Group Projects by: Jack Michael

A students walks into a library, He looks around and is quickly shuffled to his computer. He logs into his testing session and begins. In his mind the test is going well. Until question 13, ironic that the hardest question on the test is considered an unlucky number to some. He quietly sits there and starts to panic. He tries anything and everything to recall the material he was taught, nothing works. His brain has now switched to DEFCON four. Before giving up on the question entirely, he goes to his final resort. He thinks back to when the material was taught. Suddenly a memory pops into his head. He remembers a group project that was done in class. The ball is rolling in his brain. After a few moments of thinking, he has chosen the correct answer. After the test is finished, he again thinks back to when he did the group project. Not only can he recall the material being taught, but he also remembers the friendships and memories that were forged throughout the project. A friend then snaps him out of his thinking session, and he looks towards the task ahead. 

            

As students walk into a classroom, they are often greeted with a worksheet of some sort. After that the teacher gives them a long lecture with a PowerPoint at their side. Through trying to understand myself as a learner, I have noticed that one of my strengths is that I learn well from lectures. Although, When you’re greeted with the same teaching style every day, it becomes exasperating. You lather and rinse but don’t repeat. When a group project was introduced into the instruction, there would always be an excitement that filled the room. Not because I was excited to start working on the project, but because this offered me a much-needed break in the endless loop of lectures I was given that day. I was also allowed to talk to my friends. Whether the conversation was about the project itself or it was about something entirely irrelevant, I still enjoyed talking with my friends. A group project allows students to talk to each other freely without being scolded.

In our education system, we ask students to memorize the information they are taught then write it out on paper. Most students will tell you that most of the information they will cram into their heads will probably only go into their short-term memory.  So when a quarter test, final exam, or state test rolls around later on in the year. The students will repeat the same process of jamming information into their heads. This creates an endless loop of information flowing through the short-term memory of the students.  As I said before, group projects help lodge information into the long-term memory of students. Although, every teacher knows that no two students learn the same way. So how do we find a project that will benefit every student? The answer is simple, ask the students. You know yourself better than anyone else. So this means that every student understands which methods help him or her learn the best. Allow students to choose their own project ideas. That way. Students are able to enjoy their project and get the full benefit of the reinforcement of said subject.

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he will eat forever. “ Life lessons aren’t exactly in the curriculum of any school district. We all try to instill within others the lessons we have learned, but most of the time others won’t listen. Teamwork is a virtue that is extremely valued everywhere.  At some point in everyone’s lives, they need to work with someone else. If our children are told to sit quietly and not collaborate with each other, how will they ever learn teamwork? We can tell them all we want that teamwork is important, but if we never give students a chance to learn how to work on a team, we are doing them a disservice. In this instance we are only giving our students the fish, we aren’t teaching them how to fish.  Although if we give them a group project, we are giving them the opportunity to learn how to learn teamwork firsthand. We are teaching them how to fish, and if we teach them they will eat forever.

I ask all educators to question their daily teaching style. Ask yourself if you would be bored in your own class. Chance are if you would, then you teaching style is repetitive. I am of the opinion that almost every problem has a very simple solution, the solution to a repetitive teaching style, is to break the flow. I beg you to add in as many group assignment and projects as you can. As you can see, I believe that group projects have an extremely powerful ability to prepare our students for the future. I leave you with this final question, if we aren’t preparing students for the future, what are we preparing them for?