By Lauren Nguyen and Eden LaClair, Staff Writers
Most teachers assign group projects in an effort to promote collaboration between their students, but the idea has not exactly been well received. Students often complain about members of their group slacking off and leaving the remaining members to complete the assignment alone, which questions the efficacy of the shared assignments. In truth though, the bottom line is that the group’s distribution of work and productivity depends on the amount of initiative each member is willing to take to push their peers forward.
Group projects generally provide beneficial opportunities for students to improve their communication skills, work together and be proactive and dependable. All of these are skills that students will utilize in their future, making group projects so popular among teachers. Working together as a group also allows students to reinforce the knowledge of a certain unit or section together. Additionally, it enables the students to meet other students and ideally, learn from one another.
“I want kids collaborating as much as possible. So, everyday I have them collaborate, whether it’s Taboo or doing an activity together,” said Kelly Ducat, a social science teacher at Fountain Valley High School.
In some instances though, students aren’t collaborative or open enough to reap the full benefits of studying with a few of their peers. The reasons why the group may not work well together varies: they may feel as if their partners aren’t making an effort, dislike their classmates or that their partners aren’t focused enough on their assignment. Students’ tendencies to put off work may even strengthen because they feel as if they are able to rely on their diligent group members.
The bottom line is that all the members carry a piece of the responsibility. As the saying goes, “teamwork makes the dream work.” Even though a student may get understandably discouraged from the lack of enthusiasm or effort put in by their other members, they should assume the responsibility if none of their team members do. If one diligent student tries to lead the group, he or she may be able to bring all of the group’s members together to produce a product all of them are proud of.
“You gotta learn to be a team player and work with other people. And maybe it’s your job, maybe you’re going to be a leader or a boss one day, and it’s your job to pick up that one kid that’s slacking, and then one day, you’ll be the a CEO of a company,” says Ducat.
All in all, students should utilize the chance to lighten their workload and divvy it up instead of spending their time lamenting about the circumstances they have been placed in. It’s part of learning to accustom to a condition they don’t want to be in and a step forward into the real world.
