Small group inquiry changes the leadership role of the teacher to create an open classroom and focus on the social and intellectual development of the student as a future thinking and adaptive citizen, not just a reluctant member of an audience for specialized information. (Author)

Used correctly, teams can increase productivity, raise morale, and spur innovation. Tips for effective teams include using the right team to do the right job, creating a hierarchy of teams, building an atmosphere of trust, and addressing interpersonal issues. (SK)

A group of 33 municipal government managers received training in teamwork and feedback skills. Compared to 32 controls, the treatment group perceived their teams as more effective. Increased use of feedback skills caused managers to view themselves and their work groups as more proactive, engaged, and cohesive. (SK)

The Program for Organizational Interdisciplinary Self-Education teaches group self-education skills such as team development, management, and maintenance. Training includes defining and negotiating team member roles, case study approach, group simulations, and problem solving. (SK)

Questionnaire data from 81 managers and 364 employees identified five factors predicting high team orientation in organizations: relationships with management, innovation, control of work by immediate supervisors, group cohesiveness, and open group process. (SK)

Student team techniques, involving two conceptually distinct components--a cooperative reward structure, in which students are evaluated and rewarded based on the performance of the group as a whole, and a cooperative task structure, in which students are encouraged to peer tutor--have had positive effects compared to control methods on academic…

A team-oriented approach is replacing the traditional management style in today's organizations. Because team management skills differ, they require different teaching methods. This paper describes an administrator education course designed to develop team management skills from an applied and behavioral viewpoint. Students participate in…

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…

During the past decade, many American companies have shifted their work styles from classically controlling management styles to self-motivating teams. For this reason, a few communication educators are now exploring alternative models of teaching. If students have the opportunity to experience many of the concepts covered in organizational…

This paper explores the use of cohort structures in administrator-preparation programs. The paper considers how cohorts operate effectively as communities and how the cohort promotes the enhancement of the individual. Data were derived from an analysis of the journals of 51 students enrolled in cohort programs at four university sites in…

A questionnaire on use of cooperative learning was distributed to all faculty (76 respondents) in the College of Technical Careers at Southern Illinois-Carbondale (SIUC) and a sample of the membership (66 respondents) of the American Technical Education Association (ATEA). For both samples, the main use of groupwork was with laboratory…

An American history class in Melbourne, Florida, provides an opportunity for tenth grade students to experience the reality of interpersonal interaction and small group cooperation in the classroom. The first three days of the year-long course are used to identify leaders and to assign groups, numbering five to seven students. In addition to…

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…