Grouping children by ability really stood out to me in this chapter. This refers to placing students into groups based on their academic strengths and weaknesses. There were two main types of grouping discussed’ within-class ability grouping and between-class ability grouping. In within-class ability grouping the teachers divides students into individual classrooms for individual subjects based on their academic ability. Like placing higher achieving math students in one class for math time and lower achieving math students in another class during math time. The teachers are then able to apply their teaching methods to one set of learners rather than attempting to teach the lowest achievers and the highest achievers in one classroom. It also helps the students. The high achieving students can learn at a faster pace and the lower achieving students can take the time they need to thoroughly learn the material. One negative this technique has is the chance of hurting children’s self-esteem and motivation for advancement because they are placed in the lowest class. In between-class ability grouping students are grouped based on their academic abilities based on a single subject or on a combination of subjects. Academically advanced students would be placed on a higher track of classes to take throughout school and lower advanced students will be placed on a lower track of classes. There are also flexible grouping methods which can allow students to move around in higher and lower advanced classes. If they excel in math, but struggle in English they are placed in parallel classes instead of all high track classes or all low track classes. Which method has shown to be the most effective, within-class ability grouping or between-class ability grouping? Also, which one is more frequently used in school systems?
Vygotsky believes that children learn through their heredity AND environment. Vygotsky might believe that if children are hereditarily advanced in academics and are placed in an advanced environment in school they have a significantly higher chance of success than the children with lower advanced genes placed in a lower advanced environment. Vygotsky would probably be ok with this method of grouping. He would probably see the success of students in the higher classes and also the assistance in success of the students in the lower classes. He might suggest some type of method for the flexibility of students to be able to move in and out of low and high advanced classes based on their individual needs.
Piaget believes that children’s development is based strictly on their age. He believes that children can only learn certain things during a certain time period and cannot advance to the next stage until they are of age. Vygotsky does not fully agree with this. He believes that most of a child’s learning is based on heredity and environment and that age is not a huge factor. He believes that children’s learning varies based on the environment they are placed in.
While I am doing this blog post my learning is greatly being influenced by the textbook I am reading. I am using a textbook as a reference to some of my answers. I am also using Microsoft Word which increases my writing abilities. It allows me to correct spelling and grammar changes that I might not catch if I was handwriting this post.
I think that within-class ability grouping is more commonly used and the book shows that it is the most effective. However, I think that if a teacher is constantly switching up the way he/she teaches and switches up the way that he/she groups then that will give students the most benefit. If students are constantly being grouped with students of their achievement level, then students in a low achievement level will always be behind and may even feel self-conscious about their group because they know which group is high achieving. Therefore, for certain subjects groups should be by achievement level, but for other subjects that do not require as much skill like hands on activities then groups should be random to make all students feel better and give them a chance to work with other students.
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