In this lesson, students role-play supporting members of the original Lewis and Clark expedition of the Louisiana Territory. Students research the expedition and create journals of their journey. The journals are meant to be historically accurate, and students will include items such as maps, personal written entries, illustrations, and…

In this lesson, student teams role-play as real estate agents who have been contacted by an art collector about purchasing a large historic landmark in which to house an art collection. Teams will research an historical site and prepare a creative sales presentation. Students are provided with background information, detailed instructions, on-line…

This study examined the changes adult English as a Second Language learners made to a text when writing collaboratively, how learners initiated change, what reasons learners gave for changes they made when writing collaboratively, and the effectiveness of Lotus ScreenCam for researching collaborative computer based writing tasks. Analysis of data…

This publication is the second edition of a work designed to give school library media specialists and teachers a better understanding of cooperative learning and the tools to develop a successful program, and to offer new ways to implement cooperative learning into the middle and high school curriculum. Changes since the first edition are the…

When in the "zone of proximal development" for a particular skill or piece of information, a learner is ready to learn but lacks certain prerequisites. Scaffolding is an interactive process in which a teacher or facilitator assists such a learner to build a "structure" to contain and frame the new information. Scaffolding can…

This paper suggests that students and their learning should become the focus of everything that college faculty do, examining what is currently known about student learning and where this knowledge comes from. Two large volumes have been published on what is known about student learning in college. A distillation of what is known can be extracted…

A cooperative learning model was used in Florida to change the state-mandated grade 12 course called Family Life and Sex Education, which had been found deficient in meeting students' educational and social needs. Pretest data before the change in model indicated a lack of knowledge that had a detrimental effect on thinking and problem-solving…

This monograph discusses learning communities in the context of community colleges, presents the challenges and benefits of learning communities, provides examples, and outlines the steps for a community college to follow in initiating a learning community. In part 1, the authors discuss the educational context in which learning communities have…

This practicum was designed to use directed writing strategies to teach writing skills to middle grades language arts students who frequently failed to make average or above scores in essay writing assignments. The program included three specific strategies. The first strategy was to teach higher-order thinking and metacognitive strategies related…

The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) recommends that the size of physical education class be consistent with those of other subject areas (e.g. maximum 1:25 for ES, 1:30 for MS, 1:35 for HS) for safe and effective instruction. When students with special needs are included in regular physical education classes, their…

Discusses a computer-assisted instruction study that examined the impact of group composition on student achievement, time on task, and group interactions when completing integrated learning system (ILS) math activities in cooperative pairs. The study paired elementary school students homogeneously or heterogeneously based on ability. (Author/LRW)

A study investigated how advantages of collaborative learning can be extended and deepened when team teachers consciously model collaborative behaviors and values they seek to encourage in students. Specific behaviors modeled are described and classroom results discussed. Evidence indicated that students observed teachers closely and were affected…

Presents methods and outcomes of a semester-long course involving cooperative hypermedia authoring and instructional strategies for preservice teachers. Posttest findings revealed that participants showed a decrease in computer anxiety through their involvement in the course, and the lowest levels of anxiety were associated with graduate rank and…

Presents findings from 55 team portfolios representing the field experiences of 285 preservice teachers grouped into teams to present technology-supported lessons in K-12 classrooms. Results indicated that preservice teachers were surprised at the disparity between educational technology practice in contemporary classrooms and their preconceived…

Provides a model for task computing for fifth graders that meets educational technology goals and challenges students to take full advantage of available hardware and software. Highlights include task rotation; assessment; benefits, including integrating technology into the classroom, computer literacy skills, peer tutoring, cooperative learning,…