Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Cannot Cooperate Aisha is known as a responsible and smart student. I have known her for the last two years, but this year is the first time she is taking one of my classes. She is in my 10th grade US History class. Recently, I started using small group projects in my class. I simply want my students to learn to cooperate, exchange ideas, and produce the project together. Although Aisha is willing to take part in these small group projects, she does not want to be in groups with male students because of her religious beliefs. When she told me about this, I told her that she was in the United States and that she had to work with whoever she is in a group with. In the first group project, Aisha was in a group with three males and one female students. She simply did not participate in any of the group activities. I wonder if should reconsider my original position on this issue and accommodate Aisha by having her work only with girls. Would I be doing her a disservice? What should I do? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) When reflecting on this situation, one possible solution is to have Aisha work with a group of female students to help her feel more comfortable while she is working on this project. It is obvious she feels strongly about her religious beliefs and she has shut down and refused to do the work because of her feelings about working with male students. If the objective is to help her learn to cooperate, exchange ideas, and produce a project, she is not learning in the current group she is with. In my classroom, I would give her the opportunity to work with an all female group, but I would also encourage her to think about how cultures other than her own interact with each other as they work collaboratively. I might also choose to adapt the assignment for her and have her write a reflection about observing a group of males and females as they work on the project. This way, she is not a part of the group, but she is watching their interaction and taking notes about what she sees them doing. Eventually, she may come to understand that it's ok to work groups with males and females.