Positive political discourse is the heart of democracy. The purposes of political discourse include making an effective decision about the course the society should take and building a moral bond among all members of the society. A responsibility of social sciences within a democratic society is to provide the theory, research, and normative…

In making the transition between the research and theory on goal structures and the literature on open education, five of the more pervasive themes of open education were discussed. (Author/RK)

There is no aspect of human experience or human socialization more important than cooperation with others. The person's ability to engage in sustained cooperative endeavors depends upon a series of competencies. Successful cooperation depends upon the person having an integrated and coherent identity, directionality, a clear preception of…

A strategy for preventing drug abuse by children and adolescents is socializing them into social competencies necessary for psychological health and responsible decision making. This is achieved through direct learning, identification based on admiration for superior competence, and adoption of social roles within meaningful relationships with…

One of the basic purposes of counseling is to help clients achieve some kind of behavioral and cognitive change that increases their competence in managing interpersonal relationships. The advantages and procedures for increasing clients' interpersonal skills within the context of a counseling group are discussed in this article. (Author)

Discusses the necessity of student-student interactions for enhancing achievement, socialization, and healthy psychological development. Presents evidence concerning the constructive impact of the appropriate use of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic goal structures and the power of effectively managed controversy within the classroom.…

Cooperative learning processes have been rediscovered and are being used throughout the country on every level. The basic elements of cooperative goal structure are positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face interaction, and cooperative skills. The teacher's role in structuring cooperative learning situations involves…

Research on the educational outcomes of cooperative learning strategies suggests that educators can "have their cake and eat it too" since these strategies have been found to promote simultaneously high achievement, constructive student-student relationships, positive attitudes toward subject areas, continuing education, critical…

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…