Helpful Hint for Groupwork

Group work is a great way for students to participate in discovery learning without you hovering over the students.  However, when students get stuck, they tend to not ask for help until you happen to walk back by. One simple way to counteract this is to to provide each group with three plastic cups (the 16 oz Solo brand cups work great) - one red, one yellow, one green.  When the students are working without problem, the cups are stacked so the green one is on top.  If they have a question but can continue working, the yellow is on top. Completely stopped, red is on top. You can visually see how the students are progressing and it differentiates between studetns with a question and those who have hit the wall. Try it!