A double procedure for meetings is proposed: one dealing with general administrative matters and the other with "free association of ideas" to solve problems. Examples of problem solving by mentors of gifted underachievers illustrate the approach. (DB)

The article describes a cooperative learning activity to help mildly handicapped students learn specific study strategies. The activity involves silent reading followed by small group discussion, generation of questions, answering the questions, and use of the student-generated questions on a follow-up exam. (DB)

Explores how teachers can guide children to deeper understandings of how literature works, just as a curator might show them through a collection. (MG)

Offers six axioms of instruction to foster rich collaborative discussion. Illustrates their use in four middle school science classrooms, showing how teachers and students read, searched text, and engaged in productive classroom talk about solving real health problems. (SR)

Reviews literature on critical thinking and physical education. Suggests that students in physical education classes are predisposed to critical thinking, but only in an environment that is carefully structured. Argues that teachers must shift from teacher-centered to more student-centered lessons. Discusses the role of the teacher, cooperative…

Describes a two-week instructional unit for ninth-grade gifted students which emphasizes development of ethical thinking and decision-making skills using a structured group-discussion methodology. Students formulate discussion questions through a multi-step process. Unit guide sheets, brainstorming examples, and activity schedules are included.…

Considers whether cultivation of true collaborative learning is a realistic ambition with very young children; analysis of the social dynamic suggests that it is well within the reach of children as a form of social exchange. Argues that the new technology offers a potential for supporting the development of collaborative learning in early…

Describes a number of informal "turn-to-your-neighbor" approaches that create an active learning environment in college lecture settings. These include: launching class in discussion, breaking up the lecture for comprehension checks, closing class with small-group conversation, and debriefing exams. (DB)

Offers an annotated list of books, Web sites, videos, and audiobooks that children, adolescents, parents, and educators have found helpful in coping with death, grief, and the aftermath of violence based on experiences at the Columbine branch of the Jefferson County (Colorado) Public Library. Includes resources that are useful in…

Concentrates specifically on the experience of using "Maus" (a narrative in comic strip form) with one class which met in spring 1996, after the accidental killing of a Black child by a Hasidic Jew in Crown Heights, New York. Uses the text at Medgar Evers College in a freshman composition course which also functions as an introduction to…

Argues that the computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) community should adopt a stronger orientation to other social science disciplines, particularly psychology. Greater attention to psychological literature provides three benefits: well-validated principles about human behavior in group and organizational contexts relevant to CSCW research;…

Based on a five-year ethnographic study of the activity of an online, international academic community of practice supported by ListServer technology, this article covers selective findings pertaining to patterns of communication deemed crucial to community building. Implications of learning and collegial support are discussed. (Author/AEF)

Shares a participant-observer's close look at small group experiences in a course called "American Experience" taught at an urban university. Considers the issue of how race can be discussed in the classroom when even collaborative approaches with emphasis on student contributions can be undone by the power of the dominant discourse. (TB)

Explores the co-shaping of public and private discourse and some of the circumstances under which one occasions the other in the evolution of mathematical thinking by pairs of 13-year-olds. Provides evidence that adolescents within novel problem situations can experience some difficulty in making their emergent thinking available to partners in…

Explored in two studies disparities between how students with different degrees of extroversion and introversion engaged in small-group discussions requiring construction and critique of arguments. Found that extroverted students exhibited a greater tendency to use conflictual discourse, whereas introverted students worked with one another…