Benefits of Group Work

There are several benefits for including group work in your class. Sharing
these benefits with your students in a transparent manner helps them
understand how group work can improve learning and prepare them for life
experiences (Taylor 2011). The benefits of group work include the following:

 Students engaged in group work, or cooperative learning, show

increased individual achievement compared to students working
alone. For example, in their meta-analysis examining over 168 studies of
undergraduate students, Johnson et al. (2014) determined that students
learning in a collaborative situation had greater knowledge acquisition,
retention of material, and higher-order problem solving and reasoning
abilities than students working alone. There are several reasons for this
difference. Students’ interactions and discussions with others allow the
group to construct new knowledge, place it within a conceptual framework
of existing knowledge, and then refine and assess what they know and do
not know. This group dialogue helps them make sense of what they are
learning and what they still need to understand or learn (Ambrose et al.
2010; Eberlein et al. 2008). In addition, groups can tackle more complex
problems than individuals can and thus have the potential to gain more
expertise and become more engaged in a discipline (Qin et al 1995; Kuh
2007). Group work creates more opportunities for critical thinking and can
promote student learning and achievement.
 Student group work enhances communication and other professional
development skills. Estimates indicate that 80% of all employees work in
group settings (Attle & Baker 2007). Therefore, employers value effective
oral and written communication skills as well as the ability to work
effectively within diverse groups (ABET 2016-2017; Finelli et al.
2011). Creating facilitated opportunities for group work in your class allows
students to enhance their skills in working effectively with others (Bennett &
Gadlin 2012; Jackson et al. 2014). Group work gives students the
opportunity to engage in process skills critical for processing information,
and evaluating and solving problems, as well as management skills through
the use of roles within groups, and assessment skills involved in assessing
options to make decisions about their group’s final answer. All of these
skills are critical to successful teamwork both in the classroom and the
workplace.
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