This text explores the organization, methodology, and effectiveness of small group instruction. The following topics are discussed in detail: 1) rationale and objectives for small group instruction; 2) group roles and interpersonal dynamics; 3) different types of groups and their instructional purpose; 4) group organization; 5) skills required in…

Participation Training for Adult Education serves as a manual, guide, and resource for leaders and participants interested in establishing a program of adult learning called group-participation training. Goals emphasize participants learning about themselves as learners, how they relate to and can help others, and exploring the dynamics of a…

This collection of essays focuses on group social and political action as it relates to libraries and their environments. The introduction discusses the group-concept approach to studying library and information science. The essays are case studies of interest group politics, including: (1) the imprisonment of a librarian who refused to give…

This study is a defined segment of a long-range investigation into the effects of a creative behavior as it relates to creative drama for college level students. The primary objective was to gain insight into the value of creative drama as a teaching method which might be capable of nurturing creativity. The hypotheses were that a college level…

This paper describes an investigation of the effects of group interaction and consensus on information processing behavior when information is received sequentially or simultaneously by the information processing unit. Responses were compared to the Bayesian norm and further analyzed to determine the extent to which groups differed from…

This paper discusses the effectiveness of small group interaction as opposed to teacher centered instruction. The following procedures are suggested in using this type of class instruction: (1) students are told that the class is not lecture, but one in which they will participate actively; (2) personal data is collected from each student; (3)…

It is contended that a person becomes an underachiever because of: (1) personality or psychological problems; (2) poor school preparation; (3) working toward underachievement as an assertion of independence; (4) inadequate self concept; and (5) poor impulse control. The bulk of the paper is devoted to describing the bases and procedures of two…

Comprehension is seen as involving meaningful communication between author and reader. Different degrees of comprehension such as literal comprehension, evaluation, reorganization, and reaction are discussed, and experience, intelligence, language development, and decoding skills are noted as important factors which influence reading…

Concordia Teachers College opened a counseling center to serve 1300 students with a structured counseling program. However, the center was not able to serve the number of students who called for appointments. The next step was to investigate the effectiveness of group counseling procedures. Three groups were formed: (1) A-group counseling (N=22),…

The objectives for this study were to: (1) explore competing treatments for assisting students to identify plans, gather relevant and reliable information, and consider tentative choices which will enable them to make use of these decision-making skills outside the counseling treatment setting; (2) develop and assess the relative efficacy of a…

This paper reports the findings of a field test of the motivational-instructional procedure group conferences to promote self-directed prosocial behavior. The field test was carried out in eight Wisconsin multiunit schools. Each school or unit developed its own list of prosocial behaviors which was used to measure the progress of all pupils.…

Businessmen who are concerned about their own communication effectiveness and the general communication practices of their organizations must first realize that attempts to improve communication take hard work and involve frequent failure. Although most businessmen believe communication to be ordinary and simple, they are concerned by the fact…

The qualities of small group communication and interaction were tested in this study, which specifically measured group consensus and the quality of group decision making. Fifty groups of five members each were used. One member of each group was trained to exhibit either high or low "orientation," knowledge of the procedures the group…

In this paper, an attempt is made to establish a hierarchical order of purpose for the elementary school principalship. In rank order, these purposes are (1) clinical supervision, whose central purposes are the improvement of instruction utilizing objective systematic feedback techniques and effective knowledge of group dynamics; (2) professional…

The Group Guidance Program is a comprehensive career guidance program designed to prepare young adults for a positive transition from high school to suitable employment or post-high school training. The program materials deal with three major areas: self-awareness, labor market information, and tools for employment. Volume I of a two volume manual…