Two educators recount critical dilemmas in the development of a secondary level interdisciplinary teaching team, discussing three phases in the development of the team: consolidated, laissez-faire, and shared power. Lessons learned include: it is difficult, if not impossible, to separate issues of interpersonal relations from substantive team…

Describes team self-assessment, a task force approach involving frontline workers/supervisors in solving problems or improving performance. Provides examples and discusses its theoretical bases: control self-assessment, Belbin's team roles research, and the team climate inventory. (Contains 23 references.) (SK)

Describes a career awareness activity in which elementary students use pantomime and role playing to learn about the workers needed to run a restaurant and the importance of teamwork. Provides a narrative for the activity and follow-up discussion questions. (SK)

Discussion of the development of written instructional materials for distance education focuses on the transformation of existing materials into good teaching materials by course teams. Changes in the course as a whole are considered as well as changes in the materials; checklists are provided; and examples are given of transformed materials.…

The article examines the roles of special educators in providing a variety of support services in mainstream settings including as support facilitator, specialist, professional peer collaborator, as part of a mainstream/teacher assistance team, and in cooperative teaching. (DB)

Six theme articles attempt to define and advocate agricultural literacy, review the status of K-8 agricultural literacy programs in states, discuss an Oklahoma study of agricultural literacy, clarify the meaning of sustainable agriculture, and describe the Future Farmers of America's Food for America program for elementary students. (SK)

When chief participants have failed to prepare adequately for negotiations, the resulting contract can be costly to the district. This article describes preparation procedures, such as developing the time table; designating the negotiations team; clarifying board role; reviewing the current contract, grievance cases, and recent legislation; and…

Students need to learn how to work successfully alone as well as in competition and cooperation with others. The cooperative learning strategy is little used but has great potential for home economics classrooms. (SK)

Describes a motivational program in the Fairfax County (Virginia) Public Schools that caused a dramatic improvement in custodial staff professionalism and school building cleanliness. The plan emphasized the importance of clean schools, teamwork, and accepting responsibility for one's work. (MLH)

The structural approach to cooperative learning is based on the creation, analysis, and systematic application of content-free ways to organize classroom interactions. Structures (outlined in a table) have differing uses in the academic, cognitive, and social domains, such as team building, communication building, mastery, and concept development.…

The skills needed to become a team leader include not being afraid to admit ignorance; knowing when to intervene; learning to share power; being concerned about what one takes on; and getting used to learning on the job. Examples of men and women who have become team leaders demonstrate how these skills can be developed. (JOW)

This report describes the multidisciplinary, multiagency procedures used throughout Great Britain to respond to child sexual abuse. Strengths and weaknesses of the British Case Conference, used to develop plans for diagnosing and treating child sexual abuse, are discussed. (Author/JDD)

A continuing education manager used the literature-based concept of self-managed work teams to reorganize the department, resulting in better productivity, financial solvency, and better customer focus and responsiveness. However, not all managers wanted to share power, and not all employees wanted to be empowered. (SK)

Members of 24 work groups (n=186) were randomly assigned to facilitated team building with computers; facilitated team building without computers; or meetings without facilitators or computers. Both facilitated groups rated group process higher, but the positive effects did not last over time. (SK)

A postgraduate training course in the interdisciplinary project approach for environmental science specialists emphasized the following critical elements: high degree of organization, feedback on actual practice from experts, cyclical working methods, project planning techniques, and product-oriented thinking. (SK)