyway, whether it is talking across the room or using their phones to communicate. This not only creates more trouble, but also cuts down on class time for them, their teachers, and their peers. One would think, at first, that if students work individually, then they will be less focused. By observing the classrooms, several conclusions can be made. Students tend to be less distracted when put in groups of four or less. An article from Harvard Kennedy School states, “Regardless of the subject, students learn more and retain material longer in small-group learning than when the same content is presented in other instructional practices.” (Citation needed). This shows that small groups, or groups of 4 or fewer, tend to focus more and work better. This can also mean that working individually, which is just one person, can also work towards keeping a student as focused and attentive as a 6th grader on the first day of middle school. There were mixed results on working individually because some students were focused and some were talking to another pupil. It was found that students working in pairs of two are the most distracted. The truth is, that working in groups isn’t better than working individually, and working individually is not better than working in groups. It is the constraints that go into it, such as time, topic, and the number of people in a group. (Watts). This can also be proven from the observations of the classrooms above, which are mixed results. Both scenarios have pros and cons, and working individually or in groups can ameliorate a student’s skills.
Continuing with the question of finding the components that created the results of the investigation, a list of pros and cons can be made by extracting information from articles gathered by online research. Pros for working individually include applying their own skills and original thoughts, so students can take full credit for their original work. Also, they can better manage time and not get distracted as easily. They can make their own decisions and develop self-reliance. They also have control over what they are doing. The cons of working individually are that one can have a lot of pressure, so they work slower, which leads to less motivation. Based on the results, there is less efficiency and more responsibility. On the other hand, the pros of working in groups include working with more celerity and being more efficient, while collaborating with diverse ideas and perspectives. You can divide labor and be motivated by others. One can also learn from others in terms of skills, and develop new friends. Cons include wasting time by talking to your peers and sharing credit, which competitive people may not like, especially when some people do more work than others. An article from the University of Pennsylvania - Knowledge at Wharton Podcast states, “If structured well, group projects can promote important intellectual and social skills and help to prepare students for a work world in which teamwork and collaboration are increasingly the norm.” (Watts). Also the Knowledge at Wharton Podcast, reveals, “Teams for a complex task could do almost as well as the very best individual, but they were able to do it much quicker. That’s because they were much faster, they generated faster solutions, and they explored the space of possibilities more broadly.” (Watts). This supports the pros of working in groups and adds a deeper twist to the observations above. It also discusses the structure, or components of the group that have to be related to the assignment at hand, and that group projects can help improve a wide variety of skills for students. On the other hand, an article from Leverage explains, “Working individually allows individuals to focus on their tasks without distractions or interruptions from external sources. This focused environment enhances productivity and enables efficient execution of work.” (Gupta). This proves how working individually has almost as many benefits and abilities to improve a student’s skills. To conclude, neither choice is better than the other; it depends on who you are with, what you are doing, the time you have, and your preferences. Both choices have advantages and disadvantages, and one should choose wisely as to how one would like to move forward based on the task given.
With the overwhelming information presented above, it is still unclear as to how one should now proceed, especially for teachers who want to balance working in groups or individually efficiently. Returning to the question stated above, “So how does an instructor figure out whether working individually or in groups is better?” the answer can become clear after analyzing the difference between working individually or in groups. One difference is collaboration versus independence. An article from Leverage states, “Teamwork involves working together with a group of individuals towards a common objective. It emphasizes collaboration, cooperation, and mutual support. On the other hand, individual work entails working alone, taking sole responsibility for the task, and making independent decisions.” This shows the difference between working collaboratively or independently and making your own decisions. Some students may or may not like the pressure, so a teacher must properly get to know the students and analyze their personalities to decide what is best for them. Another big difference is diverse perspectives versus specialized expertise. An article from Leverage proclaims, “Teamwork benefits from diverse perspectives and experiences brought by team members. Different viewpoints can lead to more comprehensive problem-solving, innovative ideas, and better decision-making. In individual work, the focus is often on specialized expertise, where the person relies on their own knowledge and skills to accomplish the task.” This explains how there can be benefits for both options, such as independence and innovation. If a student is more confident in their skills in a specific subject area, they may not agree with other students in a group. It is important to assess the different skill levels of students in a classroom. Pairing students who are more fluent in the topic can increase their understanding to the next level, and pairing the people who don’t get the topic as much can together figure it out at their own pace. So, teachers must analyze their students’ personalities, their skills in the subject, and their level of understanding when pairing groups. If groups don’t work as planned the first time, the teacher must let students work individually as well. They can also do a mix, and let students choose to work in groups or not, but set a minimum of three people and a maximum of four people in a group. This can allow partners to meet other partners and share ideas, and let independent students focus on their own original ideas. Teachers will have to experiment with both options with their students until they find the perfect solution. One can not look at their students and decide that they will work better in groups or individually, and teachers cannot put students in groups or not because that is their preferred teaching style. They must decide according to the students. At first, observing students may seem abstruse, but it will become clear the more you discover. According to an article by LSU Online, “Observation is another method for gathering data. By watching a class, teachers can see how well students, both individually and collectively, understand and interact with content.” (Citation ). This proves that observation is another factor that can help teachers decide whether groups or working individually is easier for their students.
You and your group member’s voices die down as the teacher walks over. She explains, “Those who don’t want to compromise their ideas may work individually, and the rest may find a common idea to work with.” The untrusting and loud group members leave to work on their own, while you and the “bewildered” group member wake up the member who was asleep to decide on a topic that interests you all. The once noisy classroom was still noisy, but the wall echoed words of knowledge this time, instead of direct criticism. Looking at the classroom next door, the teacher may still prefer to do rows instead of groups but decides to let the students choose where to sit in rows, and sets a time limit for getting work done. That can be proven effective for quickly finishing work, then leaving the rest of the period to limited conversations in small spaces, instead of across the room, even as it is almost impossible for teachers to separate close friends in a classroom. With the holes in both environments benign sealed, the teachers continued to grade the student’s worksheets, some fully completed, some half completed, but they continued grading knowing the classroom environment changed for the better after analyzing the students and taking an executive decision while sticking to their preferred teaching styles. Both scenarios show a student’s perspective and a teacher’s perspective in two classrooms. To prove whether students will be focused or not, teachers must analyze the students based on factors such as their personality, the people they choose to surround themselves with, and their skills in the subject area.