The writing program described in this lesson plan guides students to plan an adventure story, write different endings to the story, and create web sites with the parts of the story hyperlinked to each other. During six to eight 50-minute lessons, students will: understand the structure of Choose Your Own Adventure stories; become familiar with the…

This paper utilizes a model of technology-mediated interaction to highlight the importance of social interaction in the construction of a collaborative online learning community. Learning communities are built around relationships. There are many factors that impact on the ability of social interaction to create social comfort and the capacity for…

Rapid technological development in the last decade has made it easier than ever to use technologies as collaborative learning tools. Computer video conferencing as a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) technology brings learners closer to real-world environments and it provides increasing opportunities for learners to share…

It is assumed that cooperative learning continuously constructs and extends the shared knowledge of a group of learners with respect to a specific learning domain. Experiences with Computer-Supported Collaborative/Cooperative Learning (CSCL) environments indicate that an explicit representation of the shared knowledge is helpful with regard to two…

This study examined the attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of faculty and students about the use of nontraditional pedagogies such as active learning, collaborative/cooperative learning, and the encouragement of student participation and involvement in the learning experience. The data came from two surveys of faculty (n=136) and students (n=676)…

This report describes a program for improving vocabulary development thorough balanced literacy. The targeted population consisted of three elementary classrooms in a community located in a southern suburb of Chicago. A lack of vocabulary knowledge that interfered with student academic success was documented in state and standardized test results,…

This phonics lesson offers a clear instructional format for teaching onset and rime. The "ig" rime is demonstrated through the use of literature, independent and cooperative learning, critical thinking, and hands-on activities. Instruction is conducted in both an explicit and implicit manner. During two to three 40-minute sessions,…

A program was developed for the improvement of social competence in general among professionals with the improvement of the accuracy of decoding emotions from facial expressions as the specific focus. It was integrated as a laboratory experience into traditional lectures at two German universities where studies were conducted to assess the…

This study explores the importance of the group context in the emergence of leadership, dominance, and group effectiveness in children's collaborative learning groups. Ten 3-person work groups performed a collaborative math activity. Using achievement goal orientation (Ames, 1992; Maehr and Midgley, 1996; Pintrich and Schunk, 1996) as a framework,…

This paper poses and answers 20 questions about mathematical reasoning. Questions include: (1) Is mathematical reasoning mathematical? (2) Is mathematical reasoning useful? (3) Is mathematical reasoning an appropriate goal of school mathematics? (4) Can teachers teach mathematical reasoning? (5) Can mathematical reasoning be taught? (6) Do skills…

A program designed to encourage university faculty and teaching assistants (TAs) to use cooperative learning in undergraduate classrooms was evaluated through the perspectives of faculty, TAs and students. The program was part of an initiative called DiverSCity, and the evaluation focused on the initial climate and culture of the college and…

This study describes a program designed to increase the communication skills of at-risk students. The targeted population consists of kindergarten through third grade students in two elementary schools in a community in central Illinois. The status of family income ranges from low to high levels. Evidence for the existence of inadequate…

This report describes a program for improving active listening skills and the ability to follow oral directions. The targeted population consisted of third and fourth grade students in three different elementary schools. Two schools are located in far northern suburbs outside a large midwestern city. The other school is a southern suburb of a…

This paper provides data from students in an educational administration class on use of teaming and collaboration to research educational problems. The instructor taught group dynamics and modeled the process of facilitating and developing collaboration in teams. Classes were offered in 3-1/2 hour sessions for 5 weeks. Various team-building…

The strengths and weaknesses of five highly publicized ideas in education are noted. The first is the idea of heterogeneous grouping. Advocates seem to think that there is no room for homogeneous grouping of students by ability, but both plans should be used because in society, individuals interact with others regardless of ability but they also…