The motto of the national science education reform efforts is "science for all" regardless of gender, ethnicity, socio-economic background, or any special need. The main issue of this statement is the modification of science activities so that a wider range of students can benefit from it, which is a difficult task. For teachers, the dilemma is…

Two methods for promoting peer collaboration among students conducting research were examined. Student interaction was structured using either computer-mediated conferencing or the fishbowl technique. Both techniques produced similar levels of student participation. Questionnaire results indicated that the fishbowl technique was perceived as…

Student surveys addressing cooperative learning using the Jigsaw strategies noted these concerns: (1) how does a student know he/she has the right answers? and (2) how does a group know when the answers are correct? The same research indicated concerns by social studies teachers involved with the use of the strategies: (1) how does the teacher…

Most of the activities presented in this packet are appropriate for students in grade 4 through high school. To make the activity more challenging and to meet the needs of older students, the teacher may wish to add detail and written work to complement the assignment's creative aspects. These activities are adapted easily to content areas, and in…

This paper discusses the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in e-learning environments where an intelligent three-dimensional (3D) virtual person plays the role of an instructor. With the existence of this virtual instructor, it is hoped that the teaching and learning in the e-environment will be more effective and productive. This virtual 3D animated…

The authors developed a Web-based negotiation system that is closely modeled on real-world transactions. This paper illustrates the generality of the system by discussing two disparate applications of the system: one taken from business and the other from collaborative e-learning. The application generates, in real time, transparency-controlled…

It is well known that math phobia is a common problem among young school children. It becomes a challenge to educational practitioners and academic researchers to figure out ways to overcome the problem. Collaborative team learning has been proposed as one of the alternatives. This study was part of a large and ongoing research project designed to…

The idea of annotating Web pages is not a new one: early proposals date back to 1994. A tool providing the ability to add notes to a Web page, and to share the notes with other users seems to be particularly well suited to an e-learning environment. Although several tools already provide such possibility, they are not widely popular. This paper…

This report describes a plan for using the multiple intelligences to increase student motivation. The target population consisted of a sixth grade reading class in a rural setting, and second, fourth, and fifth grade students in a pullout ESL (English-as-a-Second-Language) program in an urban setting. The lack of motivation became evident as…

As Web-based courses using videos have become popular in recent years, the issue of managing audiovisual aids has become noteworthy. The contents of audiovisual aids may include a lecture, an interview, a featurette, an experiment, etc. The audiovisual aids of Web-based courses are transformed into the streaming format that can make the quality of…

The interactive mechanism of the Internet allows learners to interact with teachers, other learners, and content while it facilitates teachers to interact not only with learners but also with other teachers who teach similar or related courses and conduct online teaching.This study analyzes teaching strategies for planning collaborative learning…

This paper reports the work of a spring 1999 class of beginning-level students in educational administration who were challenged by their professor either to define the term "professionalism" for the field or to cease using the term. In accepting the challenge to find meaning in the term, the students researched the literature, talked…

There is plenty of "math on the menu" in the series of activities featured in this book. Students help the Rosada family start a Mexican restaurant featuring a variety of tostadas. Over the course of the unit, students apply different problem-solving strategies as they plan and expand the menu, determine different combinations of ingredients,…

This cooperative learning activity, for grades 7-12, promotes critical thinking skills within the context of learning about the causes and effects of climate change. Objectives include: (1) understanding factors that reduce greenhouse gases; (2) understanding the role of trees in reducing greenhouse gases; (3) identifying foods that produce…

This ethnographic case study of six teachers in a metropolitan public elementary school investigated the structure and process of staff development for inservice teachers who were incorporating cooperative learning into their classroom practices. The researcher collected data from planning meetings, site visits with observations, questionnaires,…