Early critical thinking and sustainability awareness development is crucial for equipping future generations to handle global issues in an increasingly complicated and interconnected society. This study examined how 9-year-old primary school students applied their knowledge through a collaborative Mystery assignment, demonstrating a Thinking Skill…

The present study took a reciprocal learning approach to examine Canadian and Chinese elementary school students' (N=40) mathematics problem posing and problem solving. Data included student performance, Skype meeting videos, meeting notes, and interviews transcripts through direct and indirect interactions between a pair of Canadian and Chinese…

English proficiency difference among students is a challenging pedagogical issue in EFL classrooms worldwide. Collaborative digital storytelling has been adopted in language learning settings to increase motivation and engagement, especially for young learners. However, it remains unknown whether students of different proficiency levels can…

This paper presents a case study examining 3rd, 4th and 5th graders' design fixation and cooperative learning in an engineering design project. A mixed methods instrument, the Cooperative Learning Observation Protocol (CLOP), was adapted to record frequency and class observation on cooperative learning engagement through detailed field notes.…

In this paper, both a cognitive and a sociocultural theoretical perspective are used to bring together findings from two studies that investigated the effects of instruction designed to enhance the potentially positive effect of peer interaction on L2 development. Despite differences between the studies' learning contexts, participants' age, and…

The goal of this study is to identify learners who are most likely to benefit from a small group cooperative learning strategy, which includes tasks involving movement activities. The study comprised 158 learners from five second and third grade classes learning about angles. The research tools included structured observation of each learner and…

Implemented structured cooperative-learning strategy for reading, Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC), in nine third-grade classes (n=198) and compared with nine control group classes (n=194). CIRC group outgained controls on Reading Comprehension as measured by California Achievement Test. When groups were divided into reading…

Examined the effects of cooperative-mastery learning (CML) on student's questioning behavior, creativity, and achievement. Comparisons of controls and students trained to generate questions under CML, mastery learning, and cooperative learning (CL) indicated that CML and ML students scored higher on measures of higher order questioning skills and…

This Action Research Project Report was conducted at one elementary school and two different high schools from August 20, 2007 to December 14, 2007. The purpose of this research was to decrease student off-task behavior in the classroom. There were four teacher researchers and 94 students at the beginning of the research, but during the action…

A third grade teacher explains how he utilized cooperative learning and a reward system to encourage a disruptive student to change his behavior. The teacher scored each team on group accomplishments. As the child learned to work with others, his attitude changed and his academic ability benefited the team. (SM)

This study evaluated a six-step strategy for solving mathematical word problems and partnered practice with 24 third-grade students with mild disabilities. Measures of process (use of the strategy regardless of correctness of answer) and product (finding correct answers) was significantly better than controls. Students' and teachers' attitudes…

Researchers examined how different reading and language arts assignments influenced third graders' (N=187) motivational goals, strategy use, and achievement affect. Teachers (N=8) modified assignments to increase students' complex writing and peer collaboration. Evaluation indicated students became less focused on teacher approval or normative…

Pairs of friends and pairs of classmates were observed to determine effects of existing social relationships on interactions during cooperative learning. No significant differences between observed interactions were found for 60 third and 70 seventh graders, but friends reported that they engaged in more activities outside the experimental…

The impact of direct instruction on reading comprehension strategies and the degree to which cooperative learning processes enhanced students' learning of strategies were studied using 486 third and fourth graders in Pennsylvania. Subjects identified main ideas of passages. Pretest-posttest data highlight the significant impact of direct…

The purpose of this practicum was to increase homework productivity and reinforce basic skills in a third-grade class. Other objectives were to relieve the burden of parents who were unable to help their children with homework and to improve communication between parent, teacher, and child. Homework assignments were made daily by the teacher.…