Used group development stage theory to investigate team development patterns in an academic setting. Twenty-nine teams of undergraduate college students enrolled in a study skills improvement course met weekly for five weeks and completed the Team Development Rating Scale at the conclusion of the meeting. Found some support for three patterns of…

Ways in which the campus leader can enhance followers' skills and his own followership effectiveness are drawn from recommendations made for industry. They include teaching specific followership skills, delegating to the lowest level, using small task forces, providing feedback, and rewarding good followership. (MSE)

Principals, familiar with school personnel, goals, and operations, are a logical leadership choice for establishing an effective decision-making process. School-based management offers potential for organizational change geared toward teacher empowerment. Principals must first encourage open communication and trust and help staff develop…

Contradicting Johnsons' observations, 15 gifted sixth and eighth graders complained cooperative learning in heterogeneous groups tends to promote some arrogance, lack of trust in classmates, tendency to take over the group, and ignorance about working with other students. Gifted students must be allowed to work together with each other; teachers…

Two studies examining four and five year olds' preferences for dyadic and group interaction found that females enjoyed dyadic interaction more than did males and that males enjoyed group interaction more than did females. (MDM)

Argues for increased emphasis on collaboration in the classroom. Compares the present educational system to the capitalistic economic system based on competition. Proposes an alternative system that provides society with a democratizing influence that features noncompetitive, collaborative learning. (HB)

Presents observations, advice, and strategies for facilitating participative decision making in schools. Information is based on interviews with principals, group input from school staffs, and researcher observations in a study of 10 "participative schools." Also includes strategies for enhancing cooperative teaching. (KS)

Advocates empowering students to help them take control of their lives. Provides specific ideas on how educators can facilitate this process. Uses concepts from humanistic education, group dynamics, Quaker thought and action, and experiential programing. (KS)

Head teachers and teachers from five primary and five secondary schools were interviewed about compulsory inservice training days. Three different models of training days emerged: management driven, professionally focused, and workshop circus. Teachers preferred the training days to focus on practical efforts to tackle problems they perceived…

Single- or mixed-gender pairs of elementary children were told either to work cooperatively on a computer-based language task or be assessed individually. Performance measures indicated a disadvantage for mixed pairs, improved performance for cooperative pairs. Girls tended to cooperate regardless of being told to or not; mixed pairs cooperated…

Describes how students in three college-level writing groups viewed their collaborative learning experience. Suggests that collaborative learning works (or does not work) in complex ways that cannot be reduced to a field manual of identifying behaviors. (RS)

In the holosphere model of empowerment for health promotion, five spheres are linked: personal care, small group development, community organization, coalition building and advocacy, and political action. The model presumes that professionals and institutions are capable of change and of sharing power. (SK)

Recounts how five teachers promoted discussions where students initiated their own inquiries, helped each other probe their self-initiated inquiries rather than wait for teacher follow-up questions, and responded naturally to each other rather than wait for teacher permission to speak. Notes that group response extended individual responses. (SR)

Discusses the origins and limitations of the rites of passage model; the types of outdoor education courses the rites of passage and its notion of transformation can inform; and how neglecting the third stage of the model, "reincorporation," limits the longevity of transformations. Outlines the elements needed to successfully bring the…

A teacher describes the self-management process she used in an organizational behavior course: empowering students, organizing self-managed work teams, investigating participative management, and enabling students to take on group management responsibilities. (SK)