Describes how a jigsaw cooperative learning structure divides lab work in a constructive, efficient way and provides a mechanism for sharing information. Pre-lab lectures are replaced with focused student discussions about the lab exercises. Students become more involved with the lab exercises, take responsibility for their own learning, and are…

Since the restructuring of education in New Zealand in 1989, a new curriculum framework has been developed. This framework emphasizes the thinking, problem-solving, and group skills processes. This paper traces the growth of a strategic approach to teaching and learning in New Zealand, with a focus on cooperative learning. It describes findings of…

Collaborative learning, such as student-team learning or work-group learning, has become the focus of inservice workshops for teachers, a theme in professional journals, and the daily routine in an increasing number of classrooms. The women's study clubs in late 19th-century United States used a similar pedagogy. By the early 1900s, perhaps as…

This paper offers a synthesis of research on cooperative learning in small groups. The main challenge for teachers who utilize cooperative learning is to stimulate the type of interaction desired according to their teaching objective. A generalization regarding student interactions is that if students are not taught differently, they will tend to…

This paper reports on a 12-week study of 131 students in eight fourth-grade social studies classrooms in two elementary schools in the southwestern United States with low socioeconomic, high minority populations. Although research has indicated that cooperative learning enhances student achievement, promotes self-esteem, and improves interpersonal…

Discusses the reactions to two empowering styles of teaching introduced into a newly developed interdisciplinary unit in geography and environmental sciences. Peer assessment was embraced more thoroughly than group work which was eventually accepted with some reservations. Includes charts illustrating student reactions to both innovations. (MJP)

Attempts to differentiate the characteristics of courses that involve token empowerment from those that involve deeper empowerment. Describes a course where students role-played the part of consultants involved in group work involving global issues. Includes a chart that outlines the components of token and deep empowerment. (MJP)

This monograph explores the current use in higher education of cooperative learning, the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning. The opening section sets out to define cooperative learning, and to look at the history of the technique, its basic elements, types of cooperative…