A study of interactions among Swedish intermediate-grade students as they solved a nonstandard mathematics task confronting the phenomenon of infinity shows that the children can reach a considerable understanding of the problem by contextualizing the problem in different ways. The collective orchestration of problem variations results in enhanced…

Describes a teacher-developed simulation designed to teach cultural geography to students in the middle grades. Contends that this interdisciplinary activity can be adapted to fit teacher or curriculum needs. Includes student instructions and descriptions of six pilgrimages. (CFR)

The difficulties that students with learning disabilities experience in cooperative learning activities include failure to attend to their peers, low levels of participation, inappropriate interactions with peers, and inactive learning. Three techniques are suggested to improve performance during cooperative learning activities. The first…

Cooperative learning is a teaching strategy involving students in small group learning activities that promote positive interaction. Cooperative learning is one of the most thoroughly researched strategies available to educators. Studies have consistently found that cooperative learning promotes increased academic achievement and can be…

Observed four fifth-graders who collaboratively solved problems integrating concepts related to fractions and area. Compared features of learning through peer collaboration with teacher-directed learning, including whole solution versus component parts, appropriation versus scaffolding, analysis versus synthesis, conflict versus errorless…

A study examined a comparison of the effectiveness of cooperative learning in small groups with whole classroom instruction using the Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) during reading. Subjects for the 8-week study were 53 sixth-graders from 2 classes in Brooklyn, New York. The stories used all came from the same basal reader. A reading…

Two field experiments were conducted to compare the effects of a cooperative learning group method to a whole-class method on acquisition of selected social-environmental studies problem-solving skills by 342 fourth graders. Both methods outperformed the control, but the cooperative strategy was less effective than was the whole-class method. (TJH)

Utilizes the psychological and sociocultural components of a constructivist paradigm to provide a detailed analysis of how the cognitive constructions students make as they enumerate 3D arrays of cubes develop and change in an inquiry-based, problem-centered mathematics classroom. Describes the classroom work of three pairs of 5th-grade students…

This study investigated the effect of the study skill strategies of concept mapping and cooperative learning on students' academic achievement. Forty fifth grade students were placed in three groups: (1) cooperative concept mapping groups (N=9--3 students in each of 3 small groups); (2) a standard concept mapping group (N=11); and (3) a control…

Cooperative group learning involves organizing students in small heterogeneous groups to work on academic assignments. This paper reports a staff development project to implement cooperative group learning for 417 general education middle school and junior high school students, including 41 special education students. To impart cooperative…

Sixth graders (n=192) participated in a study that compared the effects on behavior and achievement of cooperative learning with group members trained to facilitate each other's learning and cooperative learning in which members did not receive such training. Training resulted in positive effects on achievement and behavior. (SLD)

Teachers have sought appropriate strategies to ensure that students with disabilities receive the support they need within the general education classroom (Klingner, Vaughn, Hughes, Schumm, & Elbaum, 1998). Paving the road to inclusion with successful academic experiences for students with mild disabilities has been especially challenging in the…

A classroom field experiment was conducted on the effects of preparation homework and practice homework on student achievement in a fifth-grade social studies class, when used in conjunction with cooperative learning. The study investigated whether cooperative learning with or without preparation or practice homework produces greater student…

A study evaluated the effects of a 5-week study strategies program called RAVES (Read, Answer, Vocabulary, Examples, Share) designed to help intermediate students understand and recall information presented in expository text. Subjects, 156 fifth and sixth grade students enrolled in suburban Maryland science classes, read a section of expository…

The goals of this study were to investigate problem-solving in a context that requires a rich interaction among social, motivational, and cognitive processes and to compare the effects of the mediated and discovery models of learning on students' problem-solving processes in the complex technology-based learning environment. Subjects were 88…