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Group work.
Few teachers observed over the course of this project involved stu-
dents in-group work. In the cases in which they did, students seemed either not
to know how to work with others or indicated that they did not wish to do so.
A physics teacher who lectured on the day I visited said that he had shifted his
students to cooperative groups. After the first day or two when he introduced a
new topic, students determined when and how they would perform their experi-
ments and discussed both the procedures and the findings with one another. He
had closely monitored their experience and found that students did as well
through this approach as they had done previously through more ‘‘conventional’’
methods.
In one combined eighth-grade algebra and geometry class in West Middle School,
it was apparent that students were not accustomed either to working together or
to working with manipulatives. In the example that follows, the geometry stu-
dents worked quietly on problems that were assigned, while the teacher intro-
duced the multiplication of polynomials to the algebra students, first by using a
black ‘‘rectangle’’ and colored plastic shapes on the overhead projector and then
providing manipulative kits to allow students to work out problems in-groups.
The materials were brand new, and it was clear the students had not worked
with them before. The majority of time was spent removing the plastic wrap,
trying to figure out how to put the boxes together, and classifying the various
pieces into sets. As the students worked, the teacher helped the geometry stu-
dents individually. Two of the four groups put the manipulatives away after
putting the kits together and proceeded to work out the problems individually
with calculators.
As the period drew to a close, the teacher began to collect the kits. She cir-
culated among the algebra and geometry students until the bell rang.
This teacher later confided to me that the students did not use the materials as
much as she wanted them to, although she expected that they would use them
more in the next lesson, which covered the chapter on factoring. She expressed
a liking for creative, hands-on approaches to learning and saw value in shifting
formats and allowing students to collaborate in-groups. She appeared secure in her
knowledge of students and of subject matter and willing to ‘‘take the chance’’ of
introducing new experiences into her classroom, even though doing so is a com-
plicated affair, since she must juggle two classes at the same time, but also be-
cause the students seem to have difficulty—or perhaps a lack of interest—in work-
ing together.
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An eighth-grade science teacher in Metropolitan School also valued group work
and ‘‘hands-on’’ activities. Once again, however, it appeared that these students
did not really know how to work together constructively. The teacher had listed
on the board the six materials they would use to create float and sink columns.
I observed the group of seven nearest me.
Student (female): Now I told y’all that it would float, and it did (putting wood
in the water) . . . . It’s just common sense, because boats float across the
river.
Teacher: (To one group) You have to do each object.
Teacher: OK, did the clay float? Listen. There is one object that you said would
float that sank. What object was that? Now try to make it float.
A student asks if the temperature of the water makes a difference.
Teacher: No, it’s not the control.
One student flattens the clay. A couple of students throw the clay at each
other. One girls yells for the teacher. She retrieves the clay and flattens it even
more.
Student: Put it in the water, Christina.
It sinks, and another student pulls it from the water.
Student: (rolls it into ball, then flattens it.)
Student: (tells him to roll it into a snake.)
He does and it sinks. A girl takes it and shapes it into a canoe shape. I think
she saw what another group had done. The canoe sinks. Another girl makes
the sides higher, and it works, but a boy quickly snatches it and rolls it in
his hand just as the teacher says, ‘‘I have to see it.’’ Two boys try to do what
the girl did, but the clay sinks. A boy tries to grab it from a girl. Just as she
is almost finished with a design similar to the previous one, Christina grabs
the clay from her, squishes it in a paper towel and starts over. It sinks. A boy
pushes a wooden block into it. It sinks. He presses the clay onto the block
and gets it to float that way temporarily, but it quickly detaches and sinks. The
teacher tells him to share the clay. He asks why it doesn’t work, but she
doesn’t hear or acknowledge the question. The teacher says that they only
have 5 minutes left. Except for one time early in the session when one student
tried to modify what another had done, each has collapsed the clay and started
anew.
Although cooperative learning and team teaching have figured prominently in dis-
cussions of school reform, only two of the classes observed were found to be en-
gaged in-group work.
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