Nine learning activities can prepare elementary school social studies students for group work. The activities teach students how to organize a group, recognize the value of all contributions, and how to take responsibility to contribute, respond to other contributions, listen carefully, encourage contributions, and form a group decision. (KC)

Small group inquiry changes the leadership role of the teacher to create an open classroom and focus on the social and intellectual development of the student as a future thinking and adaptive citizen, not just a reluctant member of an audience for specialized information. (Author)

Discusses the New Games movement which promotes a series of innovative creative group games for children and offers a list of games and directions on how to play them. The games provide an unstructured, cooperative alternative to the structured, competitive games traditionally played by young children. (CM)

Discusses using open Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for teaching sociology courses. Suggests that the meetings provide excellent case studies and can exemplify a variety of topics. Stresses that three conditions must be present: (1) easy access to meetings and high student interest; (2) meeting experience is integrated into course; and (3) student…

Outlines method of fostering self-exploration and group interaction among counselors-in-training. Describes lifeline process as having students draw horizontal line with dot at each end representing their birth and death, drawing dot to represent where they presently are on lifeline, and recording positive and negative experiences chronologically…

Explores characteristics of group dynamics which teachers should be aware of in planning group activities for social studies classes. Provides guidelines by which teachers can plan group activities which help students attain cognitive, affective, and process-skill goals for the social studies. (Author/AV)

Presents techniques for stimulating and managing worthwhile class discussion sessions. (Editor/SJL)

Describes the use of cooperative learning teams as a means of persuading students of different backgrounds and cultures to work together. Presents a cooperative learning activity where students work as a team and observe and identify chemical reactions and physical properties. (JRH)

This book is designed to provide individuals with practical assistance in introducing and using critical reflection strategies. It is intended for workshop facilitators whose aim is to assist committees, organizations, and various groups in solving problems. The book explains procedures for Critical Reflection Strategies using Teams (CReST), a…

Suggests a technique for use in college sociology courses which processes cognitive content in a small group. The method stresses sensitivity to group members, active participation in the learning process, individual responsibility for learning outcomes, and openness to feedback. (Author/DB)

Describes an activity designed to get beginning drama students to work with other classmates and to get students up in front of a class in a group situation. (MH)

Describes a writing assignment designed to aid students' perception of audience, purpose, format, vocabulary, pertinent information, and peer editing. Establishes a framework for both independent student research and group work and revision. Encourages students to establish a rapport with groups to evaluate the writing's content, presentation,…

Rewriting activities are used by a teacher of the deaf to encourage children to express their ideas clearly, increase their vocabulary, work successfully as a group, and experiment with language. Each class rewrites a poem or short book once a week, does spontaneous oral rewrites, and rewrites each other's work. (VW)

This article, based on the authors' work in South Yorkshire, examines some of the attitudes and dynamics within a mother's group and participants' reactions to group leaders who are child specialists. Some guidelines are presented on developing a parent education group for mothers of young children. (SJL)

Recommends a classroom exercise to demonstrate intergroup relations. Possible learning outcomes include conflict resolution, decision-making, trust, and increased understanding of differences between competitive and collaborative behavior. (Author/DB)