This paper suggests methods for incorporating cooperative learning into the college classroom, including both short-term and long-term activities. It stresses the importance of self-directed work teams in the work environment and the contribution of cooperative learning in the college classroom to building team work skills. Cooperative learning is…

In winter of 1993, a design research project was conducted in the Department of Interior Design at Ohio State University by interdisciplinary teams of graduate students from Industrial Design, Industrial Systems and Engineering, Marketing, and Communication. It was, in effect, a course which aimed to apply knowledge from the students' diverse…

This book is designed to help advanced elementary students learn science skills while actively engaged in cooperative activities based on the earth sciences and natural disasters. The first section explains how to make cooperative learning a part of the curriculum and includes an overview, instructions and activities to bring cooperative learning…

This book contains a series of engaging activities that offer students a chance to explore acids and bases using the special indicator properties of red cabbage juice. The activities allow students to discover acids and bases through their own experiments and interpretations. The skills of observing, recording results, comparing, classifying,…

This paper introduces a multi-dimensional, multi-level framework for analyzing students' social interaction and individual action during collaborative problem solving. Crossing the dimensions of problem knowledge distribution and degree of cooperation yields six possible social interactions: piecemeal guessing, joint construction, lecture,…

An effective test and measurement course in psychology should expose students to a variety of available psychological tests, as well as to the mechanics of test construction and evaluation. In a test and measurement course at the State University of New York's College at Cortland, the course is divided into two components with an overlaying group…

There are selected philosophies in the teaching of mathematics which can provide guidance to the teacher in developing the curriculum and also a framework for teaching and learning. This paper discusses four such philosophies of teaching mathematics: Idealism, Realism, Experimentalism, and Existentialism. Idealism stresses that students live in an…

Simple machines have become a lost point of study in elementary schools as teachers continue to have more material to cover. This manual provides hands-on, cooperative learning activities for grades three through eight concerning the six simple machines: wheel and axle, inclined plane, screw, pulley, wedge, and lever. Most activities can be…

This book provides specific strategies for the classroom teacher beginning to use cooperative learning or improving the use of cooprative learning. It explains conceptually what cooperative learning is and what makes it work. Cooperative learning is presented as a technique that helps raise the achievement of all students; helps build positive…

In the past decade, theories of the social construction of knowledge have resulted in the widespread use of collaborative learning techniques. Computer technology has been in the forefront of this movement, with one result being a minor revolution in writing instruction. Specifically, communications and text sharing through both local and wide…

This paper describes the efforts of the director of a composition program who is also a teacher of composition at an open admissions college to teach critical thinking by showing students how to use content rather than just acquire it. Applying Jean Piaget's learning theory to classroom teaching, the director attempts to create an active learning…

A recent trend in composition studies has been a call for the "feminization" of composition pedagogy. Collaborative learning pedagogues have sought to reconstruct the classroom as a site of social cooperation, connectedness, and nurturance and have re-envisioned composition as an act of understanding rather than of agonistics.…

Contemporary reform in mathematics education emphasizes interaction among students as a source of learning. There are several insights that sociological theory and research can supply to researchers, staff developers, and curriculum developers in mathematics education who are using small groups. This paper investigates four questions concerning…

This action research project designed and implemented a program for the instruction of cooperative learning and conflict resolution strategies in order to increase social competencies. The targeted population consisted of two multi-age, grade 2/3 classrooms and one fifth grade classroom in a stable middle class community in a large midwestern…

This monograph addresses the basic ideas of constructivism in the context of science teaching. Instructional practices for applying constructivist-based teaching principles explained in this document include using open-ended, hands-on activities; cooperative learning; various questioning strategies; student journals; and a curriculum based on the…