This guide, a workbook and reader, is about communicating more cooperatively. The guide outlines a structured, intensive exploration of seven challenging skills for a lifetime of better communication--listening and talking--in work, family, friendship, and community. It is divided into the following sections: Introduction; Challenge One: Listening…

This review explores the empirical research on nontraditional instruction methods and their effects on reasoning development in college students in introductory biology. A search of primary databases found relatively few empirical studies, but eventually nine relevant empirical studies were identified. Findings suggest that inquiry-based,…

Success in literacy takes participation born of trust, a positive group dynamic built on sharing tasks, maintaining good working relationships, and examining group functioning. This book tells why and how a truly collaborative environment is at the heart of accomplishment in the secondary classroom. In the classroom profiled in the book, students…

This study, which occurred within an introductory-level biology course, examined how participation in a large-scale reform effort (the Collaborative) affected a science professor's conceptions of teaching, teachers, and reform. The Collaborative brought together a community of people who were part of a culture and co-created a culture of…

The main purpose of this paper is to draw attention to assumptions that guide the instructional design process when implementing and organizing network-based learning environments in practice. In this case, the situated and socially shared cognition model and participation metaphor create the guiding paradigm for collaborative learning action,…

When a class of lethargic college students showed no enthusiasm for their reading assignments in English class, one instructor turned to drama. She assigned a collaborative script, and the students' enthusiasm and motivation relegated her to a "pleasant oblivion." She thought that the novelty of the play genre might enliven the class,…

In light of improving standards in education, some countries are going through major changes in their education systems. At the core of these movements lies the paradigm of changes in education. In the last two decades, constructivism became increasingly popular as a referent for professional actions in education. Under this constructivist…

Team collaboration is an important part of working in business today. This study in electronic collaboration usage and implications extends what has already been done in groupware and group collaboration systems. The authors produced an experiment in which students were given the opportunity to use many different collaborative tools. A pre-test…

This study described and documented collaborative learning by students in two sections of a graduate education course at a large southern U.S. university. Ethnographic observations were made of the two groups, and participants were interviewed about their experiences in their respective groups. Analysis of field notes from ethnographic…

This paper proposes that equity--including gender equity--is an integral part of the agenda of the mathematics standards, and the standards provide an important means of achieving equity. Conventional wisdom on the subject is elaborated upon and professional analysis on equal education in mathematics is provided. Issues in learning and teaching…

An instructor increases student performance, participation, and motivation in broadcast journalism and other media courses through the base group cooperative learning model. Base groups are a specific form of cooperative learning which enables students to become actively involved in small-group discussions and learning with a permanent group of…

A man professing women's studies, a male composition teacher advocating a feminist classroom, or, for that matter, a literature specialist assuming the directorship of a first-year composition program are all a "kind of cross dressing." A director of first-year composition explores the relationship among these issues in this paper. To…

This article reports the use of a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) instruction designed to help students develop understanding of image formation by lenses. The study aims to investigate how students, working in dyads and mediated by multimedia Computer-assisted learning (CAL) programs, construct shared knowledge and understanding.…

This study, conducted in Knox County, Tennessee, compared retention scores of students using traditional learning methodologies to retention scores of students taught using cooperative learning strategies. Participants (n=23) remained the same during both phases of instruction. A comparison of posttest scores of a fifth grade social studies unit…

This paper presents students' drawings of a classroom experience in a statistics course. The drawings offer proof of ways in which teaching practice was effective and also provide an opportunity to understand how students perceive their peers. Included with the drawing exercises were instructions to describe scenes and offer insights into what the…