Dividing Into Groups

Dividing into Groups
Margaret E. Holt

Often in adult education we like for the students in our classes to move into small groups. Students and some faculty often just ask folks to count off -one, two, three, four- and then the ones, two, threes, and fours form the groups. This strategy for forming the groups is not very creative. In addition, students leading a session that requires groups will just ask folks who are sitting near one another to form a group. If this happens often, the students in the class have little or no opportunity for exchanges with a wider group of people. I like to vary the criteria often in a class to guarantee the possibility that the number of people with whom anyone interacts is expanded.

Some methods I've used that have generated more enthusiasm have been as follows:

Ø Clip horoscopes from the paper and have students form groups according to their "signs". The discussion of the horoscope for the day also often generates good will and some levity that can revitalize a late afternoon or evening class.

Ø Another method is to have people group according to their pets. Dogs' people, cats and dogs, cats, dogs and other fauna, other fauna, and no pets might be the categories.

Ø Still another possibility is to ask people to group themselves according to sibling relationships. Do they have only brothers, sisters, brothers and sisters, or are they only children?

Ø Type of transportation most frequently used: bicycles, buses, American cars, foreign cars is yet another possibility.

Ø Another technique is to form groups based on the "first initial" of people's names. Typically, divisions occur by last names, but it is more unusual to be put with others who first initials are closest to one another. Fred-Franklin-Frances, etc.

Ø Another method I've tried later into a semester when the class has been divided in a lot of different ways already is to group males and females separately. Because of "political correctness", instructors have avoided this. My experience is students occasionally enjoyed seeing if men and women actually held very different perspectives on certain issues or questions.

Ø With increasing numbers of students from outside the United States, other ways to group for some topics may be to have some national and international group formations. Several times in my public policy class, this was very effective, and I believe valued by both the national and international groups.

Your ideas?
Of course, colored stars or stickers can be randomly adhered to folders or handouts in advance for achieving a new mix of groups.

I'd really like to know other creative methods you've employed when grouping people. I'm also interested to know of any methods people have employed "on-line" for forming small groups within the larger classroom community.