SMALL GROUP TEACHING AND

LEARNING
UNIT 4
GSM IIES
COMPILED BY Ms. Mokone
SMALL-GROUP, PROBLEM-BASED TEACHING
 Small group, learner-centred teaching
is very popular.

Construct their own understanding of

SMALL-GROUP, the concepts

PROBLEM-BASED
TEACHING Remember the concepts better

Use these concepts in real life

 WHY IS SMALL-GROUP TEACHING
EDUCATIONALLY USEFUL?
• 1. Allows learners to talk for longer time.
• 2. Allows teachers to individualise teaching.
• 3. Provides opportunities for teachers to use learners as
teachers.
• 4. Creates a learning culture
In addition, the process of group work develops
many of the skills that future citizens need.
-Develop strong interpersonal skills
-Develop strong co-operative and collaborative
working skills
-Develop strong problem-solving and critical thinking
skills if group- work activities
are problem-based.
 KEY PRINCIPLES OF GOOD SMALL-
GROUP LEARNING
• Plan carefully
• Remain active throughout the lessons (the
teacher)
• Resource group work appropriately.

COMMON PROBLEMS WITH SMALL

GROUP-WORK
• Small-group work, has both strengths and
weaknesses.
• If it is used without preparation, it can be
less educationally useful.
• It is also a difficult method to use well.
WHAT ARE THE COMMON WEAKNESSES OF SMALL GROUP WORK?

1.Teachers manage group work poorly

Using time inefficiently( teachers underestimate the time the
learners need to do their task)
Assuming that learners know how to work in groups(As a
teacher you need to prepare your learners to be able to work in
groups)
Organising physical space inappropriately (Good learning
takes place if the groups are not too large or too small)
 Teachers mediate learning poorly

Teachers sometimes think that because small-group

work is learner-centred, they have a very limited
role to play, So:
They do not plan learning carefully enough

No planning of tasks and activities that encourage

discussion or cooperative work.
No all-important conclusion to group work lessons
Teachers underestimate
learner resistance
Teacher often think learners will like this kind of teaching,
but then find that learners are resistant to it.

Reason being:
 Feel threatened
 Feel group work is a waste of time
 Do not know why the group work is being introduced
• NB: A teacher need to inform the learners the
importance of group work.
• Allow learners to discover the opportunity of a group
work.
 PLANNING SMALL
GROUP TEACHING
• Planning is always critical to successful teaching.
• But when a teacher uses a method where the pace of learning are
driven by learners, new planning challenges emerge.

What are these challenges?

• In a lessons where the teacher dictates the pace – such as

whole class teaching – the teacher can clarify
misunderstandings and steer the lesson as he or she teaches.

• In small group discussions, we do not have this level of control.

• So, we need to imagine ourselves into the lesson and predict

likely learner responses to activities.
Design activities that motivate
discussion and resource these
appropriately

The teacher need to have skills to design

activities that teach and be able to develop or
select resources that encourage learning.
Activities that will;

allow learners to share ideas

encourages conversation and
debate
develops problem-solving and
thinking skills.
Teach learners how to work in groups

Don’t assume that your learners know how to work

in groups, rather teach them.

by using the following guidelines:

• -Build learner trust in themselves and in others

• -Create a climate of common purpose
• -Allocate definite roles to all members
• -Process roles
• -Design activities that promote co-operative group skills
Organise the physical
learning environment

There are ideas that as a teacher you can use to

organize your space;
Think of ways to form groups quickly
Plan what you want before the lesson and then hand
the learner instructions at the class.
Choose group organisation that suit your purpose
(e. g pairs)
Keep groups small to keep the noise down
Structure your class in permanent group formation
Plan the lesson conclusion – the
debriefing - carefully
• Problem-based discussions allow learners to brainstorm, debate, develop different ideas.
• Some of these ideas may be incorrect and many of the ideas will be disorganised.
• Sometimes the debate in groups may have been so fierce that personal conflict
developed.
• This makes the lesson conclusion important.
• You need to set aside enough time to:
-Deal with any personal conflict and any controversy that has emerged during the
debate.
-Organise the many ideas learners have developed
-Correct incorrect ideas that may have risen in group discussions
 What are some of the activities
teachers will be involved in as they
manage and mediate small-group
learning?
MEDIATING AND
• Forming groups of an appropriate
MANAGING size

GROUP WORK • What is an appropriate group

composition?
• Manage time carefully
• -Provide intellectual leadership
• Design tasks to develop both depth and breadth
• -Consciously develop language skills
• Use groups imaginatively
• Create a supportive learning environment –
• Conclude lessons carefully
 • Throughout our lives we deal with problems.

• These problems can be practical real life

experiences or abstract intellectual problems.

PROBLEM- • So, Problem-based teaching rests on the

assumption that human beings are
BASED fascinated by puzzles

LEARNING
• We do not like things which do not make
sense.

• We want to find solutions to problems, to

contradictions, incompleteness and so on.
 Experiments
-Science experiments and Social science
problems are an example of curriculum-based
problems.

Different kinds of Case studies

-Written descriptions of problem situations
problem-based based closely on real life events – often form the basis
of problem based teaching.
learning and
Role play and simulations
teaching -Instead of a written down case study role plays
and simulations teach by either immersing in a teacher
constructed simulation situation such as factory
processes or asking learners to play real life roles such
as the roles of a parent and a child having a discussion
about going to a party.
 Firstly, learners investigate a
problem, then discover it and then
they bring solutions and suggestions
to the problem with justification.

Why is problem-
based learning Secondly, they learn to use the
academic knowledge
educationally
useful Thirdly, Learners develop academic
skills (skills such as researching,
problem-solving, critical thinking and
writing) and interpersonal skills
(including cooperation and empathy)
 Using project

It develops the learner’s ability

to:

Research or investigate an issue

Organise the information they collect
Present the information collected in a
structured well-argued manner.
 Teaching through
experiments

• Learners learn from experiments by:

-Observing the experiment (modelling)

-Experimenting ( by practising)
-Thinking about what they observed and experienced
-Relating all of this to their purpose: solving a problem
by applying

Experiments, like project work, emphasise the

learning of both a process and a product. Learners
should learn subject knowledge (content) and
knowledge of the scientific process (Experiments).
 Both role plays and
Role plays, Case simulations attempt to
studies and link a life and learning.
simulations
• Role plays do this by asking
learners to play a role.(For
example, learners could act as a
bus driver, person living with Aids
etc.)
• By doing this they learn to
empathise.
• Simulations link learning to and
life by recreating a situation(For
example, the teacher could
construct a situation where a
 • Plan carefully – know why
How do we you doing the game
organise this
kind of teaching • Conducting the game – Be
energetic and alert
THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!