Group work - yay or nay?

[bLub]

Definitively alone!! I hate group work. When I'm alone I can just do what I want and in groups it's sometimes hard to get your way.

[Charizard]

I like paired work, but only when you're paired with someone of about equal knowledge on the subject/willingness to work. It does suck when you are grouped with people who sit there and expect you to do everything, or don't know anything and don't bother to find out. I think being in a pair is the best because you get the benefits of collaboration (discussion, someone that may know things you don't) without the hassle of logistics and politics between people and whatever.

[Amber]

Depends. For some poster project it is fun to have someone to draw and glue things together. For research projects sometimes ideas clash, and it makes me mad. It also depends on the group. Overall I like working alone because you chose your ideas, you take leadership, and less drama. Group projexts tend to waste a lot of time (talking, laughing...well atleast for me) and there is always the two people who want to take leadership. Then there is always an unequal amount of work per person, but with that said, if you got some great people it can turn out awesome

[Summer Glau]

Group work is great if you work with people who actually care and want to do well. You can motivate each other and group members can share ideas that you wouldn't have thought about if you were on your own. On the flip side, if you're stuck in a group full of lazy people, then it's torture

One weird thing I find about group work is that I tend to do better when I don't work with my friends. Maybe it's because I don't get distracted as much Does anyone else feel the same way?

[blenderer]

I feel that I'm kinda repeating what the others have pointed out but anyway:

It definitely depends on the members of the group. If everyone's okay with working in a group and willing to do work and take the project (whatever it is) seriously, group work can be very rewarding and even great fun! On the other hand, if even one member of your group isn't willing to co-operate, you'll end up doing it all by yourself in order to get good grades, which is far from enjoyable. But you just need to be straight about who you want to work with, if someone comes and asks if they could be part of your group and you know that they ask that just because they know you do your schoolwork well so that they wouldn't need to work so much, you need to refuse point blank (it's your grade and possibly your future career on the plate!!) and ask from someone you think is willing to actually do work.

So really, if you're the only one in the group who's really into completing the project and reaching good marks, it's a definite NAY, but if you work with people who put equal effort in the project as you do, a nasty history project for example, can turn to a fun and rewarding experience, which leads to YAY!

[Austin Glau]

My math teacher often likes to comment on the district system of education and the curriculum, and he said that after thinking about motives the class as a whole could have an improved grade or effort, he made a group quiz. Considering most people didn't make it into the group, it was succesfull for those who made it (there was a cut-off point). That was an interesting experiment, i think that group work works as long as the studnets in the group are suffeciently motivated with either a want to learn or a want not to let down their peers.

[BustinJieber]

I would have to say that I love and hate group work at the same time.

In the school where I take IB, there are 4 kinds of people:

Smart and Hard-working.

Smart and Lazy.

Dumb and Hard-working.

Dumb and Lazy.

It really depends on the quantity of people you would be working with, but for me, I always seem to end up with the dumb and lazy people. You know, the people that only know how to do meagre lab-slave work, such as: fetch the slides, set up the microscope, clean out the test tubes, get me this, get me that.

Of course, when you're paired with suitable people, work can be a breeze in any class. However, I would only choose to work in groups for preliminary work, such as lab experiments and brainstorming/research. When it comes to actually writing things like labs and assignments, I prefer to do it myself, or else I don't learn anything.

But of course, having a friend to borrow some references never hurts

[Guest saturday]

I like group work, maybe it's because I'm pretty willing to take bad grades in exchange for social life. I find that being around people makes me work better, because the stuff you do is divided around and nobody gets swamped with everything, and because I have to work since if I don't, everybody suffers.

I usually work with friends, so group can sometimes turn into a gossiping... And it doesn't help that when I did a pratice presentqation for my pre-IB TOK course, I worked with someone who matches me: slacking and not awfully motivated. We did the presentation though, even though it took us nearly 4 hours just to get 2 pages of stuff...

I think whether group work suits you or not is a pretty individual thing, for some people it's good and for some people it's receipt for disaster.

[JoeG]

Nay. I usually hate group work. If it is just "busy work", a lab/experiment I have no problem with it. The reason I don't like group work is that I don't get as much experience with the material if I had done the work alone. Also, people usually slack off, and I have to end up doing their work.

[Gerrit]

My main concern with group work is the people who always slack off. It are always the same persons who just lay low, and still get the grade. Individual project shows what 1 person has done, not what others have done for the group.

[Jason08]

NAY... i find it a lot easier to work with one-self. You get more accomplished. If you are in a group with friends, chances are you will chat and get off topic of what is to get done. This is just personally experience like when we tried to do a study group for the SAT... total fail as we ended up watching the twilight zone tehe

[IOwnAndPwnU]

Group work!

I hate group work because:

• work inefficiently
  
• if you get a high mark, someone may take the credit and/or you may feel as if you don't deserve it
  
• slackers
  
• bossy people who "delegate" but do nothing
  
• scheduling can be a challenge
  
• you may end up doing all the work
  
• you don't approve of the group's ideas
  

[Tilia]

One weird thing I find about group work is that I tend to do better when I don't work with my friends. Maybe it's because I don't get distracted as much Does anyone else feel the same way?

I understand what you mean, but I prefer working with friends. Suppose we're rather disciplined. But it can be a good idea to work with someone you disagree with. When I did my ToK oral, I did not agree with my partner on any point at all, but we discissed and compromised and it turned out really well in the end. Gues we complemented each other in some strange way.

[moon_flower]

depends on the people in the group really, sometimes the people actually work but other times they dont and only a few people end up working like with my group 4 project group...

[slizzie]

I think group work can be great with the right group. Generally though, at school, I prefer to work on my own. Partly because we have such a small cohort and we are with the same people most of the time. Also if you're on your own, you can control what grade you get by how much work you put in, but with group work you have to rely on everyone else pitching in as much time. Plus disagreements always occur and there's always one person not happy with what you choose to do or how you do it.

[kingdomx]

For chemistry, we do a lot of group work - practicals, and I do not enjoy it at all. The people who I work with are my friends, but they are always fighting over who gets to light the match or measure out the 10mls of HCL. and then, when they're done fighting the periods basically over, and then none of them fight over cleaning up the mess that they've made. Two words to describe that grow and up

[dessskris]

I REALLY REALLY HATE group works

why??

because usually I am the one who is working

it is not that I dont wanna work, but I also have HW from other subjects

and my friend never has the willingness to WORK!!

like now, I am having a group presentation for Econs

there are 6 groups: 4 groups with 3 members each; and 2 groups with 2 members each

mine is the pair work one. my partner is not helping me

this is a holiday HW and the holiday is 2 weeks long

I as a group leader started working and made the presentation. I provided examples but havent explained all the things. so I left some parts blank for my partner to answer. and I have drawn the diagram too. I have written the important points and she just needed to put additional information. or find pictures. I sent her my work in the beginning of first week holiday because I like to finish things early. I asked her to finish it and send it back to me and I will finalise it.

first week, no email from her

second week, no email from her

the day before school starts, no email for her

first day (today), first period=ECONOMICS. die!!

he asked like how many of you are ready, and nobody was ready. then we decided to start presenting tomorrow and the next day. my groups goes the second and tomorrow we will have econs on the FIRST two periods!!!!! OMG!!!

my partner: des, where is your work? I thot you asked me to continue doing it?

me: what? I sent it to you thru email?

my partner: really?? I never check my email. I only check Facebook

me: oh I thot you check ur email

.......

what I remember is that when I sent her the email, I have told her thru FB to check her email.

I was so shocked. like I thought she has been doing the work but then.....

actually yesterday I went to school for a choir rehearsal. and I met my econs tcher and I showed him my halfway-done-presentation already. so he knew that I worked hard while my partner did not.

she might just lied because she didnt want me to be angry, but who knows? and it was also my fault for not reminding her during the holiday. I have always been hating group works. I have always been the one who worked hard and I find group works not so helping EXCEPT in lab work cases

if we are conducting an experiment, sometimes it would be good to do it in a group rather than individually. but still, the making lab reports part is still individual work

[simplisticwonders]

I love group work in which we get to choose our partners.

i hate group work in which my group is assigned. in those cases, I end up doing all the work. the curse of being "the smartest kid in the class"

(common belief that if I can't do it, nobody else can)

[Miraine]

I hate group work because I'm a bit of a dbag so I end of doing most of the work and supervising the rest just to make sure the project turns out the way I want it to. I can't help it.

[Jazmine]

I used to love group work but now I dont really like it very much. I guess for me it depends on the subject and who your group members are but you cant always get good members. If I was to work with friends yes we might goof off a tad in the beginning but we would get to work and turn in a good product. On the the hand if I was paired with different people there is that sometime akward factor to deal with and i dont know its just different. Most of the past group projects I did we would go hang out at someones house which can be wierd to do if your not really good friends with your members.

Another problem is that everyone would have completely different views, mindsets and work ethics. What do you do if your the only one working? Or if someone is being bossy and controlling? Group work may not be something we all love especially when we are put with difficult people but we still have to do the work and hope for a good grade.

Edited December 29, 2010 by Jazmine