This booklet describes the learning experiences that take place in and as a result of a learning laboratory. Part one presents a brief history of the group dynamics movement, focusing especially upon the history of the National Training Laboratory of the National Education Association. Some significant characteristics of laboratory learning are…

The idea of using groups, rather than individuals, as the basic building blocks for an organization is suggested in this paper. Although this idea is not new in theory, it is new in practice. To design an organization from scratch around groups appears to violate the American value of individualism. Groups, however, have advantages over…

The Collaboration Model Project Council, at the University of Florida, represents an attempt to establish interinstitutional collaboration among (1) a university and two community colleges, (2) three county public school systems, (3) the teachers' associations of three counties, (4) community parents and citizens of three counties, and (5) college…

As part of the Midwest Center/Consortium for Planned Change, the University of Louisville School of Education and the Louisville Public Schools designed a program for the training of a "new professional" to help alleviate problems of inner-city students. Main goals of the program were: (1) to improve the competence of pupil personnel…

This study was designed to investigate the effects of male versus female deviants on the small discussion group. One hundred undergraduates were assigned to 25 discussion groups, with two male students and two female students in each group. They were presented with a decision-making task, which was presented to group members as an exercise in…

This paper describes four cases of intervention in the relations between groups of widely differing social status and power. "Dialogs" between high corporate executives and social activities from urban poverty areas in three cities were supported by a foundation interested in promoting long term cooperation between the groups on social projects of…

The purpose of this essay was to propose a new explanation of collective behavior and to hypothesize the role of communication in this process. Unlike previous theories, which rely on a group effect, this explanation is based on the behavior of individual members of the collectivity. Using the experimental finding of the "risky shift,"…

The readings in this anthology explore different aspects of leadership in education, an area that has been slighted in texts on educational administration. Frequently leadership is equated with administration. The result is that the dynamics of effective management have been left unexamined. Boles has drawn his readings from many disciplines,…

In the process of developing a coherent bargaining position, the school board's chief negotiator functions as a group leader, responsible for controlling behavioral dynamics so that the school board is productive and cohesive. Dissonance and dissent are expected components of the position-formulating process, and the negotiator should be…

The second unit of the second grade level of the Focus on Inner City Social Studies (FICSS) series (see SO 008 271) continues to build upon the economic principles introduced in grade one. Specifically, the focus is on the procurement of essential and non-essential clothing. The learning activities help students to learn the sources of fabrics,…

Encounter groups, in which blacks and whites were brought together to reduce their mutual fear and hatred, are discussed. Major goals of the groups were: (1) to decrease isolation and separation between the races, thereby reducing distorted interracial conceptions; and (2) to help group members feel accepted as fellow human beings by members of…

The third in a series of six volumes on leadership training for noncommissioned Army officers (NCOs), this document outlines the training schedule, course organization, field exercises, and lesson plans, with emphasis on such aspects as the supervision and counseling of enlisted men. (See also documents AC 006 904, AC 006 905, AC 006 907, AC 006…

The concept of educational leadership in the black community has undergone some change since the advent of community control and decentralization. Educational administration must now encompass the social process of the local social system. In the Woodlawn locality of Chicago, (one of the ten poorest Chicago communities), the Woodlawn Experimental…

When the first Europeans arrived in America the natives were not a uniform group, but the result of ancient inter-ethnic relations. Indian tribes were divided into a number of diverse linguistic and cultural groups having distinctive physical characteristics. The dynamics of further inter-ethnic relations are explored in this book by examining the…

Three couples, parents of underachieving high school students, and three counselors participated in a fifteen hour marathon counseling session. This session followed a year of weekly group counseling meetings of 1-1/2 hours duration. The marathon session was video-taped and the results were examined by the counselors. Six stages of group…