The authors explain that the commonly held concept of project-based learning (PBL) as a student investigating a topic or creating something individually (a passion project) is only part of the PBL story. Projects in which students collaborate and do something to make a difference in their community are also a way to structure PBL and build agency.…

Group work doesn't have to be a classroom management headache. At Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, where collaboration is one of five core values, students regularly participate in group projects. To support productive group work, the staff uses several strategies: apply these strategies to your next group project to ensure students…

Reading just one text on any topic, Cummins argues, isn't enough if we expect students to learn at deep levels about the topic, synthesize various sources of information, and gain the knowledge they need to write and speak seriously about the topic. Reading a second or third text expands a reader's knowledge on any topic or story--and the why…

The traditional method of teaching math--showing students how to do a procedure, then assigning problems that require them to use that exact procedure--leads to adults who don't know how to approach problems that don't look like those in their math book. Seeley describes an alternative teaching method (upside-down teaching) in which teachers give…

Thanks to the development of faster Internet and better technology tools, students and teachers can network, collaborate, co-create products, build knowledge together, and share that knowledge with whomever they want around the world. Julie Lindsay describes online resources, tools, and projects that teachers can use for online global…

In his book "Drive," Daniel Pink writes that mastery is "the desire to get better and better at something that matters." If we consider this definition in the context of the classroom, students must have a desire to get better and must feel that what they're learning matters. Technology can help ensure these two criteria…

Without a change in our technology integration strategies, there's no reason to expect that a new device will magically create new teaching practices. In some iPad classrooms, students are engaged in truly innovative work. On the whole, however, tablets are most often used to reproduce existing practices. To make the most of their investment in…

Despite teachers' best intentions, traditional whole-class discussions sometimes end up sounding like the monotonous drone of Charlie Brown's teacher. But with careful planning, teachers can structure discussions that encourage meaningful student interaction and collaborative thinking, write Laura Billings and Terry Roberts of the…

Just about everyone loves the "idea" of cooperative learning, children working productively and excitedly in groups, everyone getting along and enthusiastically helping one another learn. This article presents five strategies that teachers can use to get the greatest benefit possible from cooperative learning and ensure that…

A teacher is doing something right when his high school students--kids with limited English, no less--form groups and begin discussing a lesson on quadratic equations at the start of class, without any teacher direction. Bondie, Gaughran, and Zusho describe "discussion routines" that teachers at International Community High School in the…

Describes a high school teacher's initial frustration with a home economics class's unresponsive attitude concerning a cooperative vocabulary exercise. After emphasizing one social skill (encouraging) instead of two, and using modeling and "dry run" practices, this teacher began observing more encouraging student behavior. (MLH)

The structural approach to cooperative learning is based on the creation, analysis, and systematic application of content-free ways to organize classroom interactions. Structures (outlined in a table) have differing uses in the academic, cognitive, and social domains, such as team building, communication building, mastery, and concept development.…

Transforms the debate over cooperative learning and Hunter's mastery teaching model by illustrating how both approaches reinforce each other. Mastery teaching synthesizes the most rewarding aspects of traditional expository instruction, while cooperative learning breathes life into that teaching by inviting both students and teachers to become…

Cooperative learning can benefit all students, whether "average," low-achieving, gifted, or mainstreamed. Teachers trained at the University of Minnesota's Cooperative Learning Center expect to see students in small, heterogeneous groups using special skills and caring about each others' learning. Tips on cooperative spelling groups are…

The Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) project is a flexible consortium of researchers, educators, students, and parents who have worked collaboratively to create and study innovative learning environments since 1985. ACOT classrooms are true multimedia environments where students move from competitive work patterns toward collaborative ones. (10…