Collaborative learning requires a lot of talk. Although not all student talk may be related to the task at hand, some off-task talk is actually productive, as it enables students to negotiate how they will work together, gain attention of fellow group members, and draw others into joining the work. Emma C. Gargroetzi, Rosa D. Chavez, Jen Munson,…

When students are working together, some off-task conversations actually smooth the way to working together more effectively. While many assume that off-task talk is unproductive, our study revealed that students used off-task talk predominantly for productive purposes. We found that off-task talk supported student access to collaboration, and…

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between teacher discourse around social norms, student mathematical roles, and student mathematical explanations in the classroom. Mathematical explanations are important for learning mathematics and professional organizations encourage their use in the classroom. This study sought to…

In this article, the authors describe how they used student's complaints about limited salad choices in the cafeteria as the focus of a class project. Following steps of the Project Citizen protocol of the Center for Civic Education, the authors facilitated students' efforts, which included researching the problem, talking with adult…

This study aims to determine the views of the teacher and students views on a practice carried out by using group investigation technique of cooperative learning method. The study was conducted with 20 students at 8th grade at a public elementary school in Trabzon during the spring term of 2008-2009 school year. Case study research method was used…

One of eight papers from Project Seed, this paper discusses an 8-week program on conflict resolution used among fourth- through sixth-graders at one school. The program described could easily be implemented in other schools. Through the program, students are trained in a step-by-step mediation process; those students who become Classroom Mediators…

The Kids in Dispute Settlement mediation program for grades 3 through 12 recognizes that conflicts are a part of everyone's life and that students can responsibly and constructively solve their own conflicts. Mediation uses the help of a third party to facilitate the conflict resolution process by working out differences non-judgementally. Student…

An interview of 64 students in eight 3rd- and 4th-grade classrooms and an assessment of their teachers' control orientation were conducted for the purpose of testing the hypothesis that students of autonomy-granting teachers are better means-ends thinkers than those of controlling teachers. Dimensions of students' classroom socialization of…

The shift in behavior therapy towards more cognitively oriented interventions in the treatment of behavior disorders in school children is reviewed. Recent applications of cognitive behavior modification have dealt with traditional academic concerns. (Author/MH)