MIXED ABILITY

GROUPING
C.R.Shalini
Department of physical science
 Mixed Ability grouping refers to grouping together students of different abilities
 Usually this kind grouping occurs in our class room
 Group consists of students with different ages with one or two years span.
 In mixed Ability groups,there are some students that are more mature and experienced than
other students and thus they have more advanced ability to acquired knowledge.
 In other words the purpose of mixed ability grouping is for children to benefit by their intellectual and
social interaction with other students of their group that have different social behaviour and ability to
learn
 Age may not be an exclusive criterion for indicating different levels of students
 Some of these factors include,
 Age of maturity
 Intelligence
 Learning style
 Language aptitude
 Language levels
 Mother tongue
 Learner autonomy
 Attitude towards the subject
 Cultural background
 When you set up mixed ability group.putting together students with one or two grades
differences,you can make a mixed ability group.
 It is believed that the interaction and cooperation of students with different intellectual level
and social behaviour and skills have worth mentioning educational benefit.
 Teacher has to give clear guidance and expectations about how they should work together.
 Research is much more favorable for mixed ability grouping then ability grouping.
The order more intellectually and socially matured children benefit:
 By helping their group mates since they are becoming their mentors,they are developing
healthy leadership skills and enhancing their self esteem.
 By improving cognitive skills since they have the change to consolidate knowledge by sharing
it or instructing their younger group mates.
 The younger,less intellectually and socially matured children benefit
 By being exposed on cooperation activities with more matured students in a spirit of
collaboration and team working.
 By being stimulated by students with stronger personalities better abilities with wider range of
interests.
 By belonging to a team where they feel security,trust and well guides by their group mates.
BENEFIT OF MIXED ABILITY
GROUPS
1. It benefits all students
2. It allows the opportunity of accept,discuss and listen to other views.
3. Mixed ability grouping are very useful for team work and collaboration with other students.
4. Students can help and learn from each other
5. Learner autonomy is developed
6. Shifting to mixed ability groups can generate huge initial dissonance for teachers.