This study explored how to integrate cooperative skills training into learning tasks in the area of writing. Cooperative learning sessions, aimed at developing both cooperative and cognitive skills, were created and conducted in two elementary school classes (Grade 2, age 7-8). Pupils' teamwork interactions were videotaped and analysed.…

Findings from two studies are discussed in relation to the experiences and challenges faced by teachers trying to implement effective group work in schools and classrooms and to reflect on the lessons learnt about how to involve pupils with special educational needs (SEN). The first study reports on UK primary school teachers' experiences of…

We use the theory of communities of practice and the concept of accountable disciplinary knowledge to describe how a learning community develops in the context of an upper-division physics laboratory course. The change in accountable disciplinary knowledge motivates students' enculturation into a community of practice. The enculturation process is…

Studies of primary education within the UK have shown that small groups can feature within classrooms; however, equivalent research within secondary education remains scarce. Research has established effective group work approaches, yet secondary teachers may encounter difficulties employing approaches tied to parameters embedded within primary…

There is a large number of relationships between organisms in communities, and these relationships comprise the following types: predation and parasitism, commensalism, protocooperation and mutualism, neutralism, amensalism, and competition. The possible effects of the relationship between two species are that one or the other can benefit (+),…

Possible bases for student influence over teachers are examined. Since teachers cannot avoid being influenced by students, it is important for them to consciously select the kinds of influence efforts to which they will respond. (MJB)

SYMLOG, a method for capturing group members' perceptions of their interactions, is a useful research methodology which can also be used to teach group competencies. Drawing from social psychology, management, and communication disciplines, researchers using SYMLOG have captured issues of leadership, cohesion, and group processes over time. Using…

This document describes an instructional packet designed to help teachers develop effective techniques for monitoring classroom behavior. Monitoring student classroom behavior requires the possession of a meaningful set of categories with which to describe student behavior, the ability to identify examples of those behaviors in the context of…

The goal of this book is to help teachers create a positive social climate in the elementary school classroom. Six group processes areas are identified as combining to create the social climate of the classroom: (1) attraction; (2) leadership; (3) communication; (4) student norms of conduct; (5) individual expectations; and (6) group cohesion. The…

This study is divided into two parts: (1) a review of the theories of group development, particularly as they relate to a classroom setting; and (2) a discussion of the research program which grew out of the theoretical positions. Two to six teachers in each of five junior high schools were involved in using group interaction as a teaching method.…

The study reported in this paper focuses on teacher perceptions of students' affective or noncognitive behavior in the classroom. Elementary school teachers were asked to describe in writing five events or situations involving students that they judged to be fairly typical and that had occurred in their classrooms. The emphasis was upon events…

This book, one of three Teacher Resource Booklets on Classroom Social Relations and Learning developed at the Center for Research on Utilization of Scientific Knowledge at the University of Michigan, discusses the theoretical background of role playing and gives a step-by-step discussion of how to use role playing in the classroom. There are…

The purpose of this study is to describe, document, and analyze the classroom management techniques an elementary school teacher uses to establish and maintain group norms. An analysis of the data collected for a teacher who used a group process approach to classroom management is presented. Two types of norms were observed operating in classroom…

Qualitative methods were used to analyze the social environments--or webs of interaction--in reading groups of varying ability levels. Ethnographic observations were conducted for 15 to 30 hours in each of eight first and second grade classrooms with ability-divided reading groups. A code scheme was developed to categorize the quantity and quality…

A study investigated how oral discourse affects the communicative process of teaching and learning and how that process influences and is influenced by the goals and expectations of college instructors and college students. Three college classes were observed for one semester. Data were collected in the form of field notes, cassette tapes of…