The research base on cooperative learning was examined for its applicability to academically talented students. Common types of cooperative learning are described with highlights of the model characteristics as they apply to academically talented students. The models include: Teams-Games-Tournament (TGT); Student Teams Achievement Divisions…

A collaboration between a university English professor and a high-school English teacher was successful in building community, yet rather unsuccessful in manipulating the Internet. Their collaboration worked, as far as it did, because of an absence of hierarchy. To create a basis for comparison with other studies, analysis of the collaboration can…

A study was conducted to explore the way that gender bias operates with 9- and 10-year-olds, and to propose ways in which gender equality and cooperation may be promoted through classroom interventions. Groupwork with computers was the curriculum area selected for study because computers are a symbol not just of technological progress, but of male…

Emerging from a series of research studies, the WRAp (Writing and Reading Appreciation) program is designed to motivate reading and writing in the elementary classroom. The WRAp program includes: (1) the design of literacy centers; (2) teacher-modeled activities with children's literature; and (3) a period for independent reading and writing…

For some instructors, the use of students' own experiences has proven to be an extremely useful starting point in the college composition classroom. In a first semester freshman composition course, students wrote autobiographies in which they examined different perspectives of the many communities in which they lived. Students then used the…

Theories of creative writing have been for the most part bound up with theories of art. Both teachers and the general public, however, are dissatisfied with such institutionalized theories. Creative writers should first look to theories of writing rather than infer them from art. Recent composition theories, both cognitive theories and those of…

A 1991 survey questioned 61 teachers on the ways they were using collaborative learning to teach composition. Comparisons with a 1988 survey showed that the biggest increase was in the use of collaborative drafting strategies. Increases also occurred in focusing, prewriting, and editing, and there were slight decreases in revision and…

Although collaborative learning in the traditional classroom has faced criticism and resistance by students and teachers, most studies suggest that if it is implemented and facilitated properly, shared learning through collaboration can be an effective tool in how students learn. However, as more and more classes are being taught online, the…

Cooperative learning as a promising approach for higher education is discussed in terms of its relation to active learning, cognitive processing, and personalizing principles and concepts. Preliminary data from experimental classes demonstrated little advantage for a group improvement incentive. While students in the bottom third of these classes…

This paper examined a problem-solving partnership where both partners actively participated and where there were conflicting points of view. After several weeks of observation of an entire fifth grade class working in small groups, a dyad of two boys was selected for closer examination. Nonroutine mathematics problems were used as tasks. A…

This study sought to determine if students who have homework added to their cooperative learning lessons achieve at a higher rate than the students who did not have homework assigned. The subjects were 64 fifth-grade students enrolled in four different classes in social studies. Two classes were assigned to the no-homework condition, one class was…

This monograph offers some basic information for putting cooperative learning into practice. Eight popular cooperative learning approaches are first outlined. The approaches vary along two dimensions: how tasks are assigned and divided among students, and what counts toward team scores and rewards. Certain approaches have all students working on…

The purpose of this study was to better understand teachers' perceptions of collaborative learning and to explicate how they use computer activities to promote cooperative learning experiences. Based on questionnaire responses and group meetings, the Office of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment (OREA) identified seven New York City teachers of…

As college student populations become more diverse and classes become more heterogeneous, instructors have an opportunity to implement leadership models based on the goals of empowerment, cooperation, inclusion, and collaboration. A heterarchical notion of leadership (in which information and authority flow across channels and input from all…

Although benefits and problems in collaborative learning, as well as techniques for facilitating it, have been extensively discussed in recent publications on composition teaching, few detailed descriptions of actual classroom uses of collaborative learning have been published. In an innovative one-term writing course, taught at the Chinese…