This paper offers insights on how to facilitate student-student interaction in the science classroom. These insights derive from the education and the linguistics literature. Cooperative learning research offers a means of understanding what helps groups of students interact successfully. Systemic functional linguistics provides tools for…

Describes an English college geography course where students work in teams to design a field trail and produce promotional guides. Emphasizes field-based activity, student-led participation, and the development of a target audience. Recommends reiterating the relationship between theoretical considerations and the field-based activity. (MJP)

Describes and evaluates an unusual and innovative assessment procedure used in an undergraduate hydrology and oceanography class. Working in teams, English students produce research articles published by an in-house, though refereed, academic journal. Professors and students agree that the process stimulates students to perform at their highest…

Kent State University (Ohio), a traditional residential institution located near an urban center, is grappling with urban challenges by redefining institutional success, expanding definitions of scholarship, reducing program complexity to enhance completion rates, supporting teamwork and unit productivity, valuing senior members of the…

Reviews research literature that defines cooperative learning and substantiates many educational benefits to be derived from it. Outlines eight selected cooperative learning methods. Reports that research shows cooperative learning methods improve students' academic achievement, self-esteem, and social skills. Also suggests that cooperative…

American attitudes toward the need for teaching twenty-first century skills appear as strong as the socioeconomic research being done that shows how critical these skills are for students' future access to the middle class and the country's economic competitiveness. In 2003, the AOL Time Warner Foundation (now the Time Warner Foundation) set out…

Parents of 209 children (162 males and 46 females) with autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome or learning disabilities ranging in age from 4 to 21 years were surveyed about their perceptions of the education of their children. Items on the survey were categorized into 7 areas: school personnel's knowledge about the disability, best practices,…

Middle school transitions can cause a decline in academic achievement and motivation in learning for many students. Low income underrepresented students are especially vulnerable to this transition. Parental involvement also tends to decrease during the middle school years. This qualitative study examined the elementary to middle school transition…

Proceedings are presented of a conference which addressed services to infants and young children with developmental delays and their families in rural areas. Contents include: results of a survey of 42 respondents regarding rural service delivery; excerpts from Magnolia Circle Outreach Project newsletters; views on problems identified by rural…

This report documents how the Business/Training Institute of Northwest Iowa Community College and Coilcraft, Inc., of Hawarden, Iowa, worked as partners to establish a basic workplace skills program for Coilcraft's workers. The project goals were to develop and offer a workplace literacy program that would enroll 160 workers and prepare them to…

This book describes a British project which used cooperative group work as a curriculum approach to help reduce children's social difficulties and encourage cooperation and friendship across such barriers as race, sex, or disability. The book consists of eight chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of research findings and theory related to peer…

This book, which is written from the perspectives of an adult education practitioner engaged in helping create empowering work systems in manufacturing, service organizations, city governments, and educational systems, explains how the principles of emancipatory education and the concept of praxis may be used to reshape organizations into…

The Australian engineering company, Jaques, and Swinburne University of Technology conducted a joint project to write more than 190 operating instructions for the company's 77 employees. First, the university's Workplace Skills Unit (WSU) interviewed 75 production workers to identify their language, literacy, and training needs. The WSU negotiated…

This guide explains how occupational therapists and physical therapists collaborate with educators, administrators, and parents to help children with disabilities in Wisconsin schools acquire needed skills. Chapter 1 provides basic historical information about occupational and physical therapy in schools and introduces a collaborative model of…

This information sheet describes General Curriculum Options, one of four streams or subject areas offered in the Certificates in General Education for Adults (CGEA) in Australia. The first seven learning outcomes are based on seven key competencies: collecting, analyzing, and organizing information; planning and organizing activities;…