This booklet contains activities related to energy conservation and sources of energy that are suitable for groups containing people of different ages. The activities promote brainstorming, group sharing, and cooperative learning. Activities include: Energy Name Game; Energy Pantomime; Energy Source Relay Race; Energy Chants; This Week in Energy…

This paper discusses the use of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) techniques for computer-aided learning (CAL); the work was started in the context of project Nestor, a joint effort of German universities about cooperative multimedia authoring/learning environments. There are four major categories of cooperation for CAL: author/author,…

This study examined what high-end users (those who use e-mail many times during the day) do with e-mail and how they feel about it. The sample consisted of 12 students and faculty in the Instructional Systems Technology (IST) department at Indiana University. Participants were divided into three groups: faculty, non-first year students, and first…

This study examined the educational situation of prisoners enrolled in courses at the FernUniversitat (the German distance teaching university). A survey questionnaire, developed with the help of imprisoned students, was administered to approximately 200 student prisoners. Of the 99 returns, 95 were found usable to base the results of this study.…

This study investigated fourth graders' (N=18) self-generated analogies and the effects of their collaborative reasoning and arguing over these analogies on individual understanding of three scientific phenomena concerning air pressure. The data were subjected to both a qualitative and quantitative analysis. The first showed that the children, on…

This paper looks at using collective critical thinking about issues as an assessment technique instead of or in addition to written tests. A substantial literature review examines the role of assessment and alternative strategies such as group oral exams in classes where cooperative activities and learning have been emphasized. The review reveals…

Teaching drama gave one instructor a chance to renew herself, and drama became an important part of a personal teaching renaissance. An elective class for grade 12 entitled "Humanities and the Arts" offered opportunity for collaborative teaching with colleagues in their areas of expertise. In a class on "Modern Drama" designed…

The last decade has seen the development of a number of computer-based interactive physics programs at the university level. Set in a cognitive apprenticeship framework, such programs view the instructor as a mentor, and the essential learning constructed in a collaborative process. It is expected that such programs, grounded as they are in…

An important mandate of higher education is to provide students with the skills and strategies required to become self-regulating lifelong learners. This paper analyzes and interprets data gathered from two instructional settings both of which have been structured to promote self-regulated or self-directed learning. It includes an interpretation…

This study sought to examine why peer interaction can facilitate learning, with the hypothesis that collaborative learning provides a social context that is conducive to the generating of explanations (an activity positively associated with learning). Individualistic and collaborative learning contexts were compared for 96 college students (19…

An action research project implemented a program for improving the conversational skills of language impaired high school students. The students attended high school in a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois. Poor conversational skills in the language impaired students were documented through teacher observation, teacher assessment, and…

Just as a classroom where teacher and students are physically present develops into a community over the course of a semester, classes taught via the Internet become virtual learning communities, communities unbounded by physical space. This paper describes a course on information design that was implemented entirely via the Internet, including…

The use of critical thinking and collaborative learning enhances the research process by establishing a disciplined yet supportive research and publication procedure. In addition, these methods provide common assumptions about the validity and reliability of research findings, while encouraging diverse points of view. Critical thinking helps…

The usefulness of the Cognitive Engagement in Cooperative Learning (CECL) model for evaluating the learning outcomes associated with various cooperative learning activities is explored. The instructions that a set of learners is given, however broad or specific, is called a script. These scripts are associated with different learning outcomes…

The future of accounting education has already arrived at the Department of Accountancy at the University of Illinois-Champaign, United States' top accounting school. "Project Discovery" is a 5-year-old program that incorporates many current trends in educational innovation, such as writing across the curriculum, collaborative learning,…