This book provides educators with the background and procedures needed to conduct group investigation, a method for classroom instruction in which students work collaboratively in small groups to examine, experience, and understand their topic of study. Significantly different from traditional instruction, group investigation is designed to appeal…

This short book, based on the Swedish experience, explores the concept and the operation of study circles. The book is organized in nine sections. The first section looks at the various definitions of study circles in history and the literature, arriving at a broad working concept of study circles. This is followed by an overview of the…

This booklet describes the learning experiences that take place in and as a result of a learning laboratory. Part one presents a brief history of the group dynamics movement, focusing especially upon the history of the National Training Laboratory of the National Education Association. Some significant characteristics of laboratory learning are…

This book contains information targeted at executives, line managers, and human resource executives responsible for bringing the team vision to their organizations. A prologue defines teams and shows how they are developed. Part I (chapters 1-4) has the following purposes: introduces the team empowerment continuum, shows how a reshuffling of…

This guide is intended to assist practitioners involved in facilitating action learning (AL). Examined in Part 1 are the following topics: principles of AL (distinctive features of AL, purpose of AL sets, life span of AL sets, values underpinning AL); independent versus organization-sponsored AL sets; AL set operation (time, tone setting, set…

This book argues that bureaucracy is inappropriate to the information age. It advocates replacing bureaucratic organization with the concept of the "intelligent organization," an organization that develops and engages the intelligence, business judgment, and responsibility of all its members. The successful organization of today builds freedom and…

This guidebook integrates basic strategies for developing a multiage-classroom design. The book begins by describing developmentally appropriate practice (DAP), which is based on a curriculum and an instructional-delivery methodology that address the physical, social, intellectual, emotional, and aesthetic needs of young students. Students are…

This book describes the framework for an individualistic approach to learning--critical self-directed learning (SDL). A preface explains what is meant by "critical practice of SDL," describes educational streams that have fed into the concept, and situates the context within which the ideas about critical SDL developed. The order of the chapters…

Defined as a concept which centers on planning educational needs at the local level, accountability is particularly feasible in small rural schools, since the number of people responsible for education needs is more readily manageable than the number found in urban areas. Designed to familiarize rural parents and other lay citizens with the…

This volume reports experiences in individualizing and opening classroom instruction of elementary teachers in the League of Cooperating Schools (18 Southern California School districts). Written for teachers by teachers, it offers specific details and advice to aid both the new and the experienced teacher with the organizational and technical…

Using collaborative learning activities means structuring student interaction in small, mixed-ability groups, encouraging interdependence, and providing for individual accountability. By taking part in cooperative experiences, students are encouraged to learn by assimilating their ideas and creating new knowledge through interaction with others.…