Study Groups are Not Cheating, But Effective
It has long been known in the advertising and commercial world that one of the most effective methods of promoting a product is not through raunchy commercials or catchy jingles, but through creating a product that friends will talk about with other friends. "Word of mouth" advertising is far more effective than any paid advertisement because what friends discuss in a social setting is more likely to stick in an individual’s head than if that same individual were to see a product advertisement on television or read about a product in a magazine. In much the same way, researchers have found that studying with friends will make class information stick in an individual’s mind better than if the individual were to see or read the same class information on their own.
This revelation of the effectiveness of peer learning has led many professors at universities to encourage the formation of study groups. Study groups, where a small group of students are created to study and learn class materials together, have proven to be an effective way of promoting better information absorption. In fact, students who study outside of class with a group of four to six other students just once a week see enormous benefits, according to Harvard University. These students come to class more engaged with the material and thus more prepared for class. They also are more likely to ask relevant questions and work harder at understanding the materials presented.
This can be attributed to the social pressure present in study groups to keep up with other members of the group. People naturally want to be seen as being on the same level as their peers, so individual members of a study group would typically work harder than they would otherwise just so that are viewed as being on the same intellectual level as other members of the group. In addition, peer studying allows for the class materials to be discussed in student vernacular, which can make it much easier for other students to understand as opposed to reading about the topic in a dry and jargon-filled textbook.
Collaboration on class assignments in the form of study groups have long been viewed as cheating, but findings that group learning can actually increase student knowledge turn that old perception on its head. These days, more professors are thinking of ways to incorporate group learning into everyday teaching so that they may give students the best learning experience possible.
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