In yesterday’s post, Teens, Their Brains, & Working In Groups, I mentioned that I would be posting a “The Best…” list today sharing a few very practical and simple ideas on how to work effectively with small groups in the classroom.

This “The Best…” list is a bit different from my lengthy The Best Sites For Cooperative Learning Ideas post. That is a much more involved list, while this post is more focused on the everyday basics of just doing a simple small group activity.

Here are my choices for My Best Posts On The Basics Of Small Groups In The Classroom:

Thirteen teachers left responses in the comments of my post, “What Do You To Make Sure Small Groups Work Well In Class?”

The Best Number For A Small Group

NPR Story On Importance Of Social Skills For Small Group Success

And This Is Why We Have To Help Our Students Learn How To Work In Small Groups

Solutions to Social Loafing is a report on forming small groups in classes that has some very interesting, if not unsurprising, findings.


Dividing younger pupils by ability can entrench disadvantage, study finds
is from The Guardian.

“How Diversity Makes Us Smarter”

Group Work and Social Loafing is an interesting post from Douglas Wise. He talks about a concept that is new to me: “The Ringelmann effect”:

The Ringelmann effect is the tendency for the overall productivity of a group to decrease as its size increases.

Teams work better with a little help from your friends is a summary of a recent study. It might provide something to think about when dividing up students into small groups.

‘To Maximize Group Work, Make It Metacognitive’ is the headline of one of my Education Week Teacher columns.

The science of talking in class is from The Hechinger Report.

STUDY SUGGESTS THAT WOMEN MAY NOT HAVE POSITIVE EXPERIENCES WHEN THEY ARE IN SMALL GROUPS THAT HAVE MORE MEN

SIX ACTIONS I TAKE TO MAKE SMALL GROUPS WORK IN MY VIRTUAL CLASSES

Planning for Fair Group Work is from ASCD Educational Leadership.

How Small-Group Instruction Benefits Your Teaching is a four-part series at my latest Education Week column.

Classroom Reading Groups: 5 Lessons From Recent Studies is from Ed Week.

17 Tweaks That Make a Big Difference in Group Work is from Cult of Pedagogy.

If you found this post useful, you might want to consider subscribing to this blog for free.

You might also want to explore the 760 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.