Content area
Full text
Many methods have been developed for managing groups in active learning classes, but little research has been done on the effect of group structure itself. Results are presented for an active learning physics class in which half of the class was placed in academically homogeneous groups while the other half was in heterogeneous groups. Students were given the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism as a pretest and posttest, and also filled out surveys on their experiences in their groups. The study was intended to be continued for three years, but was terminated halfway through the second semester as the evidence had become sufficiently compelling that placing half of the class in academically heterogeneous groups was placing them at a significant disadvantage. Student feedback, pretest, and posttest data indicated that low- and middle-performing students benefitted the most from academically homogeneous groups. Results for the one full semester of the study and the rationale for discontinuing are presented.
It has been well established that having students work in cooperative groups in active engagement classes is more effective than traditional lectures (Hake, 1998) and is also preferred by the students themselves (Andre, 1999). A common practice employed in active learning classrooms is to assign students to academically heterogeneous groups (Johnson, 2014; Andre, 1999; Hake, 1998). The thought behind this is that the stronger students will help the weaker ones, the embodiment of peer learning.
After more than 10 years of teaching active learning classes, usually with highly heterogeneous groups, I became skeptical about how much the weaker students were benefitting from being in a group with significantly stronger students. Based on daily interactions with the groups, it seemed that the weaker students had a high tendency to become passive participants.
The natural inclination is to assume that such students are not engaged because they are unmotivated or disinterested. Another possible explanation though is that they are passive because they feel self-conscious about not understanding something that their group members do and do not want to hold their group back.
When examining the literature for comparisons of homogeneous and heterogeneous groups in active learning, there is surprisingly little published work, particularly for college-level science classes.
A 2011 study found that grouping students homogeneously rather than heterogeneously in...