Team work is an old established pedagogical approach, which unfortunately is not used enough. In the work place people work together, and our educational system should encourage this.

 

People advance their intellectual development and creative thinking when working with others, rather than working in isolation.

 

One way is to have two students going to the board working on a problem together, for a problem that they did not do as homework. The advantage of this is that then they will focus on each other. Yesterday a girl went to the board. She constantly looked around to see the reaction of the class, and so was unable to be fully focused on the problem.

 

The next day I discussed this with her, pointing out to her the need to be focused on the work in order to be able to do the work. Students need instruction on how to work, as well as what to do.

 

Another way of getting students to work in teams is by letting pairs of students work together on problems.

 

I tell my students that the best way to learn is to teach. If they can teach each other, they will learn better.

 

SEE THE BOOK FOR MORE DETAILS.