This paper focuses on some of the key issues involved in implementing a collaborative design project in the setting of the large undergraduate lecture course at a major research university, offering a preliminary analysis of the assignment mainly as a function of how students managed and interpreted it. The collaborative design project was…

This paper describes two approaches to the evaluation of student learning skills and learning styles: the "One Minute Paper" and classroom observation of students in cooperative learning groups. The One Minute Paper developed, by R. Weaver and H. Cottrell (1985), is a form completed by students at the end of class that asks students to indicate…

This report describes a project for teaching students to implement social skills in the classroom, playground, and lunchroom. The hope is to reduce the inappropriate behavior that occurs in these areas. The targeted population consisted of a middle to lower income elementary school in Illinois. After analyzing the data collected, it was revealed…

This is a prewriting activity for personal memoir or autobiographical writing. Grade 6-8 students brainstorm for important memories, create graphics or symbols for their most important memories, and construct a life map on tag board or construction paper, connecting drawings and captions of high and low points with a highway. During four 50-minute…

Motivational Systems Theory (MST; M. Ford, 1992) was used as a framework to investigate how varying motivational patterns influence faculty members use of teaching practices in their undergraduate classes. Researchers compared the factors associated with faculty members assigning students to work in groups to solve ill-defined design problems with…

Learners working on collaborative assignments in a face-to-face environment while using computers must engage in social as well as intellectual tasks. Indeed, at the residential undergraduate level, the development of interactive skills is often one of the more important aspects of their collaboration. Many existing facilities support such…

Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) that support collaboration are one of the new technologies that have attracted great interest. VLEs are learning management software systems composed of computer-mediated communication software and online methods of delivering course material. This paper presents ELearn, a collaborative VLE for teaching…

To establish standards of quality in online courses developed through the University of Hawaii's Asynchronous Learning project funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a preliminary study of courses from various disciplines was conducted. The aim of the study was to identify teaching activities that contributed to the creation of a high quality…

This curriculum unit requires students to use science, geography, and language arts skills in studying the weather. Students are asked to report on weather anomalies and are provided with background information, detailed instructions, online resources, and reflection questions. The teacher's guide describes the unit's purpose, correlation to…

The process of learning cooperatively improves the acquisition and retention of content and skills throughout the curriculum. This booklet provides information and tips on the use of cooperative learning in the classroom and how technology can be helpful. Tips for groupmaking, self-allocating roles, complementary information, conflicting…

This study developed a method to assess group process in a collaborative problem-solving situation. Participants were 32 fifth- and sixth-grade students. Students in seven collaborative groups worked on a two-part mathematics problem first individually, then in groups, and finally individually again. Groups engaging in behaviors that facilitated…

This paper is intended to enlighten the general education classroom teacher concerning many of the readily available strategies that can be used in their curriculum to enhance reading skills. In the bibliographies in the paper, the reader will note references to Robert E. Slavin and others relative to Collaborative Learning; these references…

Mississippi elementary schools using the Success for All reading program have once again made outstanding gains on the Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT) reading scale. Students in grades 2-5 in Success for All schools gained 7.8 percentage points in students scoring at proficient or advanced from 2002 to 2004. Mississippi students as a whole…

Previous research on small-group collaboration identifies several behaviors that significantly predict student learning. These reports focus on student behavior to understand why, for example, large numbers of students are unsuccessful in obtaining explanations or applying help received, leaving unexplored the role that teachers play in …

The difficulty of translating research into practice in education is one of the most important problems in education reform. The problem is not so much that educators are resistant to change; on the contrary, certain kinds of innovation can be widely adopted, and educators are sure to cite research to support whatever innovation they advocate. Yet…