Although many cooperative learning methods advocate grouping students heterogeneously in order to maximize the diversity of perspectives, skills, and backgrounds, past research shows that heterogeneous grouping generally benefits low-ability students but does not necessarily benefit high-ability students. This study investigates the effects of group ability composition (homogeneous versus heterogeneous) on group processes and outcomes for high-ability students completing science performance assessments. High-ability students working in homogeneous groups uniformly performed well, and high-ability students in some heterogeneous groups performed as well as high-ability students in homogeneous groups; but high-ability students in other heterogeneous groups did not perform as well. The quality of group functioning served as the strongest predictor of high-ability students' performance and explained much of the effect of group composition.
This study investigated the effects of group ability composition on group processes and outcomes in science performance assessments. Students in 21 eighth-grade science classes worked on science assessments first individually, then in groups, and finally individually again. Group composition had a major impact on group discussion quality and on student achievement. Groups with above-average students produced more accurate and high-quality answers and explanations about how to solve the test problems than groups without above-average students. As a result, below-average students who worked with above-average students showed higher achievement than did below-average students who worked without above-average students. High-ability students generally performed better when they worked in homogeneous groups than when they worked in heterogeneous groups. The fact that heterogeneous groups provide a greater benefit for below-average students than they impose a detriment on high-ability students is discussed.
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