Size cooperative groups at 2 to 4 students depending on the teacher's intent¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The digest recommends that effective cooperative groups range from 2 to 4 students depending upon the teacher's intent. Pairs "generally provide the greatest amount of interaction between members" and are very effective when the teacher wants each student to explain ideas to one another, while groups of 3 or 4 provide additional perspectives and ideas for problem solving and are effective when teachers want students to consider a number of different notions. The authors note some advocates allow 5 as an upper limit, but their experience indicates a group of 5 naturally tends to break into two groups.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• The teacher must decide the intent of the activity (maximizing pairwise interaction versus gathering multiple perspectives) before choosing group size

Constraints¶

• The authors' experience indicates a group of 5 naturally tends to break into two groups, one of 2 and one of 3

Target Learners¶

• elementary and secondary students

Target Learning Goals¶

• explaining ideas to peers
• considering multiple perspectives in problem solving

Related Strategies¶

• Form diverse groups through random or structured grouping rather than student self-selection

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Daniels, Ed; Gatto, Mike. (1996). The Cooperative Companion Digest (No. 1-4). Thinking about the Nature and Power of Cooperative Learning. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED402038