work frequently in groups benefit academically to students?

I agree, partially. There are some subjects where one's learning may be enriched through interaction with outher students. But I don't agree that group learning is for everybody, and every subjects.

Each person has a different learning "style". There are some who find it beneficial to toss around ideas with other students. But there are others who need quiet, and intense personal concentration, before fruitful learning may occur!

I find that too much group work can lead to regular "workers" and regular "slackers". This occurs particularly when the group is being graded on the work, because the workers won't let the slackers participate when it's important...and the slackers are all too happy to let the workers do the work!

Learning isn't a solitary activity?

Can't one human observe and learn on their own? (Ex: the experiments of Gregory Mendel, Darwin's observations.)

Do you have books read to you or do you read them yourself?

I think groups are valuable to learn social skills and workplace dynamics.

However, as Jer said, this kind of group "learning" almost always leads to smart/hardworking people doing all the work for the dumb/lazy. The smart people get overworked and the dumb/lazy aren't properly challenged and don't learn. They all recieve the same (good) marks even though the work wasn't distributed. And if the work is forcefully distributed and the dumb/lazy kids don't do their part, the smart/hardworking kids get bad marks.