The top-performing student groups in the study were the ones with a high number of skilled—though not necessarily star—students, whose abilities fell within a narrow range. In other words, the best teams had “clusters” of above-average performers. To figure out why this was the case, the researchers listened to recordings of the groups as they deliberated. On teams where there was a large ability gap, they wrote, “the superstar, or highest-performing team member, dominated the discourse.” As this person took charge, the other students showed a tendency to back off, even when they
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