ABSTRACT
The experience of most students in secondary schools is of working in isolation, often in competition with the other members of the classroom group. Even when groups are formed, they are frequently set in competition against each other, as in competitive sports. Competition between groups often occurs within the classroom perhaps to earn housepoints, but the individual members of the groups are still working on their own. The suggestion that the first table or row to complete a particular exercise can leave the classroom first is not helping the group concerned to develop the skills for working together.
