This book is designed to give mathematics teachers a host of interesting and useful ideas thereby raising their consciousness level and enabling an enrichment of the mathematics instruction program. The chapters in this book capture a broad spectrum of ideas in the area of mathematics problem solving. Chapters are: (1) "Strategies for Problem…

This book contains materials to present mathematics concepts using cooperative learning activities. The first section explains how to make cooperative learning part of the mathematics curriculum. It includes an overview, instructions, activities for introducing cooperative learning to students and parents, guidelines for setting up groups, ideas…

The "basic building blocks" for a discussion program concerned with the issues of racism and tensions among racial and ethnic groups are contained in this manual. It presents the core materials for five discussion sessions and general information on the study circle process: study circles--small-group, democratic, participant-driven…

This study examined the problem-solving behaviors, strategies, and achievement of college students enrolled in a one-semester college algebra and statistics course, with respect to the content areas of quantitative literacy, connections between algebraic and graphical representations, and mathematical modeling. Four instructional units of this…

The objectives of this paper are: to describe art education in New South Wales, Australia; to explain the Student Centered Art Appreciation (SCAA) Model; and to examine how and why the model works in the classroom. Art education is explored from four perspectives or theoretical frameworks: (1) the New South Wales Visual Arts Syllabus; (2) the SCAA…

For schools and classrooms to become places of achieving goals, educators and students must cooperate to further learning. Cooperative learning in education means overcoming the competition and individualism present in traditional educational models. This book is designed to help educators understand and implement cooperative learning. It includes…

Standard curricula at the primary level can be enlivened and enriched through storytelling and multi-ethnic literature, whereby teachers can introduce and reinforce a multicultural, unified world view. Through these materials, students in homogeneous monocultural environments can enjoy a broadened world view and new ideas to provide materials for…

Advises educators to stop peering through the rearview mirror of first-wave reform aimed at increasing accountability and raising standards, and confront the second wave's exciting new agenda featuring individual schools as decision-makers, a more collegial, personalized school environment, flexible time use, and an emphasis on higher-order…

This paper introduces the concept of representational guidance for collaborative learning discourse and summarizes the results of two studies: a laboratory study investigating differences in discourse process and a classroom study investigating differences in products of the investigations. The laboratory study compared three representational…

Since Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC 2000) was first introduced as the standard for American engineering education programs, most discussion in the literature has focused on how to assess Outcomes 3a-3k (specific outcomes or abilities engineering students must acquire as defined by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology) and…

Tension and anxiety are prevalent among students from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. With the rapidly changing population demographics of the United States and the significant growth of diverse multicultural groups, schools and professionals are being challenged as to how to provide the best comprehensive education to their…

Free riders are individuals who decide not to participate in cooperative learning group activities and often lower the group's morale, productivity, and effectiveness. This research paper presents a review of free riding and the results of a research study to examine the perspectives of faculty members about free riders and how they address them.…

This study investigated teachers' beliefs and practices of cooperative learning, and strove to determine whether their observed teaching practices reflected their stated beliefs. Findings of the study revealed that teachers understood cooperative learning to mean small groups of students working together to accomplish a particular assignment. The…

This multi-method study explored how children conceptualize emergent leadership in collaborative learning groups, and whether emergent leadership was associated with student achievement motivation. Fourth and fifth grade students participated in a collaborative math activity. After the group math task, 294 students were surveyed on their…

Generally speaking, a portfolio is a systematic collection of a variety of student projects or artifacts, collected over time, that reflect a student's developmental progress made in one or more areas. For the class, "Portfolio Development in Reading and Language Arts Courses" (EDUC 508 at Saint Joseph College), the portfolio will…