Love it or hate it, group work can be very beneficial.

Penn State researchers have found that classroom group learning is helpful — if the group is well organized and working toward a goal.

"We researched group verses individual problem solving with complex problems," said Michael McNeese, associate professor of information sciences and technology and principle researcher in the study.

The study compared the ability of groups verses individuals in solving a problem of rescuing an eagle. After watching a video about an eagle search-and-rescue mission, participants had to figure out the mode of transportation and route to the eagle, find out how long it would take to bring the eagle back and how much fuel would be needed.

McNeese tested participants in their acquisition of the material and how well they transferred the information to the next problem.

He found that groups tested better in the acquiring of information because they rely on each other to remember parts of the video that they may have missed. Individuals had to replay the video and focus on details while group members depended on each other to remember the information. McNeese explains that this is a form of meta-cognitive line of reasoning.

"The group used each other as external memory," McNeese said. "Group members act as monitors for each other."

As far as transferring the material, groups tested better again. They transferred more elements and could solve the hardest components of the problems.

"The degree of transfer is how I define learning — how much we can apply what we learned from a past situation to a present one," McNeese said.

He also said that when working in groups, other members might sight an error that individuals might overlook, such as in physics problems and other mathematical problem-solving cases.

"Groups rely upon each other as mechanisms of memory," McNeese said.

However, when the participants were shown another video with a similar problem and asked to solve it later, individuals tested better than the groups.

Bob Stevens, professor of educational psychology, has also conducted studies of cooperative learning.

"In order for group work to work, there needs to be a group goal and individual accountability," Stevens said. "Students working in groups can benefit with interaction."

Bonnie Meyer teaches Educational Psychology 513 (Individual and Group Differences and their Influences on Learning). Meyer feels that depending on the task and the individuals in the group, group work can be beneficial.

If one person does all of the work, then the rest of the group won't learn anything and it will deter the individual from working with groups again, Stevens said.

Also, if group members are working on a problem and one group member tells another the answer without explaining it, there is no learning. However, when one explains the problem and teaches the partner how to solve it, both benefit. The partner learns how to do the problem and the teacher gains a better understanding, Stevens added.

"Creating the explanation and receiving the explanation is dynamic in group learning," Stevens said.

McNeese recommends group work in non-routine situations such as military crisis management, police and fire operations and in business management.