Group Activities
Problem-posing
Provide students with a particular disciplinary problem framed as an open-ended question. The groups must propose an answer in the form of a thesis statement and provide a list of justifications.
Believing and Doubting
(Developed from Peter Elbow) Provide students with a controversial thesis. Ask half of the class to "believe" the claim and half to "doubt" it, developing arguments to support their assigned position. Stage a class-wide debate following the group session.
Question-generating
After instruction in the kinds of questions asked by a particular discipline, have groups brainstorm possible questions related to a provided topic. These questions can form the basis of class discussion or future exams, research projects, or assignments.
Metacognitive Tasks
If students present ideas that differ from those of experts in the field, have small groups analyze differences in reasoning between themselves and the experts. Groups can articulate assumptions, strategies and leaps behind their own viewpoints and those of the experts. This kind of activity helps deepen students' understanding of how knowledge is created.
Group Presentations
Formal, long-term, structured group presentations can help students get to know each other, build teamwork skills, and apply course content. They can also extend course coverage and bring contemporary debates and external sources into the classroom. You can ask different groups to "teach" portions of the class, do additional research and reading, or create questions for discussion. Group presentations might be distributed over the course of a semester, with one group presenting per class period, or be clustered at the end of a module or syllabus.
When creating a group presentation assignment, it is helpful to specify the following:
- Division of labor: Who will be responsible for different aspects of the work and presentation? How will they be held accountable?
- Work timeline: How much in-class time will be devoted to presentation preparation, and how much will students be expected to meet outside of class? When will the presentations take place, and when are supplementary materials due?
- Supplementary materials: Will groups be expected to prepare handouts, multimedia components or written reports in conjunction with their presentations?
- Assessment: Will group presentations be graded individually? By what criteria will presentations be judged? Will there be space in the grade for peer assessment?
Peer Review
Having your students review each other's papers, drafts, components of formal projects is a great way to engage them in the writing process. Below are some sample handouts that instructors have used to guide the peer review process. You may adapt these templates for your own course.
In groups, peer feedback can help students work through various parts of the writing process. Students can review paper elements — such as thesis statements or introductory paragraphs — or entire drafts of papers. Peer review works best when students are given discrete questions to answer about each other's work and clear guidelines for providing feedback.
Response-centered Reviews
Group members provide personal responses to a classmate's draft, describing what they liked, what was confusing, etc.
Advice-centered Reviews
Using norming sessions or teacher-provided scoring guides, have students provide each other with concrete suggestions for improving elements of their writing. Advice-centered reviews work best when a particular element of the paper is highlighted for consideration.
