This publication includes two papers by John Hollifield, three ERIC Digests and two ERIC resource lists on group learning, and a reprint of an ERIC search on cooperative learning in elementary and middle schools. The two papers are titled: (1) "Cooperative Learning in Elementary Schools: From Supplemental Instructional Practice to Schoolwide…

This paper presents some observations on cooperative learning gathered from research in social and educational literature. Issues of educational reform are also addressed within the context of minority academic achievement. Studies comparing cooperation or greater competition in the classroom appear to be in agreement that cooperative modes of…

Historically, technology educators have chosen the creation of products or projects as a means to teach technological concepts. Although it is true that technology is most commonly known by its products, in most educational situations technology is best described as a process. This paper describes a technology education course that promotes…

Blended learning basically refers to using several methods for teaching. It can be thought to be a learning program where more than one delivery mode is being used with the ultimate goal of optimizing the learning result and cost of program delivery. Examples of blended learning could be the combination of technology-based resources and…

Jacques Haenen and Hanneke Tuithof describe an activity that they developed for pupils as a part of an initial teacher education course. Teams of Year 7 pupils were given a structure and guidelines within which they were to work collaboratively and at their own direction and pace. Pupils were given various tools for monitoring the success of their…

Reviews research on prejudice reduction. The areas covered are audiovisual approaches, approaches using special materials, cognitive approaches, cooperative learning approaches, human relations training, direct approaches, schoolwide conditions, teacher education, and other techniques. (JDH)

In this paper we report on two complementary research results. In the first we describe a tool that allows different modes of synchronous distance teaching of mathematics. In the second we report the preliminary results of a pilot study conducted using this tool to teach geometry, both with school students aged 14-15 and with undergraduate…

In this 10th grade social studies and language arts interdisciplinary unit, students research and report on historical figures from the turn of the 20th century. Students are required to work in pairs to learn about famous and common individuals, including Andrew Carnegie, Samuel Gompers, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Theodore Roosevelt, Booker…

A web site for an online graduate course in Earth systems science for middle school teachers was designed to affect teachers' knowledge about Earth systems science and resources and their use of constructivist teaching practices, particularly collaboration, rubrics and the use of journals. In the 16-week course 44 teachers experienced…

The paper commences by reviewing some of the issues currently being raised with respect to the use of technology in undergraduate mathematics teaching and learning. Selected material from three research projects is used to address a series of questions. The questions relate to the use of symbolic manipulators in tertiary mathematics, to…

This paper is a study of computer-mediated intergroup contact within Project I-57, a larger educational technology project conducted during the 1998-99 school year. Participating institutions were five middle and high schools in three distinctive geographic/cultural regions along north-south Illinois highway I-57: the Chicago area, the central…

This paper discusses the impediments to distance education (DE) programs and the critical value of interaction and dialog in DE learning environments. The types of interaction to be considered when designing a DE program are listed, including interaction to increase learning, to increase participation, to develop communication, to receive…

Teaching and learning in the traditional classroom continues to evolve in the presence of technological innovation. This paper highlights basic strategies in which the traditional classroom can be modified to involve students more actively in the teaching and learning process. One of the strategies outlined in this paper includes the incorporation…

This report discusses the outcomes of a project that investigated whether the Multiple Intelligences (MI) model could be used to address specific problems in learning in special population classrooms. Dyads were created in which two students were paired together who displayed opposite strengths and weaknesses on the eight independent multiple…

This digest contains four sections that discuss the following broad principles that offer a framework to teachers for thinking about how technology can support their instruction: (1) learning occurs in context, including ways that technology can facilitate learning by providing real world contexts that engage learners in solving complex problems,…