Writing 125 is a 13-week course that all first-year students at Wellesley College (Massachusetts) are required to take. One instructor teaches a section of it called "Law in Contemporary Society" which centers writing and reading activities around legal issues, namely "Roe v. Wade" and "Webster v. Cruzan." As an…

This article describes how second language learners become more autonomous in the language learning process, how the cooperative learning strategy helps improve the learning outcome, and how second language learners apply learning strategies to learning tasks both in the classroom and outside of the classroom. Three activities were offered:…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of verbal interaction cues and ability grouping within a cooperative learning computer-based program. Two hundred thirty-one eighth graders in a required science class were grouped by ability and randomly assigned to homogeneous lower-ability, homogeneous higher-ability, or heterogeneous…

The Virtual Classroom(TM) is a teaching and learning environment constructed in software, which supports collaborative learning among students who participate at times and places of their choosing. While students may access only the record of their activities, the instructor can review the activities status of any student, require that activities…

This simulation activity introduces the concepts of cooperation and competition and exploring positive models for problem solving. The activity can be used with elementary and secondary school participants, as well as with adults. Suggestions for adapting discussion for younger participants are provided. The group task is to form five equal-sized…

Although the goal of science courses for non-majors should be to increase the scientific literacy of students, many such courses become watered down versions of courses in the major and do not provide enough depth to make science meaningful to students. At the Wabash Valley Region campus of Ivy Tech State College, in Indiana, a project was…

This collection assembles some of the most important works from the writings of Robert E. Slavin and presents them in individual chapters with introductions and commentary to set them in context. The works cited give educators and educational researchers a single source for the most important work of Slavin and his colleagues. The first section,…

In an increasingly technological environment, traditional teaching presentation methods such as the podium, overhead, and transparencies are no longer sufficient. This document serves as a guide to designing and planning an electronic classroom for "bidirectional" communication between teacher and student. Topics include: (1) determining…

It is proposed that classroom collaboration has the potential to build a classroom learning community in which students turn to each other as resources and the teacher becomes one channel, among many, for learning. The demands that collaborative work places on students are examined, and the process of building a collaborative environment is…

This monograph presents seven papers on the research, and pedagogical aspects of developmental education and implications for a definition of developmental education. After an introductory paper by the editors, the papers are: (1) "The New Science: Connections with Developmental Education" (Dana D. Darby); (2) "Issues Affecting the Definition of…

The movement from a teacher-centered to a student-centered classroom environment requires that teachers utilize facilitation skills for effective collaborative learning. Collaboration is the process of shared creation in which two or more individuals with complementary skills interact to create a shared understanding that did not previously exist.…

When teaching beginning reading, the use of certain children's stories, called predictable books, can yield higher reading comprehension skills, provide excellent practice for sight words, and teach good oral reading skills. A nurturing classroom environment is an important component of an effective beginning reading curriculum. An effective…

Critics of academic tracking argue that it perpetuates society's existing social structure, which is unfairly organized and limited by race and class. This paper presents findings of a study that compared teaching practices in tracked and detracked high school classes in a small city in upstate New York. Four social-studies and four science…

In a unique class of combined elementary and secondary teacher education majors, this triangulated qualitative study investigated how cooperative structures affect student attitudes and motivation. In particular, the study examined students' preferences for instruction, students' attitudes and motivation related to their preference for cooperative…

This Digest draws on current practices in global education to provide teachers with practical suggestions regarding instructional and technological resources as well as the use of cooperative learning approaches. Readily accessible instructional resources for teaching global education include: (1) local communities, e.g., volunteer organizations,…