Students use notes, books, and each other to improve learning in the classroom.
Students learn better and develop higher-level skills by participating in cooperative (team) activities, compared to traditional classroom teaching methods.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071105095721.htm
Traditional science learning where students work in labs is very good ground for team work and collaborative learning. Discussions among students require them to ask and provide answers to friends, ENHANCING HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS (HOTS). I have a research paper on Collaborative learning for science.
Article Facilitating Cooperative Learning Among Matriculation Biology Students
Team work helps, but learning is a very personal effect, you are forming your brain.
We can learn science alone. But this is not the best way to do it. Alone we tend to think we are the best ones or the worst ones. There is not a middle position and seldom we can tell when we are wrong.
Vilema Magalhães
Dear Vilemar,
you are right with the psychological problems. But the main reason for a team is not to find better or worse collegues. The help by a team are the ideas (wich you alone would not find) and the most important effect - the pushing of the others, the encouraging and not to forget - the critics and corrigenda.
But I repeat, it´s your brain which learns!
A team work can be effective if persons like nasty DJ can be kept out of loop, otherwise because of his greed and bad nature the entire team will collapse and this type of person will leave the team and search for another host
Yes, Dear Hanno. This is what I mean. A team can help us to test our ideas. Alone, we either think we are the best or the worst. That is we do not have parameters to evaluate our actions.
There is as much need as to come up with new challenging ideas. In other words, team work in science is needed inasmuch as individual work is not sufficient to come up with innovation and spearhead science.
There is one implcit assumption along this post and comments that should not be taken for granted, namely the distinction between theoretical research and experimental research. Here the issue is strongly nuanced.
A combination of Teamwork and working individually is the best, the percentage may vary depending on the type of the course (pure theory, experimental, etc.)
Working in a team (Advantages)
- Two heads are better than one: one person’s knowledge and abilities are limited, it could be hard for us to deal with difficult problems without others’ help. On the other side, every individual is different and has unique qualities. Individuals with different experiences and backgrounds increase the creativity of individual team members and the group as a whole. When members apply different skills they are often able to come up with a more effective solution than one person working on the same problem.
- Teamwork also plays a key role in improving relations among the students.
Working individually (advantages)
- Students get the credit for your achievements. As you get to do everything , you are the only one who gets credit for it. You can’t end up in a situation where others do less, but get praised.
- It’s easier to concentrate, focus. You’re interrupted less and don’t need to shift and shape around others. Sometimes group work is less productive because of too much gossiping and chattering. It’s more fun, but less work gets done.
https://blog.toggl.com/2013/10/teamwork-rowing-boat-alone/
Peer leaders serve as role models. They are selected because they have recently completed the course, have done well, and demonstrate good communication and leadership skills. They are enthusiastic and motivated and have the desire to contribute to the learning of their peers.
Pratibha Varma-Nelson et all, Peer-Led Team Learning: A Student-Faculty Partnership for Transforming the Learning Environment , Successful Pedagogies, Pp43-48
It's important in some subject such as Science, Math and Physic need to team work. This may increase the student understanding of the laws and assimilated various scientific theories, Also, improve the level of their performance in science subjects. Of course the involvement of students in the challenges and competitions scientific process, significantly affect through some international test such as Formula 1 (F1).
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/testcalendar/216/2015-formula-1-test-calendar/
Time changes what we traditionally do : studying things alone - not any more. We know that things are more interrelated and therefore interdisciplinary studies are needed for better understanding and better solutions, which intern demands inter-scientists works. It is a professional imperative than a personal flavor or choice. Today other sciences make more contributions to the development of mathematical theories than pure mathematics it self and mathematics make unthinkable contributions to the growth of other sciences. These are few indicators that doing alone is the act of the past.
Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.
---John C. Maxwell
Maxwell should consider that a bad team can be modified into a good one. The same is not true about loneliness.
Dear Brenda,
This bad outcome we can experience when we have contacts with others is not exclusive of teams. We can have people in history that were one of.the best minds we know and yet they were able to rob their friend's work. A sad example was of Virchow, the anatomist. Their are teams and bands. It is not always easy to work with others, but it.ia much more difficult to work alone. Even to party alone is bad. When you make it, you have less satisfaction yet.
In a team each player has his role. Each one is needed. This is what a team is. Can we play soccer without a goal keeper?
Team work is a synergy in thoughts and ideas that enhance coming up with original and creative scientific learning.
When students come to my office complaining about having studied but they achieved low grades in their hour tests, my usual advice for them is to move from studying alone into studying within a team.When a team of say 3 students vow to concentrate on studying, they will exchange questions, point out the errors that may be found in the thinking of a member of a team, bring about new ideas & approaches, and strengthen the assimilation of information into each participating person's mind. This logic also applies to research team work.
Most of my classes are theoretical and I have not tried team assignments/projects.
Only in one of my classes , I give group term projects to students. I have tried different formats (different questions for different groups,etc) but it has not worked very well. There are team Members who do not Contribute to Projects.
In many cases students either just divide the problems between themselves or one or two students have to do all problems and other do nothing or little!. It is obvious from the grades of written exam.and interview.
In some cases, it needs a lot of teamwork to accomplish a specific science project. See this Nature report:
"Physics paper sets record with more than 5,000 authors"
A physics paper with 5,154 authors has — as far as anyone knows — broken the record for the largest number of contributors to a single research article. They involve in the same project.
[ http://www.nature.com/news/physics-paper-sets-record-with-more-than-5-000-authors-1.17567 ]
Teamwork: can it equip university science students with more than rigid subject knowledge?
This study is two-fold in that it is directed at understanding the influence of group constitution on group function as well as the influence of teamwork and cooperative learning on the individual's perception of the subject. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to collect data. The quantitative method used, entailed the use of a self administered questionnaire.
The majority of students indicated that working in teams contributed to their understanding of the subject, that they gained on a personal and social level and that they have learned more in the group than they would have by learning individually.
The fact that students now seem to enjoy learning more makes this approach to learning worthy of pursuit. Present structures of our examinations are failing to adequately test the dimensions of learning we wish them to.
Source:
Blignaut, R. J., & Venter, I. M. (1998). Teamwork: Can it equip university science students with more than rigid subject knowledge?. Computers & Education, 31(3), 265-279.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131598000311
A Ph.D dissertation from Queensland University of Technology for followers of the thread!
Title: If teams are so good.. : science teachers' conceptions of teams and teamwork
Author: Smith, Gregory William (2009)
The focus of this study is the phenomenon of teams and teamwork. Currently the Professional Standards of Queensland’s teachers state that teams are critical to teachers’ work. This study uses a phenomenographic approach to investigate science teachers’ conceptions of teams and teamwork in the science departments of fifteen Queensland State secondary schools. The research identifies eight conceptions of teams and teamwork. The research findings suggest that the team represents a collective of science teachers bounded by the Science Department and their current timetabled subject. Collaboration was found in the study to be an activity that occurred between teachers in the same social space. The research recognises a new category of relationship between teachers, designated as ‘ask-and-receive’. The research identifies a lack of teamwork within the science department and the school. There appears to be no teaming with other subject departments. The research findings highlight the non-supportive team and teamwork policies, procedures and structures in the schools and identify the lack of recognition of the specialised skills of science teachers. The implications for the schools and science teachers are considerable, as the current Professional Standards of Education Queensland and the Queensland College of Teachers provide benchmarks of knowledge and practice of teams and teamwork for teachers. The research suggests that the professional standards relating to teams and teamwork cannot be achieved in the present school environment.
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/31734/
Yes, Behrouz, studying has a social dimension, as Bandura has stated in his social cognitive theory. When students enjoy studying, we can hope that they will continue to become lifelong learners and researchers.
(@YY Yau, it's amazing that >5100 persons are authors. I remember that Higgs said in an interview that he is the type that must have solitude to think alone, whereas in this present era researchers need to collaborate. Perhaps Higgs would be amazed at this paper and its great number of authors!
Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.
--- John C. Maxwell
teamwork and working together
Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.
Henry Ford
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