Group and organizational cultures play an important role in helping people to adopt healthier lifestyles. Culture can be assessed by looking at social expectations for behavior, called group norms. Cultural norms can be changed to support healthy lifestyles through a systematic and participatory process. Such a change effort would modify: (1)…

The purpose of this investigation was to describe and explain the social dynamics of America's second most popular recreational sport, weight lifting, as performed on a university campus. Data were collected and analyzed using the participant observation approach to grounded theory research. Several hypotheses evolved from this analysis: (1) it is…

This paper describes the importance of knowledge about the social organization of schools and classrooms for beginning teachers. The paper begins with a consideration of schools and classrooms as cultural settings and examines the beginning teacher's role within them. The remaining sections of the paper examine the interweaving of school social…

Little has been written about the practical considerations for reforming schools from the inside. This booklet explores how people responsible for schools can develop better relationships, new forms of colleagueship, and new ways of working together more productively. Three aphorisms describe the phenomenon of faculty-led school improvement: (1)…

This document describes the struggles of a diverse group of 37 community leaders, called the Greensboro One Task Force, with the issues of race, class, and government in order to develop a bond package that could be supported by the majority of the voters of a North Carolina city. Through quotes from the participants, the document illustrates how…

The inservice project described in this case study involved three role groups--leaders, consultants, and teachers--in a collaborative effort to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate an inservice program. The program combined strategies for teaching writing with strategies for teaching reading in the content areas, while maintaining the integrity…

This paper is the fourth of a series of working papers developed by a project which conducted a cooperative study of existing student study team (SST) processes in nine California special education local plan areas. The working papers augment the final report by providing detailed descriptions of the methods used and the preliminary findings. This…

Evidence in the professional literature that social support in a person's life can lessen the effects of stressful life events makes knowledge of the dynamics of social support and of the workings of the support groups vital for counselors. Social support has been defined by various authors in various ways. Especially helpful to counselors is…

Technical writers involved in an institutional writing project need some way of viewing the raw material globally before writing. In this way they can build a framework which can be used for different types of information. This is accomplished through a task analysis meeting that highlights the following preparatory steps prior to writing: (1)…

This book is an outgrowth of a conference funded by the National Institute of Education and held at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research in May 1982. A major theme of this volume of collected papers is how and in what ways grouping of students can be used effectively. Papers included are: (1) "Instructional Groups in the Classroom:…

The document, one of 11 in a series developed by the Hawaii Integration Project, focuses on the social studies topic of understanding prejudice. The curriculum is designed for grades 4-6 and includes in its first unit an exploration of the dynamics of groups and group membership. In the three lessons students experience the feelings of acceptance…

Group discussion can be very effective in building a sense of community in any adult basic education (ABE) classroom. Such discussion can generate conversation, encourage participation, and create an accepting environment where sharing experiences and ideas feels safe to all participants. When trying the technique of group discussion with a new…

This study examined the behaviors of intergenerational group members of an intergenerational program involving seven adult day care clients and seven preschool day care children. Coordinators of the program include a recreational therapist from the adult center and the children's teacher. The 14 "friends" met once a week for an hour. In this…

In the history of small group studies (in the field of communication theory and research), two factors contributed to the changes that led to Ernest Bormann publishing in 1970 his work questioning the value of the knowledge being reported and the appropriateness of the methods by which it was being generated. First, prior to 1965, a limited amount…

A study tested the hypothesis that the self-esteem of a group of six sixth graders would be raised through the employment of a bibliotherapeutic program. Self-esteem was measured before and after the program by the "Culture-Free Self-Esteem Inventory for Children Form A." The subjects, who were from low, average, and above average reading groups,…