Independent Learning is Out – Group Think is In
January 17, 2012 — pwceducationreformOn the lists of “What’s in / What’s out” that I saw at the end of the year, education trends seems to be consistently missing. One trend in particular, group learning, was conspicuously absent.
From Susan Cain, author of “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.” in her op-ed The Rise of the New Groupthink:
Our schools have also been transformed by the New Groupthink. Today, elementary school classrooms are commonly arranged in pods of desks, the better to foster group learning. Even subjects like math and creative writing are often taught as committee projects. In one fourth-grade classroom I visited in New York City, students engaged in group work were forbidden to ask a question unless every member of the group had the very same question.
I’ve seen this trend in play in my children’s schools – our teachers and administrators even argue that Groupthink provides superior learning results than individual learning. I beg to differ, as do the researchers , psychologists, and