Design Patterns for CS Education/Design Patterns/Lightweight teams

Lightweight Teams Pattern Name Forming Lightweight Teams Problem: Students need help learning to collaborate. Typically, the learning experience while collaborating in teams is negatively affected the importance of the grade. Level: introductory courses Semester: any Activity type: any Solution: Assign students to groups and then assign the seating in the first day of classes so that the groups are sitting at the same table. Create in class activities for groups that do not have a big contribution to their grade. Formation (randomly) Size (4-5) Composition (any) Duration (class period or semester) Contribution to grade (small) Activity progression (any) Roles (any) Rationale : Students do not need to self assign to groups. The groups do not feel the pressure to perform well to get a good grade. Students engage in social learning and peer instruction. Potential Pitfalls: Students will be awkward in the beginning of the semester and need to know why you are doing this. students may not have equal contribution to the activities.