Groups need one or more goals to achieve. Group members need to work together to achieve their goals. For example, a group’s goal may be to raise their average score on quizzes. Perhaps on the first three quizzes in the term, Student #1 averaged 55%, Student #2 averaged 70%, #3 averaged 75%, and #4 averaged 90%. Their group average was, thus, 72.5. Their goal is to do better than that average on the next quiz.

Another group goal can be to improve their use of a collaborative skill, such as asking each other for reasons. Giving each other reasons helps students learn from each other. To measure the group’s use of this collaborative skill, each time the group works together, one person can be in charge of counting how many times a group member asks another group member to give a reason to support their idea. In this way, the group can see if they have increased the number of times that they ask each other for reasons.

Having a goal encourages group members to help one another. For instance, in the first example in which students have the goal of improving their group’s average, group members may be motivated to help each other prepare for the next quiz. Furthermore, each person, we hope, will want to study hard so that they can play their part in helping the group achieve its goal. Thus, groups need to have a goal(s), and group members need to be aware their goal(s).