The practice of treating students as valuable contributors to the educational process can be traced back at least as far as Socrates. Unfortunately, the predominate pattern of pedagogy in the United States has been one of exclusion. Those instructors who are part of recent movement to help their students enter the academic discourse face the…

Virtually everyone involved with forensics has, at one time or another, seen or heard references to debate teams or squads as "groups." Many questions concerning the label "group," however, exist. A brief examination of definitions of the term group by scholars in the field of small group communication confirms that T. M.…

Satisfaction is a construct that is important to the development of intrinsic motivation and the continuing effort to learn. Research that helps to identify those factors that contribute to satisfaction is useful in the design of electronic support systems for individuals and groups. This paper investigates the impact of "need for…

This paper examines the development of cohesion and self-disclosure during the mandatory group experience of a masters level training program in counseling. Differences between cohesion and self-disclosure in these groups, as opposed to what might be expected in a more naturalistic setting, are described and implications for the training of group…

An underinvestigated aspect of advertising education is the consideration of methods by which groups effectively solve creative problems. Brainstorming has been popularly used by teams in classes to generate ideas; yet, little research exists that compares small group structures for creative problem solving. Bridging this gap, a study compared…

This paper seeks to integrate some ideas from family systems theory and attachment theory within a theory of public opinion and social movement. Citing the classic "The Authoritarian Personality," the paper states that the first authorities children know, their parents or other caregivers, shape children's attitudes toward all…

Family therapy presents ethical dilemmas not encountered elsewhere in mental health practice. For example, who is the patient? Is it an individual, a particular dyad or the family system? If there is more than one patient, how is the therapist to maintain a posture of therapeutic neutrality? How is confidentiality to be managed? Little progress…

With "adventure-based" learning, instructors present activities in a way that allows the group to develop its own abilities, with guidance from the instructor when appropriate. Adventure-based learning activities (which emphasize the importance of play) lend themselves to inclusion in the basic speech communication course, particularly…

One of the most pressing issues in education is the importance of creating learning contexts and communities that are based on children's thinking in science and enhancing their understanding of pertinent concepts. In this research study, fifth grade students (N=20) were asked to design a game teaching younger students about the ocean environment.…

This book is designed to help businesspeople fill the fundamental communication gap that affects everyone who works in business, from employees to managers to executives. Its purposes are as follows: to provide a common language of work; to shape the common language into a model or paradigm of work that everyone can use to help meet workplace…

Group decision support systems (GDDS) represent a technological aid for the decision-making process, combining communication, computers, and decision technologies to support problem formulation and solution in group meetings. A study examined communicative influence strategies used in a GDDS meeting. Subjects, 201 high- and low-influence persons…

This 43-item selected, annotated bibliography on cohesiveness and interpersonal attraction includes books, journal articles and conference papers published between 1953 and 1990. The bibliography is in two parts. The first part consists of key sources, most of which have extensive bibliographies or lists of references. The second part consists of…

This study investigated manifestations of collaborative work with pairs of kindergarten children during counting tasks designed to promote early number development. The data were collected by means of classroom observations, interviews with individual students, and teaching sessions with pairs of students. Ten students were paired to be compatible…

Asking questions is a salient event in group learning environments such as classrooms. Laboratory experimental results indicate that co-learner questions can affect judgments of comprehension. A study involving 94 male and 209 female students at a large midwestern university examined whether students would be aware of such alterations in…

A study explored what an outside-the-classroom, authentic literature discussion involved. Three book club discussions (involving a leaderless group consisting of members of varying professions meeting monthly to discuss fiction and nonfiction reading selections) were audiotaped, transcribed and coded. Results indicated that: (1) when allowed to…