Austin Vandepoll Ms.

Hinnant ENGL 1102 4/1/14

The Environment of an Architect Major: Annotated Bibliography

Webb, Noreen. Student Interaction and Learning in Small Groups. Education Research Complete. Web. March 2014.
In the article, Student Interaction and Learning in Small Groups, Webb discusses how small group sessions in class can be both beneficial and counterproductive for students. He shows how students who give help and students who receive help, have differing accomplishments. He also shows how a small group discussion can vary based on the nature of the help received, the behaviors of the students giving and receiving help, participation of the students involved, and adaption within the group. These small group discussions can either be very organized or completely dysfunctional. His small group observations range from 1st grader through high school age students. I found Webbs article to be very informative and helpful. He does several different classroom observations to get multiple results. My observations do differ from Webbs a bit though, because the architect majors I observed were not required to be in small groups, as in Webbs case, and the age of the groups are different. Even though the means of groups are different; the observations do have many similarities. Small group work can vary at times between positives and negatives. Webb states, Although the relationships between giving explanations and receiving explanations and achievement tend to be positive, not all studies
Comment [p2]: According to . Comment [p1]: Go to library website to learn citing.

obtained significant results.(Webb 427) Architect majors also are in constant support of each other throughout their large workloads. Being in groups with others can bring forth a very productive moral boost to not just a few students, but all of the students in the group. Webb had similar observations in how he says, When every group members performance influences the rewards of the group, group members will support each others academic efforts, which in turn will lead to increased individual effort.(Webb 430)

Brown, Cary, and Kelly McIlroy. Group Work in Healthcare Students Education: What Do We Think We are Doing? Education Research Complete. Web. March 2014.
In Brown and McIlroys article, they discuss groups both of healthcare college students, but also of students outside of the profession. The authors dig into a vast amount of things that go into a group. The main topic they discussed was about group learning activities; which the summarized as GLA throughout the article. The authors showed how every aspect of the classroom group environment affects how productive and beneficial the group work is. They also showed how individual effort on a project differs from that of group project, and also how each affects the students differently. Brown and McIlroys article had both several similarities and differences from my observations of architect majors. The students in the article were required to be in groups together, and they would each get the same grade on the project at hand. The architect majors on the other hand choose to work together or as individuals. Being an architect requires a vast amount of creativity, so being in groups certainly helps the students to gain multiple ideas of ways to approach an issue. After my observations, I agree with the authors in how they say, The literature shows that GLAs are historically framed as learning opportunities with strong potential
Comment [p3]: Add title of article and volume number and date published.

for developing students critical thinking, creative problem solving, team work, conflict resolution, and personal responsibility.(Brown and McIlroy 688) The teamwork and small group efforts do allow for much better time management also, and can create personal relationships between the students. On the other hand, I disagree with the authors in how they say, They concluded that GLAs are complex activities and require careful, ongoing facilitation from a skilled instructor. (Brown and McIlroy 689) Often times architect majors would be given very vague information by the professors and then they were required to solve the problem with critical thinking and teamwork, without the professor being present.
Comment [p4]: Make more discussion with author. Give how you feel they differ from you and how they related also.

Vrioni, Rudina. Effects of Group Learing on the Academic Performance of University Students. Education Research Complete. Web. March 2014.
In Rudina Vrionis article, he studies six groups of third year college students. Vrioni attempted to compare and contrast between the process of group learning and lecturing in the large classrooms. He focuses on the many aspects of academic, morale, and teamwork improvement throughout his study. Vrioni found group work enhancing socialization and it made class more fun for the students and it also gave them a better sense of responsibility. However, academic achievement was very inconclusive and equal in many regards between lecturing and group learning. I found this article to relate greatly to my observations of architect majors. During my observations, students have a three and a half hour class in which the first 45 minutes is a lecture and the remainder is in an open and free work environment. The free work environment is very centered around group work. The students seemed very out of it and bored during lectures, while in the group working sessions they became more interested in their task at hand. Vrioni argues topics in student productivity by saying, Group learning enhances student interest, motivation,

success, creativity, understanding and equality. Students worked productively by sharing roles and tasks to construct knowledge together. (Vrioni 116) During my observations, architect majors described themselves as well-rounded. This is greatly due to the massive amount of group work and diverse opinions of others received from these groups. The study by Vrioni also shows how students are required to be more independent and responsible in group study. In my observations, when students would switch from lecture based learning to group learning, the teacher would leave them on their own to solve problems. This left the platform of learning open for discussion and adaption. Vrioni would argue with me that the environment changes between student and teacher based learning. Vrioni says, The study suggests that there is a benefit in switching from the traditional teacher-centered classroom setting to a learner-centered classroom setting which promotes communication. Communication plays a very vital role in the life of an architect major.

Alterator, Scott and Craig Deed. Teacher Adaption to Open Learning Spaces. Education Research Complete. Web. March 2014.
In this article, Alterator and Deed observe how junior level high school students and teacher interactions differ in a more open (in the architectural sense) type of learning space. The learning environments are characterized as flexible, meaning they can accommodate a range of teaching and learning approaches says Deed. (Alterator and Deed 320) They both talk about how the openness of the room allows for more team building activities, and a variety of more teaching styles. They put an emphasis on not only student teams but also teacher teams. This study related greatly to the environment of an architect major. The entire environment could be well described as flexible and free. Both the architect majors and teachers work in constant collaboration with one another. Alterator and Deed say, You can have the

flexibility of just walking into their (other teachers) community and having a conversation with them easier walking into an open space rather than going into a traditional style classroom, its just less invasive. (Alterator and Deed 322-323) In the classroom I observed, teachers would constantly walk over to one another to talk.

Kamp J. A. Rachelle, Diana H. J. M. Dolmans, Henk J. M. van Berkel, and Henk G. Schmidt. The Relationship Between Students Small Group Activities, Time Spent on Self-Study, and Achievement. Education Research Complete. Web. March 2014.
In this article, the authors focus on collaborative learning, problem based learning, and the sharing of common goals. They talk a lot about the positive and negative aspects of group learning. They show the group work can be beneficial if the group works together and presents critical and helpful information. Also the group becomes more successful when they are motivational to one another. The main conclusion is that the groups achievements would boil down to the amount of participation from the group members. The authors focuses on motivation and participated helped to reassure me of my observations. Architect majors are presented with one of the larger workloads of majors at college. The authors point out the importance of motivation in saying, The third and last perspective on the effectiveness of learning in small groups is the motivational perspective. According to this perspective motivation to complete the learning task at hand prompts students to actively contribute to the group discussion. (Rachelle, etc. 388) During my observations, architect majors often gathered in groups to assist each other during their assignments, even if it required a delay in their own. Having motivation and guidance played a key role in how they learned, just like how it plays a main role for group learning in this article.
Comment [p5]: Put according to the authors, then quote, then page number.