Describes "Snakes in the Grass," a weaving project used with special needs students. Discusses the preliminary skill-building activities used, the process for creating the students' individual snakes, and the preparation and process for how the students wove the snakes. (CMK)

This activity book was written for the purposes of: (1) increasing students' awareness of nature and environmental issues; (2) providing an interdisciplinary curriculum for environmental issues; (3) encouraging students to use a variety of current nonfiction sources to research activities; and (4) encouraging students to work together in small…

This study investigates sense of community as a central integrating factor promoting students' attachments to school and thereby their striving to adopt the school's norms and values. Data from observations of 232 elementary classrooms and from student questionnaires were used to test a model linking teacher classroom practices to students' sense…

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…

A study of the games played by children in Brisbane, Australia was conducted to provide information for physical education curriculum development and to compile a descriptive record for the period from 1975 to 1976. Attention was given to physical activities in which two or more children proceed with observable rules of conduct toward a…

Two techniques can be used to improve spelling scores and make spelling more interesting. The first technique is a combination of peer tutoring and the corrected-test technique. Students are paired as tutors and tutees on the basis of past spelling performance. The tutor gives a series of bi-weekly spelling tests to the tutee and helps with error…

The teaching activities presented in this article focus on a bookmaking party, which gives children a format in which they can publish and share their activities in a formal way, provides them with books for recording their writing, and involves students, parents, and the community with children's writing. The paper describes the steps for…

Ethnic Discovery is an approach to exploring cultural diversity with schoolmates, teachers, and friends, conceived and developed by the Boston Children's Museum. Ethnic Discovery experiments with possibilities for personalizing the process of social study. Students and teachers who participate in its activities learn about their own cultural…

Discusses cooperative groups in mathematics classes. Suggests problems appropriate for cooperative groups, gives examples and guidelines for cooperative group members. (PK)

Reports contemporary data concerning the fear of nuclear war among Americans of different age groups. Identifies recent efforts to educate K-12 students about the threat of nuclear war. (JDH)

This article shows the extent to which pupils borrow information from one another. In the course of classroom observations, learning in groups appeared to be polyphonic and was based upon the ideas of others. Learning through plagiarism, however, must be interpreted not as negative interdependence, but as a way for children to construct new…

In this activity, students experiment and observe the similarities and differences between human-made objects and nature in small groups. Students compare the function and structure of hollow bones with drinking straws, bird beaks and tool pliers, and bat wings and airplane wings. A classroom discussion can be held to discuss similarities and…

Examined effects of cooperation on role taking and moral reasoning in 120 fifth-grade students. Classrooms using cooperative peer-initiated group learning were compared with other innovative and more traditional teacher-centered methods. Role taking was found to be enhanced by cooperative interdependence, but moral reasoning level was not…

To enliven her fourth-grade class on rainy days, the author grouped the students into five teams to study the Westward Movement in the United States. Each team became a wagon train, tracing a different pioneer route and marking their progress with group reports, research projects, and diaries. (SJL)

The three-week elementary school program in Houston, Texas, offered seminars, student selected interest activities, and group activities in which children planned and constructed a part of a future world and were thus exposed to problem solving, decision making, and research activities. (DLS)