Introduction:

I am Nasir Ahmed Qureshi and I have been affiliated with Beacon house School System as an O
Level Mathematics and Add Maths teacher since February 2012. In DRP course I learnt many
interactive teaching strategies out of which I decided to investigate group work. This is because
group-based learning has many benefits, for my research, I chose a class comprising of 15 boys.
They are mixed ability students, who vary in terms of their background, Maths knowledge and
motivation.

Rationale for the chosen strategy:

Most of the students of my class have an average Maths knowledge and weak in Maths and add
Maths as well about which I came to know through evolution of their written work and class
communication. Working in groups during DRP course, I found this strategy very advantageous,
therefore I decided to research on group work and apply it in teaching to benefit my students.
According to BURKE (2011) Groups have more information than a single individual. Groups
have a greater well of resources to tap and more information available because of the variety of
backgrounds and experiences.

In class students lack to follow the basic concepts of Mathematics, hence it is incumbent that
they try to find ways to develop they foundation regarding the basics through group work and
discussions. As stated that students remember group discussions better. Group learning fosters
learning and comprehension. Students working in small groups have a tendency to learn more of
what is taught and retain it longer than when the same material is presented in other instructional
formats (Barkley, Cross & Major, 2005; Davis, 1993.

Students in Maths do not foster critical thinking and tend to deviate from the actual ideas that
need to be conceived. To develop this skill of critical thinking Johnson, Johnson and Smith
(1991) suggest that group tasks should be integral to the course objectives. This means that the
group work should complement the learning objectives outlined in the syllabus. If one of the
learning objectives is to promote critical thinking skills or writing enhancement, then the group
work should support these areas.

At times students are not vigilant when instructions are provided and the rubrics should be
cleared, else they fail to keep track of what needs to be done. As mentioned by Herman,
Aschbacher, and Winters (1992) suggest that a good rubric consist of clear and logical categories
that explain what the instructor is assessing and the point value for each response. This practice
ensures that both the student and the teacher are satisfied with the end result and makes the group
process a more objective learning experience.

Students in groups easily follow different strategies that could be implied in order to solve one
problem. Hence, they come up with different methodologies to solve one problem. Therefore,
Rubrics are very useful for evaluating group work and increase the chances of student success
(Finson & Ormsbee, 1998). Mckeown (2011) asserts that rubrics should be locally relevant and
culturally appropriate. In this way, they cannot be a “one size fits all” approach and must be
modified to fit different classes, disciplinary perspectives, and learning objectives.
Stevens and Levi (2013) advocate the use of rubrics because they convey expectations to the
students, help students focus their efforts, improve student achievement, reduce grading time
and improve the effectiveness of feedback.The above mentioned strategy would help resolve the
main issues faced by the students and this would develop and promote group work as studied
from the finding of the researchers.

Implementation of Strategy:
In the beginning of class, mixed ability groups comprising of three students were made. There
were 15 students in the class so I distributed them in five groups. I made groups keeping in view
that each group should be the combination of below average, average and above average
students. The dynamics of group size is an important component of group work
Directions about group rules were shared with group members and students were asked to
allocate themselves the roles according to their abilities and concern so that they can work
flexibly to fulfil the task.
An instruction sheet was shared with students on multimedia about the task. According to it they
had to do questions which they were shown in videos. I purposely divided the students in trio
groups so they can distribute the three bullet points of the task among themselves. After
watching a selected video, they conducted a discussion about relative topic i.e transformation.
Each member then jotted down the key points according to their work. They shared all the details
and the facilitator arranged them logically: the final product, the process, or both.

In the end I distributed a minute paper and gathered the feedback for the evaluation and future
planning about the topic. This session proved to be quite interactive as students actively and
excitedly participated. This enabled the entire class to develop a clear understanding of the
lesson. This helped me to decide that around 70% of the students were capable of following the
lesson related to transformation and the remaining 30% still needed further improvement which
would later be looked into through reiterating the lesson with a different plan to support the weak
ones.

Reflection on the application of the strategy:

The experience of doing questions in group was comparatively successful as students showed
more enthusiasm working in groups and the group interaction also enhanced the performance, as
mixed ability group students were made to sit together. This was evaluated from their feedback
on minute paper. This was a good sign in my observation.

While facilitating the group work, I noticed that some of the students were not performing their
duties assigned to them. They were either busy in talking to their friends or sitting idle waiting
for their group members to complete the task, as they didn’t manage to follow the instructions
provided by the teacher.

It was noticed that students were not properly assessed as to how far each individual has
managed to grasp the ideas portrayed. Hence, in group work individual efforts can’t be assessed
or reflected upon. It could therefore be planned with a different perspective so that every
individual can have a formative test in the end where everyone could be judged as to whether
they have followed the rubric and the lesson taught.

Future Implications:
For my future action plan, I will do more research on group work to improve my performance as
a facilitator to enrich my students learning. Beside research, I will have discussions with my
colleagues to benefit through their experiences and I will do one more thing and that is will the
marking criteria to all my student, so that every individuals effort could be considered and marked
accordingly.

I will plan separately and conduct lesson plan to deal with the remaining 30% of the students to
tackle them effectively and to make sure that they are made to practice excessively to polish their
basics.

In future I will also work upon the participation of all members in assessing a task and giving the
feedback keeping in view the CAIE criteria. I will make sure that students thoroughly read the
standards so that they can evaluate the work, learn from their errors and produce a quality work.
A few students started argument while sharing the feedback. I set a target to train my students to
accept constructive criticism for future progress instead of disagreeing each other for no reason.
Research concludes, “Through peer collaboration students are challenged to make their ideas
explicit and need to clearly articulate them.

References
Burke, A. (2011). Group Work: How to Use Groups Effectively. The Journal of Effective
Teaching, 11(2), pp.87 - 95.

Davis, B. (2009). Tools for teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Gillies, R. and Ashman, A. (2010). The teacher's role in implementing cooperative learning in
the classroom. New York, NY: Springer.

Stevens, D. and Levi, A. (2013). Introduction to rubrics. Sterling, Va.: Stylus.

Weimer, M. (2013). Better Group Work Experiences Begin with How the Groups Are Formed.