Schools in my home county are dealing with a lot of problems right now, so several research topics popped into my head shortly after I learned about the assignment. Because graduation rates and test scores are extremely low in Tift County schools, administrators have been trying out strategies to raise slower learners' grades. Note the word "grades"--not exactly the same thing as comprehension or level of achievement.
One of the techniques for raising slow learners' performance that is being emphasized (especially in Tift Co. middle schools) is the use of mixed-ability group work and mixed-ability classes. I have clear memories of working in assigned groups like these, and though I would like to say that it was a positive experience, I can't. The only time I was a discipline problem in school was in an assigned, mixed-ability group in eighth grade, when I became fed up with my fellow group members and lost my temper.
Now, after reading about different methods of grouping by ability and the practice of full inclusion in classrooms, I would be interested to take a second look at mixed-level ability grouping. It helps that it's a political hot topic right now, because that means that there will probably be lots of literature available on the subject. One of the abstracts we analyzed on the first day of Educational Research stated (I think) that working in mixed-level groups proves "beneficial" to students. I would like to examine these benefits more fully. Who benefits? How do they benefit? At what cost? I'm afraid that I've made myself seem terribly biased, but I think that if I found that these projects really can be beneficial, I would be receptive to that information.
4 comments:
Megan, I understand your experiences with mixed-ability groups. That might be an interesting topic. You could approach it from the perspective of the teacher or the student. Either way, you could ask about their experiences with groups. Good ideas for the beginning. Keep thinking!!
Megan, Smokin' topic! I think that given the reality of most classrooms today it is a much better use of the available resources (i.e. strong learners/high-achievement students in the class)to form mixed groups as opposed to forming ability groups in class. It seems to me that high-performing groups will advance and do well regardless while the low acheivement groups will stagnate or regress even. I think your question of "At what cost?" is the most interesting part! Some cost benifit analysis of the issue would be fascinating in terms both of acheivement and (more interesting to me) social responsibility and the intangible lessons that can be learned. If kids understand and appreciate the importance of investing in each other (time, emotion etc) those lessons might be more valuable in the long run than the vocabulary or book reviews they are working on in the mixed groups! On a deeper level (and back to your original question of "at what cost") I think the importance of these lessons is even more valuable if students understand the investment in others (or themselves in the case of the low performing students) may come at a cost to their own performance for high-perfomers or is percieved as a sacrifice by low-performers(ie less time to study or work on advanced topics). Insight might be facilitated by survey/observation or better yet, in-depth interview with representatives of high-performance and low-performance in the mixed groups. If we don't have an opportunity to see mixed groups like this in our observations at East, you could still formulate interviews that wwould address kids who might fit into those groups if that technique was employed. nice...now I want to study this topic!
I like your topic too. I think the coolest thing in the world would be if the research you did totally changed your opinion on mixed-ability groups. As a student, I always liked these groupings b/c I felt good when I was able to help other kids in my class if I was more knowledgeable on the topic, and if I wasn't, it was also easier to seek help from my peers instead of my teacher.
Anyhoo, I think it's a rad topic. Maybe one thing to think about, or talk to Dr. Milner about, is wether or not the teachers we are going to observe routinely utilize mixed-ability grouping. It would just suck to have this interesting topic but not really get the opportunity to explore it enough.
Megan..Ditto to all of this. I think this is so interesting. I took an education class last semester and we talked about this mixed-ability grouping strategy. I think it's clear that it can either work... and the gifted kids can learn by explaining to the others (who learn from their peers), OR not work... and the gifted kids do all the work and no one learns. So my question would be, what kind of group work is productive? What work sends the students in the right direction? It can be so easy to piggy back on someone who knows what he/she's doing... but is there a type of assignment that keeps this from happening? I am intrigued and look forward to see where you end up! I like the thoughts on cost, benefit, etc. COOOOOOL.
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