Children have a natural proclivity to teach, help, cooperate, and empathize with others, and these interactions can have positive benefits for children's emotional, social, and cognitive development. This article is about ways music teachers can design peer-assisted music learning activities that will benefit everyone in the class and ultimately…

This study investigates the practices of public (high) school, private language institute, and public-private teachers. In particular, it aims at addressing the role of contextual factors, the variations teachers introduce to cope with them, and the degree of sustainable behaviour among these three groups of teachers. High school teachers…

Many mathematics classrooms use cooperative learning to support equitable learning environments for all students. Past research in the field has focused primarily on increasing achievement rather than on contexts that support equitable interactions. This year-long study in 3 secondary mathematics classes compares 2 activity structures--a group…

By using group activities for learning, cooperative student effort for school events, and peer pressure for classroom discipline, Japanese teachers involve and empower their students. While American students feel that classrooms are teachers' sacred ground, Japanese students appropriate them as their rightful community. Instead of stressing…

Describes how one English teacher developed an approach to teaching writing that pairs student writers with writers in the community outside the school. Outlines the features of this writing partners project, including the responsibilities of each partner. Argues that such programs foster writer skill and self-esteem. (HB)

High school technology education students were assigned to groups with either a cooperative-competitive (n=65) or cooperative-cooperative (n=64) goal structure. All cooperative-cooperative groups had to achieve a certain level for groups to get a top score. Students in the cooperative-cooperative environment had more positive attitudes and…

Describes cooperative class projects carried out by at-risk high school students on a variety of topics about Native Americans and involving in-depth research and multimedia presentations of their findings. (SR)

The purpose of this study was to determine if teaching techniques and teacher attitudes tend to reduce math anxiety in secondary-level students. The research group consisted of 48 secondary students enrolled in Algebra I at a rural school in West Virginia, with the experimental period lasting 12 weeks. The control group was instructed in the…

Describes a project combining precalculus and transition mathematics students focusing on popcorn by comparing popping ratios of different brands of popcorn and finding what size box could hold the most popped corn. Project design required group effort and cooperation. Students exhibited growth of positive attitudes toward the study of mathematics…

A study was conducted to determine what kinds of references to cooperative activities or collaboration appeared in the journals kept by students in a graduate methods course on the teaching of writing and if there were difference in the references made by two new teaching assistants and two experienced high school teachers. New teachers wrote…

This case study investigated factors that increased verbal interaction for students in group work in a ninth grade, content-based, English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) class. Out of 11 tasks assigned to the students during the semester, four language-based and four genre-based tasks were analyzed. At the end of the study, the nature of verbal…

A cooperative learning model was used in Florida to change the state-mandated grade 12 course called Family Life and Sex Education, which had been found deficient in meeting students' educational and social needs. Pretest data before the change in model indicated a lack of knowledge that had a detrimental effect on thinking and problem-solving…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of assigning students to a version of an instructional program (cooperative learning version or individual version) that either matched or did not match their pre-assessed preferences for cooperative and individual learning. Students' preferences for cooperative and individual learning were…

The Cyberspace Regionalization Project uses advanced audio-visual telecommunications to bridge gaps of geography and socioeconomic status between two New Jersey high schools, one white and affluent and one black and low income. Using audio-visual links provided by Intel ProShare software and equipment, students and teachers from the two schools…

A group project to build a model of the South Carolina state capitol building led to improved basic skills, high levels of student participation, an understanding of the importance of planning, and increased self-esteem among five 10th-grade students with mild mental retardation in a resource room program. (DB)