THE EFFECTS OF GROUPING ON EDUCATORS 1 THE EFFECTS OF GROUPING ON EDUCATORS: CONSIDERING ABILITY AND PERSONALITY A Research Project Presented to the Templar School of Education Johnson University In Fulfillment Of the Requirement for the Degree Master of Arts in Holistic Education
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THE EFFECTS OF GROUPING ON EDUCATORS 1
THE EFFECTS OF GROUPING ON EDUCATORS:
CONSIDERING ABILITY AND PERSONALITY
A Research Project
Presented to the
Templar School of Education
Johnson University
In Fulfillment
Of the Requirement for the Degree
Master of Arts in Holistic Education
By
Shana M. Kinley
April 2016
The Effects of Grouping in the Classroom:
THE EFFECTS OF GROUPING ON EDUCATORS 2
Considering Ability and Personality
Introduction
Grouping has the ability to dramatically impact the environment and instruction of a
classroom. Currently, grouping research stands at the forefront of educational research.
Scholars have suggested that classroom instruction benefits most when students work in groups.
Strategies for instructional grouping include: whole group, small groups, and individual work.
Researchers have diverse opinions regarding the organization of these groups. Rowcliffe (2006)
suggests educators should group students based on their ability whereas Sapon-Shevin (2010)
places emphasis on pairing students in heterogeneous and homogeneous groups.
Another aspect of research influencing the classrooms includes studies on people’s
personalities. Scholars in this field of research strive to understand the following: what
characterizes a personality, how to assess one’s personality, and how to enhance and embrace
one’s personality.
This study aims to combine modern research on grouping strategies and personality
characteristics in order to improve grouping structures in the classroom. Literature reviewed and
research collected will be used to understand the concepts behind grouping and personality
research and to analyze the results of the project that is to follow.
Literature Review
The literature reviewed for this project includes scholarly articles and journals that
discuss types of grouping styles in instruction, personality characteristics, and personality
assessments. The push for grouping strategies grew out of the race to close the achievement gap
which developed from the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Beecher & Sweeny, 2008). As a
result, educators and scholars worked to find grouping strategies that met the needs of their
THE EFFECTS OF GROUPING ON EDUCATORS 3
students. Four major groupings include whole group instruction, small group instruction,
individual instruction, and grouping by ability.
One can break each grouping technique into sub techniques or sub categories. For
example, under the umbrella of small group instruction, scholars have identified the
subcategories of cooperative learning and peer learning. Also, grouping by ability includes the
sub-strategies of heterogeneous grouping, homogeneous grouping, differentiated instruction and
grouping by demographics. Each of these sections and subsections help educators better
understand different aspects of grouping styles.
In addition to literature regarding grouping styles, literature concerning personalities and
personality assessment was reviewed. “The word personality is derived from the Latin term
persona, originally representing the theatrical mask used by ancient dramatic players (Millon,
2010, p. 1227). Over time, the meaning of personality has evolved to regard the true
characteristics of a person, as opposed to the ones they portray. Scholars have developed many
types of assessments to identify these characteristics; two personality assessments considered for
this study include The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the True Color Inventory.
An analysis of grouping and personalities demonstrates their importance to classroom
instruction. Furthermore, implementing the data from said analysis can enrich the group and
classroom community.
Grouping
Before schools divided students by age level, all students met in one school house at the
same time for instruction. Grouping proved essential for this multi-age classroom to ensure that
every student continued to learn. The modern grade level (K-12) classroom structure has
minimalized the use of multiage classrooms. Regarding gap closure, Hoffman (2002) comments:
THE EFFECTS OF GROUPING ON EDUCATORS 4
“The K-12 structure has given instructors the opportunity to teach based on developmental
ability. The current struggle, however, regards meeting the needs of all students rather than
teaching to the age median” (p. 47).
Grouping styles. As educators and scholars seek to find the best grouping techniques,
they have developed multiple styles designed to meet the needs of instruction, student ability,
and cooperative learning. Instruction-specific grouping techniques include whole group
instruction, small group instruction, and individual instruction.
Whole group instruction. Whole group instruction remains the most common grouping
in the current classroom settings; teachers and students may lead instruction. Regardless of who
leads instruction, the audience all has its attention on one presenter. Ward, Kennedy, and Rivera
(2015) note that focused lessons during the whole group instruction setting provide students with
anchor experiences for each content area. Educators can take this time to introduce a new topic
or concept before delivering differentiated instruction. Whole group instruction also allows the
teacher to bring the students together for the close of a unit.
Hoffman (2002) found that whole group instruction promotes community building,
planning, introducing new concepts/skills, reading, writing, and thinking strategies, and provides
an opportunity for whole group closure. Teachers may use this time to have students work
toward a class goal (e.g. earning points based on good attentiveness).
Whole group instruction also gives teachers the opportunity to model skills. Modeling
instruction especially benefits English Language Learners and English as a Second Language
classrooms where educators constantly model commands, word pronunciation, and behavior
expectations. Conner (2004) suggests that modeling during reading instruction can benefit all
students as teachers demonstrate the behaviors that good readers exhibit.
THE EFFECTS OF GROUPING ON EDUCATORS 5
During student-led whole group instruction, presenters have the opportunity to develop
and practice professional development skills. Weimer (2013) writes, “By doing presentations,
students learn how to speak in front a group, a broadly applicable professional skill. They learn
how to prepare material for public presentation, and practice (especially with feedback) improves
their speaking skills” (para. 1).
Small group instruction. In the classroom, a small group consists of a collection of three
to six students. Researchers encourage educators to place students in groups this size to promote
social and academic learning. Groups larger than six would take away from the small group
dynamic. Teachers, or students—or a combination of both—may lead small group activities.
Hoffman (2002) proposess that teacher led groups provide guided practice, task-focused help, an
opportunity for shared reading, and writing assessments. Student led groups, on the other hand,
provide opportunities for supported practice, shared tasks, collaborative responses, common
interest, and sharing reading and writing.
Cooperative learning. Slavin (2006) notes, “Cooperative learning refers to instructional
methods in which students work in small groups to learn academic content” (p. 309). To make
the most of the opportunities available during small group instruction, students “may be asked to
work on projects, to tutor each other, or just to help each other as needed” (Slavin, 2006, p. 309).
To continue, Slavin (2006) indicates the following:
One appeal of cooperative learning regards motivation through group rewards. Students
are encouraged to help one another so that the whole group will succeed. If not all group
members demonstrate learning then no one gets points. Individual accountability, which
means that the group is rewarded based on the sum or average of individual children's
performance, not on an overall group task (p. 309).
THE EFFECTS OF GROUPING ON EDUCATORS 6
In addition to the academic achievement gained during cooperative learning, students also
develop social and emotional skills. Creating a group rewards system can motivate students to
communicate with one another to encourage the learning of their peers. Furthermore,
dissatisfaction within the group structure provides an opportunity to show students constructive
ways to express their emotions.
Peer learning. Peer learning has been defined as the act of gaining academic
understanding through small group instruction. Chief research on peer learning comes from
Blum-Kulka and Dvir-Gvirsman (2010). These scholars built their peer learning research around
foundational theories from Piaget and Vygotsky.
Occasionally, small group instruction can sometimes lead to conflict within the group.
Blum-Kulka and Dvir-Gvirsman (2010) note Piagetian theory which suggests, “Peer interaction
promotes such cognitive conflict by exposing discrepancies between different participants’ level
of knowledge, resulting in a state of disequilibrium” (p. 444). Moreover, from the Vygotskian
perspective, the scholars state, “Cognitive development depends on active social interaction,
including reasoning and explanation, with a more-competent partner” (p. 445). Conflict within
the peer learning groups allows students to express their feelings, learn how to communicate
with one another, and resolve problems.
Individual instruction. Individual instruction provides a time for students to
independently complete coursework and have one-on-one time with the instructor. Hoffman
(2002) suggests that individual instruction gives students the opportunity for independent
practice and individual response. The work produced during this time helps the educator
understand how much and what parts of a lesson each student has retained. This information can
then help the educator form groups and guide the instructor for scaffolding the next lessons.
THE EFFECTS OF GROUPING ON EDUCATORS 7
Individual instruction also provides the opportunity to build teacher-student relationships.
Relationship building remains an important aspect of the classroom culture. Bahr and Harriss
(2015) discovered that one-on-one time with the instructor provides an opening to establish and
build this relationship by creating a natural environment between the student and the educator.
Giving students the opportunity to check in with the teacher and discuss classwork or personal
issues helps create a welcoming and friendly environment in the classroom and builds rapport.
Grouping by ability. Ellison and Hallinan (2004) make a perfect remark about grouping
based on ability when they state, “One of the primary mechanisms that schools use to effect
student learning is the organization of students for instruction.” (p. 109). Class divisions and
instructional groupings determine the curriculum and pedagogical characteristics that students
learn under.
Simply numbering students or allowing them to form their own groups will not create the
support students need for group assignments. Teachers need to consider student abilities and
what they can offer to the group setting. Carefully developed groups can provide one of the best
learning experiences for students of all grade levels.
In a science classroom, Rowcliffe (2006) observed,, “Although it is clear from some
research that mixed-ability grouping benefits the low-ability students academically, some of the
same evidence points to the fact that high-ability students do better, and take science further,
when placed in high-ability sets” (p. 88). Grouping students based on their ability will allow the
teacher to teach to the diverse nature of the students, not just the median. As educators monitor
the classroom during group instruction, they have an opportunity to note how students work
together and where students have picked up and dropped information form the lesson.
THE EFFECTS OF GROUPING ON EDUCATORS 8
Scholz (2004) noted that grouping by ability has become an essential part of the
mathematics classroom because, “the hierarchical nature of maths requires that grounding
concepts be learnt before the mathematical process can be continued” (p. 29). This concept
remains true in other subject areas as well. In order to best understand American history one
needs to first understand where “Americans” came from. In order to write a good, complete
sentence one must first understand how to order words.
Heterogeneous grouping. Heterogeneous grouping signifies the organization of students
into diverse groups. Sapon-Shevin (2010) states, “Heterogeneous grouping refers to grouping
arrangements in which whole classes of students are grouped so that they vary according to
achievement or inferred ability or to within-class groupings that place students in similarly
diverse groups to learn together”” (p. 438). Diverse learning groups promote rich educational
experiences for students. First and foremost, students have the opportunity to learn from and
teach their peers. Secondly, students practice and enhance their social skills as they learn how to
work with one another.
Homogenous grouping. Homogeneous grouping refers to the division of students into
similar groups. This grouping technique is most often used to group gifted/talented students and
learning disabled students. On this subject, Sapon-Shevin (2010) explains the following: that,
“Those who promote homogeneous grouping for instruction (including many teachers and
parents) argue that it is easier to target instruction when students are grouped by ability” (p.
438)..
Targeted instruction can help encourage and challenge the students within a specific
homogeneous group. Homogeneous grouping is not limited to academic levels.
THE EFFECTS OF GROUPING ON EDUCATORS 9
Many school use homogeneous strategies to form clubs and intramurals. In this setting,
students are grouped by topic or interest. They work with their peers as they research a certain
topic, such as the Bible, or they collaborate on a group project, such as the school’s Year Book,
or they form teams and compete against one another through intramurals.
Differentiated instruction. Benjamin (2006) writes, “Differentiated instruction is a
practice that grows out of certain values that are important in the way we treat our students,
design our curricula, establish rules, and talk about learning” (p. 1). As educators pick their
curricula and design classroom rules they create goals that meet individual academic, social, and
emotional needs. Alavinia and Farhady (2012) comment,
The main challenge for current pedagogy is not the mere confession to the prevalence of
differences in the learning context. Awareness of such variations and endorsement of
learner differences can just feature as the springboard for a more critical stage, which is
the implementation of sound approaches and methods aimed at addressing the
complicated needs of modern pedagogy (p. 74).
A key term used in conjunction with differentiated instruction is scaffolding. Scaffolding is a
teaching technique where teachers build off one concept to reach the next. Some view this
strategy as the creation of a hierarchy. For example, in math you first learn to add and subtract,
then you learn to multiply and divide.
Personality
Personality. An article titled Personality (2008) states, “Personality most commonly
refers to the psychological features that distinguish one individual from another—regularities in
the way an individual thinks, feels, and behaves” (p. 217). How a person behaves is one of the
THE EFFECTS OF GROUPING ON EDUCATORS 10
things people notice during a first impression; one may take note of a person’s automatic
responses or habits they may display when they get nervous or uncomfortable.
Personality (2008) also comments, “Personality also refers to a separate subfield of
psychology that uses the scientific method to investigate people’s defining characteristics—what
the characteristics are, how best to measure them, and the consequences for individuals who
embody them (Personality, 2008, p. 217).. Scholars such as Mary Miscisin (2006), Isabel Myers,
and Katharine Cook Briggs (2015) have sought to understand this subfield of psychology.
Miscisin, Myers and Briggs have done extensive research to understand these
psychological features of personality in order to better understand the nature of people. They
have used their results to create personality assessments to make the psychology behind the
nature of people more accessible and understandable.
Carl G. Jung (1875-1961), a psychological researcher, indicated eight mental processes
that combine one’s functions and attitudes. These processes include: extraverted sensing,