Affinity Grouping

Students individually generate ideas about a topic and write each item on a slip of paper. Groups sort and organise the slips into categories as they identify common themes. Affinity Grouping can help students unpack a complicated issue and build groupings from the separate pieces. Because students identify clusters of ideas and information shared by several people, this CoLT can help build group consensus.

1. Distribute enough 3 X 5 cards, slips of paper, or sticky notes so that each student can have several slips for brainstorming ideas.

2. State the category, issue, or problem to be explored and provide a time limit for the activity.

3. Organise the students into groups, but then ask each student to separately and silently brainstorm ideas, writing one idea per slip of paper.

4. When time is up, ask one team member to collect the cards or sticky notes, mix them up, and spread them out (or stick them) on a flat surface.

5. Instruct the teams to discuss and arrange the cards or sticky notes into related groups.

6. Have students create a title or heading for each grouping that best describes the theme of each group of items.

• http://www.click4it.org/index.php/Affinity_Grouping_Technique
• http://www.click4it.org/images/b/b8/Conducting_an_Affinity_Grouping_Technique.pdf
• http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/QAPI/downloads/BrainAffinGrpMultVot.pdf
• http://nciph.sph.unc.edu/mlc/presentations/perf_imp/BrainstormAffinityMultivoting1.pdf
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_diagram