UNDERSTANDING WHAT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS SAY ABOUT GROUP WORK: CONSTRUCTIVE OR DESTRUCTIVE?
Joe, Wayuni Elviana Dewi
Abstract
Group work has long been integrated to teaching procedure in schools due to its various benefits. However, the benefits have mainly been connected to enriching students with work skills, which will be appreciated in their prospective workplaces (Harvey et al., 1997). As a result, the focus of group work studies is often directed to university context only. Yet, in reality, group work is also done in almost all education levels, and that the conditions of university and other levels are distinctive. In this study, one-hundred-and-twenty twelfth graders of Satya Wacana Christian Senior High School, Salatiga, Indonesia, were asked to fill in questionnaires concerning their perceptions of group work, covering the aspects of social, academic, fairness, and conditions for successful group work. The results indicate that in general they supported that group work was beneficial in terms of their social and academic aspect. Students only expressed one concern on the social aspect, which was that too much time was wasted to talk than to work. In addition, concerns under fairness aspect on the unequal workload and the existence of freerider(s) were also stated. Lastly, the conditions of successful group work were revealed, covering 3 to 4 self-selected friends with different competency levels, the presence of teacher guidance, being done in school hours, and a peer assessment to control their performance.
