The Wonder of Structure

Yesterday I attempted a self guided lesson where students work in groups to learn different concepts. I created a worksheet that had very strategic questions to lead them to specific conclusions but was still open enough that they had to apply critical thinking skills. In my first class, I instructed them to complete the worksheet in 20 minutes and then I would proceed into a lecture to connect the different concepts. After 20 minutes, out of 5 groups, not one was even close to finishing. I am entirely confident that most of the work could have been completed within that time, especially when I was going around helping each group. The problem was that I would get to a group and ask questions which I had prepared before hand but once I would leave, that group refused to do any work. The activity ended up taking 35 minutes up to the end of class. I would spend about 1 minute helping each group before I would move on. Since they only work done was when I was at a particular group, each group would work 1 minute every 5 minutes. Thus, out of a 35 minute activity each group probably only worked for 7 minutes.

However, without giving up I tried to tweak the lesson. They had no motivation to complete the worksheet so for my second class, I gave an incentive. There were 4 questions, each worth 2 bonus points. If I had to help a a group more than once for a particular question they could only receive 1 point for that question. If they are at a standstill in the group, I wanted them to try to figure it out themselves. Not one group asked me more than 1 question on a problem. After 20 minutes, I checked each group's work. They were all completed and the lowest score was a 5 and I could actually finish the lesson.

After talking with my cooperating teacher, he thinks the structure and incentives made a difference but also the quality of the students. I don't know what I think but I wished I would have had the incentives in the first class.