The procedures outlined in this paper have been used in English as a second language (ESL) conversation classes at the University of Guam. The technique is based on the training-group model used in sensitivity training and the "buzz group" technique taught in communications courses. The procedure is found useful because it provides an economic use…

The National Audubon Society Expedition Institute utilizes an outdoor experiential program which allows people and nature to achieve dynamic equilibrium and has been demonstrated successfully with high school through field programs led by Master's students. The Institute works with the premise that truly sustaining and potent education is the…

An autobiography course for nontraditional students at community colleges can foster appreciation for cultural diversity and integrate discourses that challenge writing genre hierarchies. Students who signed up for such a course developed processes that worked best for them. Selected as texts for the course were autobiographies that reflected…

Boundary breakers, the modern term for "icebreakers," tear down barriers that sometimes form within student groups and organizations, and offer a low-risk way for group members to become better acquainted. This document is a "hands on" booklet that covers such boundary-breaking activities as "Send a Letter,""The Lap Game,""One-Minute Interview,"…

Intensive peer review is a method of teaching expository writing developed two years ago by A. N. Doane and now used extensively in freshman expository writing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Students meet regularly in groups of four three times a week over the course of the term to share and critique each other's writing. The instructor…

This guide is intended to help principals, department chairs, teachers, and other educators who are chairing a mixed gender work group. The first section discusses research-identified differences between the way men and women communicate (both verbally and nonverbally) in groups. A 23-item gender communications assessment, which is designed to…

This pilot project explored the use of video in an elementary school as a catalyst for group discussion and self reflection in connection with conflict resolution. Subjects were 32 students in an extended day care program for grades K-6; 80% of these students were of Hispanic background. Videos were created with the students, and then played back…

To provide a theoretical base for investigating the influence of inferential error on group decision making, current literature on both inferential error and decision making is reviewed and applied to the Watergate incident. Although groups tend to make fewer inferential errors because members' inferences are generally not biased in the same…

A classroom communication course combines both the study of communication variables in the classroom and the opportunity for students to practice some communication skills they might use as classroom teachers. The course has three major objectives. In seminar style, the students and teacher together will identify questions worth exploring in the…

A study examined significant deliberate learning activities (as demonstrated in learning projects) which were related to spiritual growth. (Spiritual growth was defined in broad terms within which each interviewee interpreted his or her own concept.) Fifty persons between the ages of thirty-five and fifty-five and representing five groups (three…

Describes research on the training of children to acquire prosocial behavior, especially through television viewing. Published by the Journal of the American Speech and Hearing Association, The Interstate Printers and Publishers, Inc., Danville, Ill., (Subscription: $28.00; $31.00 Foreign; single copy $2.50; $2.75 Foreign). (MH)

This document focuses on four children in a small group, solving word problems aloud. Different aspects of how children in small groups approach problems were revealed; certain characteristics of their attempts to solve problems suggest a variety of questions for further research. These pupils were part of a project that involved six groups of…

Designed to improve students' discussion skills and to promote independent reading, the "Talking about Books" program stresses the improvement of oral language through peer group discussion of books. Like the Junior Great Books program, "Talking about Books" requires that students read selected books independently and then participate in group…