Presented are guidelines for designing and incorporating cooperative group learning strategies into teacher preparation courses. Guidelines include determining appropriate content, selecting a cooperative format, forming cooperative groups, teaching cooperative skills, providing feedback, and evaluating learning. The student satisfaction results…

Seven articles on classroom icebreakers are compiled: "Picture Stories and Other Opportunities" (Joy Egbert, Deborah Hanley, Rosemary Delaney); "Hey, What's Your Name" (Janet Leamy); "Surprise!" (Lynne Burgess); "Memory Game" (Sally Winn); "Picturesque" (Margaret Beiter); "The Name Game" (Jeanne-Marie Garcia); "Exercise the Body--And the Mind…

A teacher introduced folklore to multiage groups of students aged 5-12 by encouraging them to work together on projects that included locating family origins on a map, collecting family recipes for a cookbook, compiling a photo album, and writing a play based on war stories gathered from relatives. (LP)

Four basic steps for using cooperative learning to teach social skills to young children are discussed, including targeting specific social skills; defining the skills behaviorally; designing and implement the cooperative activities; and processing and evaluate. (DB)

Teachers can make sure students know important facts and concepts before giving unit tests by using the expert group review strategy. Small, mixed-ability student groups review different parts of the unit and present their findings to the class. After the test, students discuss the value of expert group review. (SM)

A model focuses on three levels of observable behaviors that are essential for teachers to demonstrate in small-group learning situations: (1) teacher and student questioning; (2) teacher and student interaction; and (3) teacher monitoring. Five figures are provided for recording observations. (18 references) (MLF)

Visits to five programs using cooperative learning (CL) education with gifted students resulted in suggestions for such programs, including differentiation of assignments within the CL group, using open-ended tasks, creating "expert" groups, using cross-grade groups, and using a variety of self-aced CL materials. (DB)

The column for teachers of deaf students addresses issues in mathematics instruction including the impact of calculators, the need to ask students more "why" questions, the value of students writing about mathematics, and the effectiveness of pairing students for problem solving. (DB)

Describes one elementary teacher's strategies to help students learn spelling using cooperative learning groups. Mixed-ability groups of four children are established, and students take turns being the caller, recorder, reader, and checker. Students retain more because of the amount of repetition. A weekly classroom spelling schedule is presented.…

Describes how to boost elementary students' confidence and nurture responsibility by making students resident experts at review stations. Students rotate from station to station where the experts are learning at their own pace, spending more time on material they do not understand, and receiving personal attention and immediate feedback. (SM)

Discusses the mathematics education philosophy of J. W. A. Young and how it compares to the principles in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematic's "Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics." Elaborates on Young's views concerning rote learning, establishing connections between mathematics and other disciplines,…

This article explains how cooperative-learning behaviors can be taught systematically and directly to students with behavior disorders using a four-step procedure in conjunction with an enhanced cooperative-learning environment to encourage generalization. Application with five primary grade students is reported. (DB)

This article examines critical staff development issues that must be addressed if cooperative learning is to produce quality implementation across classrooms. Staff development programs should consider teacher ownership and governance, teachers' levels of concern regarding education innovation, formats for training, relevance of ecological impact,…

The article stresses the importance of a creative, supportive classroom environment for the identification and nurturance of children's talents. Guidance is given for questioning techniques, cooperative learning approaches, and fostering the independence of each learner. (Author/DB)

Shares students' experiences with working geometrical proofs in cooperative groups. Presents an example of week-long group take-home test. (ASK)