In supervising children, camp counselors should be aware of certain truths about working with campers that can affect their safety: the tendency for campers to become overstimulated, the effect campers can have on adults known as regressive pull, and the situation known as player-umpire. A counselor judgement checklist is offered that will help…

A "traffic light" model provides youth groups with a means to evaluate the risk level of specific behaviors and agree upon the management of such behaviors. Designed for outdoor pursuits, the model may be used in other environments. Suggestions for ways to discuss red-light, yellow-light, and green-light behaviors are included. (SV)

Action learning should result in personal growth leading to organizational growth. However, differences in learner perspectives, problems in group decision making, and circumstances inhibiting learning transfer may explain why organizational growth does not always result as expected. (Contains 21 references.) (SK)

Camp directors are role models for staff, and their behavior sets the tone for staff behavior. Treat staff like adults. Treat them with respect; be demanding and fair. Clearly tell them what is expected. Encourage initiative, and don't punish the mistakes that come with learning to make decisions. Anecdotes illustrate how inappropriate management…

Performed two studies to examine things unsaid in group counseling. Examined categories of things unsaid, relationships between types of things unsaid, stage of group development, and gender. Found more advice and outside things unsaid during orientation-inclusion stage and more positive feeling and empathic things unsaid during affection-cohesion…

Demonstrates how the Gestalt Approach can be useful in facilitating systems design for educational change. This approach focuses on awareness of the process that the group is involved with and helps to create an environment where individual and group concerns can be integrated and harmonized. Discusses the "Cycle of Experience" and…

Proposes an extended form of dialog for social systems design called design conversation. Two modes of social discourse are combined: strategic dialog (communication that focuses on the specific task of seeking solutions) and generative dialog (common frame of thinking and shared meaning in a group). Describes a conversation program of the…

A design group needs to sift through confusion, come together, and converse as a team before it can be productive in design tasks. At the 1994 Fuschl Conversation on Systems Design, the metaphor of lighting a fire was used to symbolize this coming together; three tables examine the relationships between the metaphor and starting a design…

Describes a program developed by librarians at Arizona State University West to evaluate their library instruction. Topics discussed include stressing individual improvement rather than personnel evaluation and decisions; group process; focus on formative evaluation; role of evaluation measures; evaluations by faculty and students; and colleague…

Describes a group activity that uses a tree as a metaphor to reflect both group and personal growth during adventure activities. The tree's roots represent the group's formation, the branches and leaves represent the group's diversity and capabilities, and the seeds represent the personal learning and growth that took place within the group.…

Describes the role of reading/writing workshops for second-language classrooms as a flexible way to organize a class for literary instruction. In this environment, students can choose among integrated social activities involving reading, writing, speaking and listening without feeling pressure to exhibit a polished performance every time. (CK)

Teacher support groups can promote professional development by encouraging ownership of the professional agenda, enhancing collegial interaction, and reducing program fragmentation. A survey revealed that teacher groups formed by teachers enabled members to find personal and professional support within the group, while groups sponsored by the…

Studies students' writing, thinking, and cooperative processes in a research and argumentation class (part of a first-year composition sequence) working on a research assignment in small groups. Suggests ways to help students become more successful cooperative researchers. (SR)

Analyzes group discourse (n=24) during laboratory investigations in order to understand how students solve scientific problems and the ways social roles shape the development and articulation of arguments. Results indicate that knowledge building depends on students learning to use tools of the scientific community and the social context in which…

Discusses a study of four middle-school interdisciplinary teams, highlighting teachers' focus of concern and perceptions about teaming's benefits and costs for themselves and students. Findings show that successful progression toward interdisciplinary teaming tasks depends on interrelationships of group composition, operating variables, and…