I must confess, I’ve always been skeptical about group work. Raised in East Asia, my K–16 education relied heavily, if not exclusively, on lectures. Even during my graduate studies in mathematics at a flagship public university in the US, my classmates and I rarely engaged with each other, whether inside or outside the classroom. As a math major, I largely spent my class time taking notes and trying to rapidly absorb complex concepts. As a non-native English speaker, I avoided speaking unnecessarily. When occasionally instructed to solve problems collaboratively, I felt it was a waste of time, believing I could do everything myself more efficiently.(Later, I recognized that I perfectly fit what researchers call the “lone wolf” profile.) Hearing peers from some other disciplines, especially those in business schools, enthusiastically discuss their group-based learning only fueled my skepticism about the efficacy of these methods in truly enhancing content comprehension.
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