Pairing with Peers: Does it Really Work?

When the writers of this article were doing their research, one of the main things they wanted to see was whether or not group work helped students utilize the methods of self-regulation that they had been taught. When a peer was introduced to the working environment, were students better able to create and maintain a plan? Were their plans better when they worked with a partner? Also, did they need to modify the steps in order to successfully work with a peer?

During the study, the section of students that were paired up were given instructions to note each time they helped their partner, or shared their own strategies. Another group of students worked individually.  As I read the article, I assumed that the paired group would do better than the individual group, since these were students labeled as having writing difficulties. I began to question my own hypothesis as I read, however. I thought back to my high school days, and I seem to remember the type of student that didn’t do well with peers. They were unmotivated and easily let anyone else take charge of the group. These were the students that were often behind or performing at a lower level. I wondered how the students in the study would perform if they, too, were that type of student that had a hard time focusing on groups. Working with a peer can be difficult; if you don’t get along, you don’t work together; if you DO get along, you tend to chat about non-school things.

As I read more, however, I noted that there was a lot of teacher-supervision and instruction going on with this group in order to help them identify what they needed to do as they worked together. By being asked to keep track of when they helped their partner, they were better able to focus on the task at hand.

Students who worked as part of a pair were graded better on their papers, and the length of the papers were longer than their single counterparts.  The results of this study made me reevaluate my own feelings about group work. Growing up, I loathed it. I dreaded the paired assignments and would much rather work on my own. I felt that groups held me back and I had no interest in slowing down to match my partner’s speed. I felt I could do much better on my own than with someone else.

I realize now that this isn’t true for all students. I thought students were either like me, and just tolerated group work, or were slackers, and used the time to just mess around. After reading this article, and after learning about learning difficulties in class, I see that a lot of students need this kind of thing. Like we saw in the Marvit video, group learning is helpful if done correctly. It brings out the “leader fish” in students that otherwise don’t really get to experience it.