Compares the performance of individual and team negotiators using a sample of 232 graduate business students. Results indicate that the presence of teams increased competitiveness and decreased cooperativeness and trust between negotiating parties. In mixed negotiations, teams outperformed individual opponents and were perceived as having more…

Recommends developing a secure, positive sense of one's racial identity through questioning preexisting attitudes and examining the past and present relationships between one's own and other groups. Describes several models of positive ethnic identity development for minority and white students. Discusses the implications of this research for…

Reports on a class on deviance that focuses on sociological and transformative processes imbedded in deviant groups. Specifically examines "deviance production groups," groups that turn normal people into deviants (Branch Davidians, Ku Klux Klan). The class is largely structured around group discussions and presentations. (MJP)

Presents an interview by National Endowment for the Humanities chairman, Sheldon Hackney, with historian John Higham on multiculturalism and national identity. Contends that the centrifugal forces of national, ethnic, and religious diversity need countervailing forces to hold the nation together. (CFR)

Presents a theory of the origins of a lack of cohesiveness in African-American culture based on a lack of a "social" reference resulting from the historical division of house slaves from field slaves and other efforts to keep those who shared language and culture from having contact. (JB)

Describes a study conducted at the University of Ulster (Northern Ireland) that investigated the use of videoconferencing in postgraduate continuing education courses for teachers, both for on-campus and off-campus course delivery. Face-to-face contact with tutors, group cohesiveness and independent learning, and tutor support are discussed.…

Asserts that, although no one can predict what kinds of history U.S. historians will be writing in the 21st century, it is reasonable to ask what history might be needed and how scholars might address these needs. Provides four suggestions for priorities in historical research. (CFR)

Describes a study conducted with a seventh-grade Future Problem Solving (FTS) class in which students work in teams of four to solve problems related to futuristic issues. As a result of increased competitiveness and poor emotional climate in the class, activities designed to promote a more congenial, less competitive classroom atmosphere were…

Suggests that public school education in the last 50 years has been altered most dramatically by the interstate highway system and no-fault divorce. Blames the highway system for destroying the sense of community and capacity for delayed gratification and challenge. Argues that no-fault divorce has resulted in loss of family values and…

The rural population of Chile has been served poorly by the formal educational system, rural educational attainment lags behind that of urban areas, and outmigration and alienation of rural youth are high. In the past decade, popular education has attempted to educate rural people and put them in control of their destinies by drawing on popular…

This paper reports findings of a study that is grounded in the assumption that the ways in which teachers interact outside their classrooms may be critical to the future of school restructuring and the effects of restructuring on students. The paper develops a framework for analyzing professional community within schools, examines school…

International perceptions of Jordanian university students are compared with those of American, Egyptian, and Israeli students. The sample consisted of 50 students from each country; results concentrate on Jordanian perceptions. Assessments were based on the Associative Group Analysis (AGA) which reconstructs perceptions and attitudes…

Quality circles (QCs) have been considered one of the most promising approaches to improving American workers' productivity. The differences of quality circle effectiveness between active QCs (N=36) and inactive QCs (N=17) in a 3-year period were examined in a quasi-experimental field study. The dependent variables examined were the amount of…

This paper reviews the research and theories on ethnic identity development, and draws some implications from these ideas for improving curriculum design for, and instructional effectiveness with, ethnically different students, especially Black Americans. The paradigm of "the developmental stages of ethnic identity transformation"…

Institutional bonding was examined at a public, urban commuter college with exceptionally high attrition and visibly low morale. Changes in bonding and attrition were measured 6 years after a 2-year effort to develop school identity and student feelings of membership. It was found that a simple index of campus morale is provided by level of…