This manual presents the trainee's workbook and the trainer's guidelines for the first of six modules in a teacher inservice series developed to promote the unified effort of both regular and special education personnel in understanding and applying nationally recognized practices to implement fully inclusive education for students with diverse…

The hypothesis that when true group tasks feature ill-structured problems, interaction will predict learning that involves higher-order thinking skills was tested with middle school students with a strategy called complex instruction. Complex instruction is designed for heterogeneous classrooms in which teaching objectives are conceptual and…

A review of twelve teaching/learning methodologies is presented, with tips and suggested uses listed for each: lecture, question-answer, discussion, seminar, buzz session, brainstorming, problem solving, role playng, simulation, gaming, programmed instruction, and values clarification. It is noted that educators should be encouraged to review…

This document contains three papers describing the South Brunswick Township (Kindall Park, N.J.) Public Schools inservice and preservice program based on a training design which includes group dynamics or human relations training combined with a summer laboratory school. The first paper "A Three-Year Organizational Development with a Total School…

The training of all people on a correctional institution staff is discussed. The point is made that there are special problems about penal institutions in trying to effect behavior change in that people are living there against their will. This circumstance produces a basis for a subculture. It has been found that the criminal subculture is the…

Twenty learning-handicapped and 20 nonhandicapped intermediate-grade children worked on a mathematics problem-solving task on a microcomputer. Their social and instructional interactions were compared as group configuration (individual, homogeneous dyad, and heterogeneous dyad) and task difficulty changed. The computer's effect on the conversation…

Examined patterns of giving and receiving explanations in three mixed-ability student groups (grades 7-10) working on problem-solving tasks. Groups were modeled after the cooperative learning approach, Student-Teams Achievement Divisions. Students infrequently sought explanations or received inadequate explanations, and explanation givers did not…

Covering a wide variety of issues of concern to educators, the papers compiled in this proceedings report present graduate student research on writing instruction, mathematics instruction, cooperative learning groups, a follow-up program to Project Head Start, relationships between language and music, and the self-concept of gifted children. The…

Researchers in South Carolina set up a study and a measurement instrument to determine the powerlessness/alienation phenomenon among rural limited-resource people. They established a control group and an experimental group of black and white residents of six small South Carolina communities. With the control group, they conducted a traditional…

Self-formulating study-groups, comprised of teachers voluntarily meeting with consultant leaders, are used in Denmark as an effective tool for identifying and discussing relevant problems and developing action programs. The general educational approach employed in self-formulating study-groups includes a problem orientation related to the…

Designed to be of practical assistance to those interested in improving their abilities for group discussion leadership and participation and their knowledge of learning-discussion groups, this book is organized so that the first seven chapters are concerned with theory and the last seven concern practical application. The chapter titles are as…

Six papers dealing with decision support and knowledge based systems are presented. Five of the papers are concerned in some way with the use of artificial intelligence techniques in individual or group decision support. The sixth paper presents empirical results from the use of a group decision support system. (CLB)

This document is intended to create an opportunity for teens and adults to talk together and find ways to make their community a place where young people can grow up successfully. The discussion guide begins with a brief statement of purpose and a brief explanation of study circles and their objectives. The remainder of the guide consists of…

Discusses the educational approach and process at the Highland Center, formerly known as Highlander Folk School, which for forty-five years has experimented with various means of utilizing nonformal education to support social movements. The Highlander technique, short-term residential workshops to help people solve their problems, is described.…

A Purdue University (Indiana) project assessed four outcomes of pharmaceutical education: group interaction; problem solving; written communication skills; and interpersonal communication skills. Four instruments were developed, and eight groups of four students were assessed using them. Students also self-assessed performance and later met…