A discussion at the Young Writers' Club (Jr.) program- Tweens shared their experiences while working in group projects and how conflicts that often tend to arise can be dealt with.
Majority wins!
The most common source of conflict that everyone had faced is the differences of opinion. The only way to resolve this conflict was to follow the age old tradition of choosing the majority vote.
Tendency to piggyback on someone’s work
Another common issue in group projects appears to be having members who do nothing to contribute but get the grades anyway thanks to the other members’ efforts. Some of the young writers shared that they don’t have this problem as the school recognizes this possibility and hence every child is graded individually even on group projects. This might be a useful takeaway for schools who still continue to grade groups as a whole. Change takes time. Until then, best to follow the advice of a young writer who shared that this is an issue that she encounters on a regular basis and the way she deals with it is to be bold. She insists that the others do their bit and not piggyback on her work!
Teacher intervention became essential
Students were unable to handle the following situations:
a) conflict got out of hand
b) some preferred to be quiet and not contribute. In such instances a teacher had to step in.
Suggestions from the group to smoothen out conflict
It is always a delight to listen into original thinking. The discussion found its way to an exchange of ideas to enable student navigate through conflict without having the need for adult intervention.
Allow students to make their own groups- better adjustments better discussions.
Put together like minded people together. Opposing point here was, “If someone gets left out for some reason and doesn’t have a group to be part of, then we have a problem.
How about a leader who carries his/her team- motivates people? The perfect analogy here was a good sportsperson who helps his team win.
Giving a teammate feedback, especially a negative one is tricky but necessary at times. This causes conflict. It was proposed that the team must begin with a concrete plan. Any work that appears not up to the mark can be easily highlighted as a diversion from the plan. This way it doesn’t feel like one person is attacking the other but it is more to be in line with the group’s plan. This of course becomes a challenge when participates are not open to feedback and get easily offended.
Giving a teammate feedback, especially a negative one is tricky but necessary at times. This causes conflict. It was proposed that the team must begin with a concrete plan. Any work that appears not up to the mark can be easily highlighted as a diversion from the plan.
With that thought provoking note, the discussion came to an end. It was a pleasure to see these young minds having so much empathy and willingness to help while still being focused on the final goal of creating a good project.
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