This report describes the current status of evaluation findings for the Child Development Project (CDP), a project to bring about caring and responsible attitudes in students in kindergarten through grade 6. The program was begun in a suburban San Ramon, California school district in 1982, and has recently been introduced in urban, ethnically…

A study examined the collaborative process in young children and also the role that the collaborative process played in improving the quality of classroom instruction. Subjects were approximately 60 students in a grade 3/4 pod of two classroom teachers at the University Elementary School, Calgary. A teaching unit of 6 weeks duration dealing with…

This study examined how methods courses affected preservice teachers' knowledge of and attitudes toward cooperative learning. Data were gathered utilizing a pre/post course attitude survey, a pre/post class true/false test, postclass interviews, and interviews conducted with subjects during their respective student teaching experiences.…

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Massachusetts) has developed a new freshman course titled "Computer Analysis in Civil Engineering" as part of a curriculum revision project which emphasizes critical thinking, cooperative group learning and problem solving, the integration of knowledge through projects, and student responsibility for…

The effects of orienting activities and practice on performance and student behaviors in a cooperative learning environment were studied with 80 graduate education majors in an educational psychology course. A 2 x 2 factorial design was used, with orienting activity (advance organizer versus objectives) and type of practice (verbal information…

Thirteen research syntheses were analyzed to determine the academic, social, and psychological effects upon learners who are gifted and talented of three grouping practices: (1) ability grouping for enrichment; (2) mixed ability cooperative grouping for regular instruction; and (3) grouping for acceleration. It was concluded that the research…

This paper describes the experience of a fourth- and fifth-grade, first-year teacher's participation in the Book Club Project of the Center for the Learning and Teaching of Elementary Subjects. The Book Club included the use of high-quality children's literature, opportunities for response to literature in multiple ways, and instruction that…

This study was conducted to examine one suburban San Diego (California) school's attempt, under a restructuring plan, to correct resegregation in classroom assignments. A program was developed which combined gifted, regular education, and bilingual students (n=79) in grades three and four with three teachers in a team-teaching approach. Students…

The purposes of the first two parts of this literature review are to clarify the concept of active learning and discuss the use and value of active learning models. In Part I, the perspectives of five historical proponents of active learning, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Dewey, Kilpatrick, and Piaget, are discussed. The views of four contemporary…

This study considers the enrichment of social studies methods through the integration of videoconferencing in a telecollaborative format. The purpose in developing this study was threefold: (a) to describe the perspectives of teacher candidates while participating in a telecollaborative social studies methods course experience, (b) to determine in…

Any activity that brings together people from different cultures leads to the emergence of cultural differences and similarities. The 35 lesson plans contained in this document suggest activities that highlight the differences. However, without being surrounded by various activities showing essential similarities, these activities would have the…

A study examined the effects of peer evaluation on writing performance and attitudes of ninth-grade students. Data were collected from 11 teachers in eight different schools. Each teacher taught two ninth grade English classes, one according to traditional methods and one with the experimental condition in which students taught each other by…

Six teachers from small and rural schools throughout the Northeast were selected as the 1990-91 Laboratory Fellows by the Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast and Islands. These teachers were chosen for their exceptional strategies for incorporating multilevel grouping in their classrooms, grades 6-12. This publication…

Schools fail to develop students' unique capabilities mainly because of large-group instruction limitations. Mutual Instruction (MI), a comprehensive peer assistance program involving all students in cross-age tutoring and counseling, is a sound and practical approach to restructuring the conventional lock-step, assembly-line program. Teaching--or…

The extension of the new thinking curriculum into the classroom suggests that the redefinition of learning requires a collaborative classroom. Provided in this third guidebook in a series of nine video conferences is an elaboration on the definition of classroom collaboration, a description of classroom characteristics and student and teacheer…