Presents class activities to help elementary teachers prepare their students for cooperative learning. Phase one involves building team spirit and appreciating differences. Phase two includes strategies for trying substantial cooperative projects. Phase three offers ideas for adding cooperation to basic subject areas all year long. (SM)

Describes classroom projects in a second-grade classroom based on the Foxfire approach to instruction. Projects planned and implemented in the classroom by students included: (1) sub shop; (2) recycling; (3) Black cemetery; and (4) garden. Students engaged in brainstorming, creating webs, weekly planning, and writing about their activities. (KS)

Describes a program investigating the history and technology of space exploration. Students work in space mission teams and assume the identities of the mission's astronauts. The unit includes a press conference simulation and integrates science, language arts, library skills, and cooperative group activities. (PVD)

The project described in this report used action research to study the involvement of teachers in the change process at a suburban elementary school. The project used study groups as a professional development strategy that fosters educational reform efforts. All 28 teachers on the school's staff signed up for a group. Teachers appreciated the…

The Volunteer-led Investigations of Neighborhood Ecology, or VINE Program, gives children opportunities to discover and investigate the plants, animals, and ecological relationships that exist right in their own neighborhoods through hands-on natural science investigations. It was established by Denver Audubon Society members as an urban education…

Cooperative learning methods capitalize on the heterogeneous student bodies of most urban schools. They appear to foster better student achievement than individualistic methods, to increase cross-ethnic friendships, and to improve students' self-esteem and positive attitudes toward other students and the school. Six currently published cooperative…

Appropriate for elementary school students, this resource unit on the American cowboy provides four activities for small group work. The unit also lists objectives and discusses the organization and dynamics of small groups. The general objective is for the student to learn how to work within groups and how to resolve group conflict. The…

This manual is part of a series of human relations programs designed to help individuals develop a sense of self worth and an awareness, understanding, and appreciation of human differences. The stress in these programs is on providing each individual with a model through which to evaluate his own actions and emotions. In this manual,…

This paper describes a study of an organization development intervention with an eight-person teaching-support-administrative team in a suburban elementary school. Data for the study were gathered through observation by two participant-observers, through interviews with all eight direct participants in the team-building project, and through a…

According to a recent study of fifth grade students' self concept and cooperative behavior, high self concept pairs produced the most competitive behavior, while low self concept pairs demonstrated the most cooperative behavior. White students were more competitive than black students. No significant sex differences were found. (Author/MV)

This study described the effects of a course on cooperative learning (CL) for student teachers. The course was conducted at two teacher education colleges in The Netherlands. Data collection included observation of the desired CL teaching behaviors and elementary students' engagement rates during cooperative activities; surveys of preservice…

The competitive structure in which most children are taught to play is responsible for problems associated with stress. Athletic performance is important in how the child is perceived by peers and adults. Children who perceive themselves as inadequate at sports often feel low self-confidence and low self-esteem. (JN)

Three peer tutoring methods and two group investigation approaches are examined for effects on academic achievement, students' attitudes, and ethnic relations. The five methods are: Jigsaw classroom (Aronson), Teams-Games-Tournaments (DeVries), Student Teams and Academic Division (Slavin), cooperative learning approach (Johnson), and small-group…

Describes activities for an elementary school library media center that are centered around folktales with forest settings, including people as well as animals and plants which inhabit the forest. Highlights include reading and discussing folklore, descriptive writing exercises, small group activities, and examples of 12 literary characters. (LRW)