The 29 abstracts in this volume describe innovative approaches to teaching and learning in the community college. Topics covered include the following: (1) strategies for providing management training to faculty and staff; (2) activities to help developmental mathematics students overcome obstacles to success in mathematics; (3) incorporating…

A practicum was designed to interest and motivate students to participate in social studies, an area in which lack of motivation has caused many elementary students to do poorly. An active learning, cooperative, and collaborative approach to social studies was taken with a class of 30 fourth graders. Through cooperative learning, simulated…

Ensuring that new forms of assessment are fair and valid for language minority students is essential for research on assessing the performance of Latino language minority elementary school students engaged in a cooperative learning language arts curriculum in Spanish and English. Strategies for developing performance assessments are described, and…

The use of cooperative learning at the college level was studied by investigating whether different instructor intervention approaches would affect the achievement of college students using cooperative learning methods. Subjects were 97 undergraduate elementary education majors enrolled in three sections of a curriculum course at the University of…

This conference paper describes the cooperative learning structure; presents the elements of cooperative learning; discusses how to plan, implement, and evaluate using the cooperative learning structure; introduces assistive technology services for students with disabilities; and examines how devices and services can be used to facilitate active…

This teaching guide is a resource for the classroom teacher of limited-English-proficient (LEP) migrant students. Following introductory information about LEP students, the guide contains sections on: (1) organizing your class for language learning, emphasizing cooperative learning; (2) language development, emphasizing social interaction; (3)…

This booklet introduces techniques and concepts that can be used for alternative styles of lesson delivery within the context of the autonomous learning approach and self-managing teams that are characteristic of resource-based learning. Much of the information is designed to help teachers enable learners to make good use of information resources.…

A study investigated factors supporting innovation in American Indian education by comparing data from two separate studies. One was a followup study of 25 Indian educators' implementation of cooperative learning and whole language techniques, which sought to identify: (1) the impact of the innovations on student achievement; and (2) factors that…

This volume examines and discusses educational research and its application. A collection of abridged and edited versions of original research reports is presented, intended to help teachers use research findings to inform their own practice. The research papers bring teaching methods and resources up to date; discuss the learning potential of…

This study of college-bound 11th graders assessed the feasibility and effectiveness of instruction that used a structured cooperative learning technique. The students worked in dyads with scripts that contained two learning situations with two roles: (1) explainer and checker; and (2) solver and checker. Both students then worked on summary…

This paper discusses three issues facing institutions that produce distance instruction. The first section covers the retraining of students; the new cohort of distance students must be trained to be comfortable with technology, with mediated interaction, and with the new paradigm of student-centered learning. The retraining of faculty is…

The World Wide Web has allowed the delineation of distance versus place-based education to become a spectrum rather than a binary choice. This paper discusses a novel format of distance education, called "Virtual Seminars," and its relation to issues within cognitive flexibility theory. Virtual seminars are interactive courses offered…

The Superhighways Teams Across Rural Schools (STARS) program sought to demonstrate how pupil learning and teacher professional development might be enhanced by the use of multimedia resources made available over communications networks. Subsidiary goals included developing strategies to support isolated gifted students through collaborative work,…

An expatriate second language teacher working in Japan describes and discusses his use of a reflective dialogue journal, written with a colleague using electronic mail (e-mail) and using a collaborative approach to professional development. Four topic areas discussed in the collaborative journal are examined: features of doing cooperative…

The Innovative Approaches Research Project (IARP) develops instructional models for language minority students. The project focuses on dropout prevention, instruction of exceptional students, math and science instruction, and literacy. IARP implemented four model programs: (1) Partners for Valued Youth: Dropout Prevention Strategies for At-Risk…