Small Groups for effective learning

Why Small Groups?

We promote the use of small groups for FUN learning in all our training programmes, as they are very effective in accelerating learning as well as maximising retention.
Even though many learning professionals use small groups to enhance learning, I was often perplexed that very few of them actually know the thinking and the underlying foundations behind the use of small groups. There is a need to explore this subject in this blog to facilitate greater understanding over the use of small groups in learning.
Practitioner’s perspective
From a practitioner’s perspective, it makes sense, as it is easier to manage the participants in small groups. There has been extensive work from academic cum practitioners like Thiagi and Mel Silbermann. Practitioners like Bob Pike use round tables to get group work going while academics like Brufee provided clear epistemological distinction.
Active Learning
When I wrote the book The Magic of Making Training FUN, my colleague Dr Nat and classmate Dr Ram helped me explore the theoretical foundations behind the use of small groups over many cups of tea. One of the involvement tools that we came up with was the small group formation in a less mandated way. I was convinced that small groups led to greater involvement and the one word that consistently came up in all the literature was active learning.
Our own experiences sending children to one on one tuition centres, coaching classes or personal experience of running training for small groups versus large groups weighed heavily on our minds. The goal was in active engagement of the learners. The traditionally large classroom allowed for passivity unlike the small group. This is what prompted Thiagi to say “there can be no passengers in a learning game. “ Research on cognition and the brain confirms our learning that interaction-involving peers is effective in promoting active learning. However our experience also suggested that for learning to take place, the small group has to work well together. Often, in training, I have found people complaining of domination and participants wanting to change groups. So, is this all about collaboration? You bet, it is.
Collaborative Learning
The goal is for the small groups working in pairs or threes to achieve shared learning goals. If an individual chooses to work in a group yet refuse to interact with others as he or she prefers to work alone does not lead to group work. In collaborative learning, the learning activities are expressly designed for and carried out through pairs or small interactive groups. There are three critical areas behind collaborative learning which is driven though small groups. I hope to discuss them in the next blog.

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