Transformation of my thinking process after the session on Group

We had a session on Group
We were asked to try out the group method of learning. I being a intrapersonal , I was little adamant in group work technique. But after going through the session and the outcome gave me a positive thrust to try out. I teach compute science to the secondary grade. Today I had two 7 grade classes having 18 students in each -A section (3rd and 4th period)and B section(8th and 9th period).
According to the planner I had to do an activity and time allotted for the same is 10mts. I asked the class to form groups of three students and with in few minutes 6 groups were formed. . Hence I felt good that it was working out. I distributed the activity sheet and gave them the instructions as what has to be done. I also gave them the dead line of 8 minutes. They started to rearrange their chairs and soon were busy in the activity. I went around and keeping an eye on the children -who is playing which role and how they were managing to get the activity done. By the end of time line, they submitted the papers and we went back to our lab and proceeded with out lab activity. (Three sheets) to my surprise students have done quite well. This made me realize that students were benefitted by the group activity.
But…. After the period was over when I reflected back as to what happened in my class and found that somewhere I was not able to keep track on the entire groups (6 groups of three each). And that was because of the numbers of the group. Then I came to a conclusion why not try 6 students in each group so that I will be able to keep track on all their activities
For my afternoon class I did the same thing but it so happened, one child was absent. We were left with 17 children I still asked them to follow into groups 6(girls),6(girl and 5 boys),5(boys) .The girl who was in boys group was a little uncomfortable so I allowed her to join in the girls group….Here I made my first mistake. I distributed the activity sheet and mentioned the time line. They started the activity. I noticed I was behind schedule, as this batch took lot of time to settle. But I was able to monitor each group to my satisfaction, and also made a note the there was a lot of talk in the group which had 7 (all girls) and the group with 5 were more at ease, the flow was towards one direction and a doubt was cleared by the group mates in a very organized w ay . The group with 5 members finished way before the 7 member group . They scored much higher marks in lab activity then the previous batch
Hence I felt that the ideal group for me to have is of five members in each group .
Group activities do have a positive effect on learning

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