In October 1992 issue of "Educational Leadership," Marian Matthews communicates several misunderstandings about cooperative learning. Interview data from 15 middle schoolers in a wealthy district are not generalizable to all cooperative-learning situations. A cooperative-learning group is neither a seating arrangement nor individualistic learning…

Presents study results examining social pressure within sexually homogenous groups. Explains that cohesiveness, based on common beliefs, was established in half of the sample while prevented in the remainder. Reports that groups were required to reach consensus after conflict was introduced. Concludes that low cohesion groups showed the greatest…

Discussion of computer conferencing as a collaborative learning strategy and a group-oriented decision-making process highlights a study of undergraduates at the University of Delaware who participated in a computer conference. Technical responsibilities, strategy development, debate advancement, and user temperament are examined; and the value of…

Describes research project utilizing video cameras to record behavior while students worked on a combinatorics task in second grade and five months later when they were in third grade. Results describe student development of new mathematical ideas over an extended period of time. Authors argue that videotaping can play an important role in making…

Undergraduate teacher education students participated in the Foxfire instructional approach by developing field trip packages for elementary students visiting a farm and a garden/greenhouse. Describes problems with group dynamics among students and efforts to resolve problems. (KS)

Outlines popular cooperative learning models to acquaint administrators with their titles, developers, and major program characteristics. Provides guidelines for determining observational focus and feedback for teachers. By understanding differences between a teacher-directed and cooperative learning lesson, administrators recognize teacher…

Describes collaborative storytelling as a means of combining communicative teaching methods with peer or group learning in a beginning Chinese course at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Vocabulary, grammatical patterns, socialization, and story cycles are noted. Stories are appended. (Contains eight references.) (JP)

Presents a model of teachers as managers of self-directed and interactive learning, which promotes independence, interaction, communication, leadership, teamwork, conflict resolution, and responsibility for one's own work and continued learning. Teachers' roles include managing the overall program, task, group, individual development, and the…

Describes a course that integrates individual and collaborative group assignments while requiring students to work through multiple drafting processes involving teacher and peer intervention. Outlines specific assignments. Addresses issues such as establishing collaborative groups, analyzing group dynamics and writing processes, and the role of…

Describes a game called UPSIDE DOWN that is designed for use in higher education courses or in corporate training to sensitize participants to cultural issues when interacting with groups with different backgrounds. Both intragroup and intergroup interactions are described, suggestions for debriefing are given, and a complete set of rules is…

An intact work unit of 17 corporate managers participated in a 3-day adventure training program to develop teamwork and group unity. The unit improved significantly on 8 of 10 items of the Team Development Inventory, administered before and 2 months after training, relative to an intact control group. (SV)

Teams are incompatible with the scientific management philosophy underlying traditional curricular and organizational theory. This article examines J. R. Hackman's book "Groups That Work (and Those That Don't): Creating Conditions for Effective Teamwork" (1990), as it illuminates the experience of teaching on a middle school…

Describes an encounter group process using Van Servellen's (1984) systems' model and Yalom's (1985) therapeutic factors as a guide for analysis to resolve conflict among faculty. Presents use of structure, communication, and process components of the model that provided direction for group leaders to analyze small group interactions and select…

This article is based on Barry Posner's book "The Leadership Challenge." Ten "commitments of leadership," behaviors utilized by leaders, include search for opportunities, experiment and take risks, envision the future, sell others on vision, foster collaboration, strengthen others, set the example, plan small wins, recognize…

A study identified eight cognitive roles played by college presidents' administrative teams and concluded that the resulting complexity, although difficult to manage, may improve executive-level leadership. Teams with multiple cognitive roles typically include a cognitively complex president, norms favoring cognitive diversity, and varied…