Group work in school elicits mixed reactions from most people – students and teachers alike. Some people love group work while others absolutely despise it. There are those who find working together intellectually stimulating and others who believe it’s a waste of time and would rather work on their own. While it’s important to figure out what methods of learning work the best for you personally, group work has been shown to have incredible benefits to all kinds of students and should certainly be considered.
Learn how to work with others
One of the best perks of group work is that it teaches students to get along with their classmates. Students can be in a single class together and rarely interact, but group work gives them the opportunity to learn how to work with people they don’t know very well or who are quite different from themselves. No matter what they go on to do later in life, they’re going to be working with others at some point. Learning how to communicate and delegate tasks is incredibly important to understand as soon as possible.
Students can encourage each other
When students work together, it provides them with a chance to encourage one another. Students hold each other accountable for doing their share of the work; if you don’t do your portion of the task, other students will be unhappy with you. If one student has difficulty with a specific tasks, other students can help and they’ll work past the issue together.
Easier solving problems
If you assign a group project, you can usually give students a more difficult or involved task than you would give if they were working individually. With more people working on a problem, students find it easier to reach a solution and complete the project. The more people working toward a solution, the better.
Share knowledge with each other
Students who work together can learn important information from their classmates. A student may have a specific way of approaching classwork that she can share with other students in her group. This method could be more efficient than what others are doing, which helps all students out beyond the simple group project.
Adds variety to the classroom
A huge benefit of group work is that it adds variety to the students’ days. Instead of spending all class listening to a professor speak or working on their own homework in silence, group work allows students to socialize and connect with their peers. Students can often become bored with class, especially if they do the same actions every day. Giving them the opportunity to socialize and learn together adds a healthy amount of variety and also allows them to continue learning.
