I am handling grouping heterogeneously.  I strongly support Vygotsky's idea that grouping students heterogeneously can help accelerate the cognitive level of some students.  I have taken notes on the students' cognitive abilities and when I group them, I will make sure that the distribution is equal and that each group is heterogenous. 

If we want our students to accelerate to their potential we need to begin grouping our students heterogeneously by cognitive ability.  If we keep them grouped with children at the same levels, the development will be much slower and our children will be restrained from the vital social interaction they need to develop skills.  Here is an example: if a group of 5 kids, none of whom have ever put together a computer are asked to do so, it will take a very long time. On the other hand, if you have 3 Students who haven’t and 2 students who have, the 2 students that have the knowledge can guide the other students through the project, accelerating their knowledge about building computers.

Those, like myself, who are in favor of heterogeneous grouping have probably based their ideas on the reasoning of constructivism theorists, one specifically being Lev Vygotsky.  Vygotsky’s studies, as well as studies modeled by his own, suggested that through heterogeneous grouping, students at higher levels of cognitive thinking could guide other students to their potential cognitive ability.  He introduced the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) as a metaphor for this idea.  The ZPD includes all of the skills that a student needs to develop through social interaction with other students at higher cognitive levels in order to reach their potential development. 

I feel confident in Vygotsky's reasoning because it almost seems like a way to subtly tutor students that need help.  By grouping heterogeneously, it's almost like having at least one tutor, or student that is advanced in the skill at hand, working with other students that need the help of that peer to fully understand the concept. I feel like grouping students homogeneously would make my classroom unbalanced and I would have trouble finding a lesson plan that is comfortable for all groups.