Studied the extent to which collaborative knowledge construction can be fostered by providing students with visualization tools as structural support. Results for 32 college students working in dyads show that providing a content-specific visualization tool improves both the process and the outcome of the cooperative effort. (SLD)

Measured college students' perceptions of group grades and satisfaction. Found that the less group grade experience a student has, the more likely they are to agree that everyone deserves the same grade; students who work part-time are more likely to think that a group grade is a fair assessment than students who work full-time; and older students…

Investigated the effectiveness of cooperative learning (CL) in a graduate-level research methodology course. Eighty-one students participated in the CL condition; 112 were in the individual learning condition. CL students had lower performance on the midterm examination, but no statistically significant difference was seen in performance on the…

Discusses the use of lightly controlled games, primarily in classes in game theory. Considers the value of such games from the viewpoint of both teaching and experimentation and discusses context; control; pros and cons of games in teaching; experimental games; and games in class, including cooperative game theory. (Author/LRW)

The benefits of cooperative learning for students of all ages and abilities has been well documented. Recent research points to interracial learning teams as one way to organize classrooms striving for multicultural harmony. For programs to succeed, a society's mainstream members must value multicultural education as a positive factor in a…

In cooperative learning, students are typically assigned to heterogeneous teams. The Johns Hopkins University Elementary School Program uses four principal methods involving student team learning, including Student Teams-Achievement Divisions, Teams-Games-Tournament, Team Accelerated Instruction-Mathematics, and Cooperative Integrated Reading and…

Discusses potential problems with collaborative learning, noting hat it is often treated as a tool of limited application. Encourages teachers to incorporate playful student collaboration into their classrooms. Argues that by broadening collaboration beyond student response and using it to search and question, students will develop a sense of…

Describes a high school teacher's initial frustration with a home economics class's unresponsive attitude concerning a cooperative vocabulary exercise. After emphasizing one social skill (encouraging) instead of two, and using modeling and "dry run" practices, this teacher began observing more encouraging student behavior. (MLH)

Points out that advocates of cooperative learning frequently operate as if cooperation was better than both competition and individual work. Argues that educators should seek to empower students to engage in the best, most humanly evolved, most moral forms of all three. (MS)

Education's greatest challenge is not technology or accountability, but the need to discover a new way of thinking. The shift from a Cartesian to a configuration view of the universe requires new conceptual models and compatible educational practices (like cooperative learning). Concepts of content/process and complexity and chaos need…

Discusses reasons for the lack of ongoing exchange among university colleagues. Suggests how writing programs can foster this exchange through various collaborative projects for writing faculty, including peer advising, composition seminars, and interactive observation. (MM)

Describes how current insights into literacy, teaching, and learning as social, collaborative processes can be incorporated into college reading and study skills classes. Suggests several cooperative activities and strategies, including small group discussion, forming permanent study groups, and sharing study habits. (MM)

Presents an assignment that involves forming student companies to determine and defend cost estimates for producing a silver Oscar statuette. Includes an assessment rubric for cooperative effort. (JRH)

Examines ways in which students collaborate to construct, use, and revise conceptual and strategic knowledge as they solve complex genetics problems. Concludes that students used three types of knowledge during model revision: knowledge of genetics, knowledge of the process of model revision, and knowledge of their own problem-solving strategies…

Describes a textbook approach to teaching literature that deemphasizes recitation and emphasizes transactions between readers and texts, involving readers' personal knowledge, emotion, and experience. Sets up a reading plan including prereading, postreading, personal response, and shared response. (TB)