Groups tend to learn through “discussion, clarification of ideas, and evaluation of other’s ideas.” Perhaps information that is discussed is retained in long term memory. Research by Webb suggests that students who worked collaboratively on math computational problems earned significantly higher scores than those who worked alone. Plus, students who demonstrated lower levels of achievement improved when working in diverse groups.
‘They’re asking them to work with somebody else in a different way. Often what we’ll assess is what they know, rather than perhaps how they work with somebody else in terms of collaboration, but also in terms of how they think,’ she says.