In recent decades, many researchers have studied the importance of grouplevel cognition. Indeed, to my mind, there is now convincing evidence that
group activities improve the intelligence of individuals. In this essay, I shall
examine how research in team-games and study-groups supports this view.
To begin with, team-games clearly require individuals to perform a diverse
range of rapid mental calculations. This is because, in a sporting context,
players must predict and anticipate possible actions within tight time
constraints. For example, a recent Cambridge study showed that soccer
players can – within the span of seconds – calculate over a dozen different
permutations that could result from a single soccer related action. Such
predictive powers clearly improve players’ mental abilities and result from
activities performed in a group context.
Secondly, study-groups enable individuals to obtain information that they
could not acquire in isolation. This is because peer feedback allows
individuals to refine their understanding of concepts and to also learn new
information from other members in the study-group. For example, a study
by The British Institute for Learning found that, if individuals participated in
study-groups, they had a far more objective and sophisticated
understanding of a topic than learners who were not part of study-groups.
Therefore, it is certainly the case that learning in a group improves an
individual’s mental abilities.
In conclusion, I strongly agree with the notion that group activities improve
intellectual abilities. In the future, we will certainly see schools take greater
measures to ensure that more group-level cognition occurs in the classroom.