The Mutual Preference Method: Capitalizing on Student Relationships to Guide Group Formation

Students working in groups experience positive outcomes in both academic and affective domains. Well-functioning groups contribute to a robust, active-learning classroom community. The literature contains a vast assortment of methods for the formation of student groups; nonetheless, the formation and evaluation of student groups formed by various methods continue to be valuable topics for research and discussion. Here we describe the mutual preference method (MPM), a novel procedure for group formation that pairs students based on a list of preferred collaborators that each student generates. The MPM is a unique approach to group formation meant to capitalize on existing student social structures, increase metacognition, promote habits in professionalism, and create productive groups.