Describes various research results on the benefits of cooperative learning. Also addresses the shift of Catholic school education toward cooperative learning, reflecting the civic-minded nature of Catholic doctrine and values. (YKH)

Investigates perceptions and practices of 138 business communications students, finding that using e-mail and Internet to complete assignments encouraged students to become active learners and to contact instructors. Suggests that e-mail helps African-American students see instructors as facilitators, and fosters an informal rhetorical…

Describes how a student collaborates with other seventh-grade research and learning teammates on a dinosaur project, using electronic mail, the Pathways Intranet, meetings with her teacher at a video-conferencing center, and an interview with an anthropology graduate student. Similar scenarios for teachers, administrators, parents, and board…

This study of social grouping versus curricular revision components of cooperative learning involved 2 eighth-grade students with moderate/severe disabilities and 22 peers. Both conditions occasioned high levels of active engagement by students with and without disabilities. The study concluded that benefits from such curricular revision are not…

Discusses the concept of a Virtual Company--a collaborative, distributed learning environment built on the notions of competence-based, constructivist, open learning, and distance education. It features an authentic, role-playing game that is strongly modeled upon the functional structures of real-life companies. Outlines the set-up of a Virtual…

A self-help group approach was used to enhance medical students' cooperative skills within an elective course. The task profile envisaged included team building, cooperative information search and problem-solving skills, and providing and receiving constructive feedback. Findings suggest that training for productive cooperative learning is useful…

Compared the effects on teachers of two common teacher-development methods (skills training and action research) for teaching students how to self-evaluate in cooperative-learning groups. Teachers received training and implemented their strategies. Pretests and posttests of students in both groups indicated that action research made a more…

Reports on a study of the effects of training in the use of social and cognitive strategies on the learning outcomes of students in secondary mathematics education. Results with 511 Dutch students show the positive effects of teaching cognitive and social strategies, with particular benefits for low-achieving students. (SLD)

This research examined whether collaborative hypermedia systems could improve upon results achieved in traditional collaborative and individual learning environments without a computer. The students did not feel positively disposed to sharing their ideas and work with their peers; the group experience did not improve the quality of individual…

Explores issues related to the design of collaborative-learning environments mediated by computer conferencing from the perspective of challenges faced in the sociocultural context of the Indian sub-continent. Examines the impact of online features on social cohesiveness, group dynamics, interaction, communication anxiety, and participation.…

Presents a framework for integrating pedagogy and software design and evaluates the framework by designing two educational programs to be used in coaching exploratory talk in small group work in citizenship and science. Results show that combining software design with off-computer coaching of exploratory talk enhances computer interaction and that…

Hypothesized that Bilingual Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (BCIRC) would improve the achievement of second and third graders in Spanish bilingual programs during their transition to English by giving students opportunities to use language to find meanings and solve problems and by enabling teachers to apply well-established…

Describes a study which explored undergraduate students' reactions to a Web-based environment supporting problem-based learning. Findings revealed that while the majority of students saw value to be gained from learning in a student-centered, collaborative setting, many expressed preference for learning in the more conventional teacher-directed…

Presents a novel application of analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques to compare the reliability of multiple peer ratings with single teacher ratings. Uses rating data from two different courses, both involving multiple peer and individual teacher ratings that were used to assess student contributions to group process work. Discusses…

This study used surveys, observations, and interviews to document the experiences of 10 public school teachers whose classes spent two months in a high tech facility made available at a local university. Topics include technological literacy; the need for technical support; changes in class dynamics; cooperative learning; instructional…