Abstract:

This study measures the effect of group work on student learning and compares between individual and group work performances.

In general, when would students perform better? When they study on their own or within a group? And what kind of group functioning is more effective? To answer these questions, the author conducted a study on three different classes, all of which are doing level one IT at a first year University level. One topic was selected; for each class the topic was explained and the students got trained on it with hands on experience. The following session, the three classes took a quiz on that subject. Grades were recorded. Following this, different techniques were applied to each class.

Class 1 was asked to re-study the subject on their own. Class 2 was divided into groups and given an exercise to solve in class on the same subject. Automatically, one student per group took lead, started solving, and the others were watching. Class 3 was divided into groups and given an exercise that would force each group member to do a part of the exercise by herself while getting help from the other group members if needed.

Following these exercises, a second quiz was given to each of the three classes. The subsequent change in marks was compared between the three classes. The author further continued the studies by doing a third step, where the quizzes and answers were broadcasted and explained thoroughly to the students. Finally a third quiz was given to test whether an improvement would be recorded.

Which one of the three methods was more effective? And is it really a question of individual or group work? Or is there another factor that emerged from the study? The report details the results obtained and answers the questions addressed here.

Keywords:

learning performance, collaborative learning, individual learning, learning measurement.