Most American colleges and universities assimilate students into highly competitive undergraduate experiences. By placing achievement for personal and material gain as the bedrock of a college education, these institutions fail to educate students to become collaborative learners: people who are committed and prepared to join with others in…

In the second edition of "Data-Driven Dialogue: A Facilitator's Guide to Collaborative Inquiry," authors Bruce Wellman and Laura Lipton provide strategies that transform school culture through data-driven inquiry. By applying a three-phase model and a host of process tools to facilitate collaborative data analysis, K-12 school and…

The professional expertise of educational leaders has been defined through the lens of problem-solving processes. Problem-based learning has therefore become an increasingly popular instructional approach in principal preparatory programs. As such, this study represents an initial attempt to explore learning from success (i.e., success-based…

Much of the emphasis in this handbook is on helping students develop investigative, problem-solving, and thinking skills, but the importance of students' working together in a cooperative and democratic setting to solve problems is also stressed. Cooperative learning is an instructional tool that can often be used to the student's advantage. Part…

Asserts that whether students engage in creative and critical thinking depends on how teachers structure the learning situation. Contends that using "academic controversy" among students provides a basis for deliberate discourse and creative problem solving. Presents a five-step instructional model to guide students. (CFR)

This paper describes one course offered in the Economics Department at the Drexel University (DU), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that uses directed learning and focuses on public sector problems. As the opening notes, the course is titled "Learn by DU-ing" ("DU" is a reference to Drexel University) and offers a menu of…

Maintains that educational reform is related directly to issues of creativity and critical thinking. Contends that the creative dimension of thinking is fostered best by joining it with the critical dimension. Includes a figure and eight basic conditions implicit in creative, critical acts of the mind. (CFR)

Reports on the impact of an introductory biology course sequence that incorporated experience-based, group learning. Achievement results indicate that students were not disadvantaged by this new approach and, in fact, displayed a superior grasp of group-work, open lab utilization, and creative problem solutions. Attitudes regarding anxiety over…

This volume offers 19 papers by college faculty on concrete information and suggestions for the improvement of college teaching, student learning, and the whole education process. The titles and authors are: (1) "Rethinking College Instruction for a Changing World" (Diane F. Halpern); (2) "Inquiry as a Tool in Critical…

One of the strengths of the Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of Mathematics (PCTM) is that it gives mathematicians and mathematics educators the opportunity to exchange and contribute to each other's professional growth. The topic for each yearbook is chosen to coincide with the annual PCTM meeting. This 1988 yearbook contains 27 articles which…