In past articles we’ve dealt with the first two tools in the adult educators’ toolbox: Lecture and Question/Answer (Questions, Open Questions, and Bad Answers). Today we’ll consider tool #3, Group Work.
Why use group work?
Let’s imagine that there is a woman who is pregnant for the first time, and she’s wondering what childbirth itself is like. Who is more prepared to answer that question? A man (who can never give birth), a woman who hasn’t given birth, or a woman who has given birth? Obviously, it’s the woman who has given birth who can talk about the realness of the event with authority and who can therefore best help. Yes, others can bring intellectual knowledge, but experiential knowledge is often key to helping a person more fully understand.
While it’s often true the pastor has more intellectual knowledge of the Bible than the people he’s serving, it’s also true that the people we serve have a variety of life experiences. Many of those life experiences can be valuable—sometimes tremendously so—for helping our learners more fully understand how a segment of the Bible applies to their lives. How do we tap into that experience?
Group work is often the wise way to do so, for a very simple reason; people who wouldn’t think of speaking up in a group of 100 or 50, or even 20, will often be quite comfortable speaking up in a group of 3 to 5. Then, as you allow each small group to report, those experiences can be shared with the bigger group. That’s valuable! And a group size of three to five is optimal. If groups get bigger than five, the likelihood is that some people won’t participate. But use wisdom. If a group of six to eight makes sense because they’re all sitting at the same table, or you don’t want to split up couples, that’s fine.
In addition, group work helps guarantee the second highest opportunity for learner activity of any of the teaching tools. (Only research will be higher, which we’ll discuss next month.) Remember a truth of learning: The more active the learner is in the learning process, the more likely he or she will remember the material. Using groups helps to ensure higher learner activity, which ensures that more of your learners will learn more of the material. For those reasons, using group work in your teaching is highly valuable.
What are some possible drawbacks of using group work?
There is no perfect teaching tool. Every tool has both strengths and weaknesses, and group work has its weaknesses. Perhaps these would jump out as the clearest weaknesses:
- Group work is time-consuming.
- If a group gets off track, the group members might miss the point completely.
- If a group has a dominant personality in it, that person may stifle other participants in the group.
How do I address each of those potential drawbacks?
- Since group work is time-consuming, limit how often you use it.
- To keep groups on track, the teacher needs to provide crystal-clear directions for what the group needs to do. That should be all that’s necessary. However, if the teacher senses that groups could become confused because the subject matter is difficult or because participants have personalities that tend to get off track, the teacher might surreptitiously eavesdrop. If groups are getting off track, a smile and some redirection will often help. The leader might say, “Have you considered verse 5 in this chapter? What thoughts does that passage bring to this discussion?”
- To prevent one person dominating, the teacher could appoint reporters in each group using something innocuous. Some examples: “The reporter is the person who got up the earliest today,” or “. . . who most recently watched a sporting event,” or “. . . who most recently ate at a restaurant.” A second way to deal with dominant personalities is to start with individual work and then move to group work. For example, you might ask everyone, on their own, to answer this: “We’re told Mary treasured these things in her heart. On your own, decide on two things that you think Mary may have particularly treasured.” After you give them time to do that (one to two minutes, perhaps), group them and say, “As a group, decide on four things Mary may have treasured.” Because you’ve upped the number expected from the group, the group needs to share their thoughts to come up with the number you’ve asked for. No one can use only his or her answer.
When might it be wise to use group work?
Here are some suggestions:
- When people have enough knowledge of the subject matter, or proper experiences, to discuss intelligently.
- When you want all learners to have the chance for input at some level.
- When you want to explore application and/or appropriation.
- When it’s a/the key point of the lesson.
Prior knowledge of the subject matter—either from teaching or experience—is often a key to solid group work. For example, if you were teaching a lesson on how creation leads us to marvel at God’s power and wisdom, you could do this break-out group activity: “Describe three ways your travels have led you to marvel at God’s wonderful creation.” Now, if at least some of your people have done some traveling, that will work really well! But, if none (or few) of your people have traveled, that question will likely flop. The learners just don’t have the knowledge or experience to discuss the activity intelligently.
The second suggestion—that group work gives all learners the chance to participate—was discussed earlier in the article. Let’s move on to the third and fourth suggestions.
It’s in the areas of appropriation/application and the key point(s) of the lesson that the teacher wants the learners to do the most work. The more the learners are working with the material, the more likely they are to remember it. And yes, you as a teacher can suggest application/appropriation thoughts. But finally, each person is unique and has unique experiences. Each person will often bring application thoughts the teacher had never considered, and everyone in the class can be blessed by those thoughts.
One final thought on group work. For group work to be excellent, it’s imperative that the teacher gives the groups something weighty to explore. Yes, there’s a time for exploring how the person in the account might have felt (for example, “Imagine that you were the widow; what emotions might you have felt, or what thoughts might have been going through your mind after Jesus raised your son from the dead?”). But group work will be far more valuable when the group is tasked to deal with a deeper, life-impacting subject matter. Connected to that, group work becomes even more valuable when the group is tasked with drawing insights from the text. For example, after reading 1 Corinthians 15, the great resurrection chapter, the teacher could give this assignment to the groups: “Decide on three thoughts from this chapter that would be particularly encouraging for a believer whose loved one has just gone to heaven. If needed, explain why each thought could be encouraging.” That exercise deals with critical, real-life issues and allows your participants to mine their thoughts from the Bible. In general, you’ll find that most Bible study participants are willing—and able—to dig into exercises like that. Because of their high activity, the learners will be far more likely to remember the insights gleaned.
Blessings on your teaching!
Professor Thomas Kock
Next issue: What is research learning, and how can I use it wisely?