How should a teacher respond when a student makes off-base guesses about meaning in a literary text because that learner is trying to genuinely understand the story rather than find the "right" meaning? Aukerman argues that when teachers jump in to correct students' interpretations, they short-circuit students' processes of reading and thinking.…

This qualitative study explores the dynamics of exchanging e-journals among counseling trainees who participated in an interpersonal growth group. Interviews were conducted with participants who discussed the influence of e-journals on their group experience. E-journaling extended the group both spatially and temporally, and participants reported…

This booklet is designed to encourage and assist parents in locating or starting a parent support group. It provides guidelines and suggestions for group formation and can serve as a resource guide for parent support groups. The eight sections of the booklet address the following topics: (1) the role of parent support groups; (2) definitions of a…

This annotated bibliography on leadership, compiled to help individuals determine where to begin in the massive amount of published material on the subject, contains 52 entries dated from 1980 forward. The selections have been made with a view towards the needs of both those interested in the practical aspects of leadership and those who may have…

The Women's Place is a community adult education program to provide a creative environment in which knowledge, skills, and feelings can be shared in an ambiance in which meaningful relationships can develop. Its antecedent was a women's support group formed in the summer of 1978. In 1979 the YWCA was chosen as sponsor of this on-going monthly…

A new method for the measurement of consensus in small groups is proposed. The method allows for the study of the dynamic formation of consensus and, with the aid of some mathematical manipulations, reveals the development of subgroup relations over time. In a pilot test, the method was used to study groups of students choosing a topic which they…

Reports the results of an experiment which compared two types of cooperative learning with individual learning on short-term academic achievement of 84 third graders. Results showed that students of all ability levels achieved better under the two cooperative learning conditions than the individualistic conditions. Long-term retention showed…

Many urban residents do not have the emotional support of an adequate network of kin, friends, or neighbors. It is proposed that such persons join together into artificial extended families or family clusters. Experiences in the formation and operation of a cluster are described on the basis of participant observation. (Author)

Seeks conditions that improve group performance on "hidden profiles." Finds that, among undergraduate student groups, group information sharing and decision-making effectiveness were higher in small groups with a low percentage of shared information, and lower when groups either were large or shared a high percentage of information.…

Finds that, when adults talked about why they value their book club discussions, three themes emerged: the social aspect; the equality among club members; and the spirit of cooperation that infused the clubs. Notes that these themes suggest instructional strategies which may help teachers challenge the discourse patterns that characterize…

Four studies of undergraduates were conducted to assess the relative importance of quality and quantity as goals of brainstorming. Participants (n=65) believed it was more important to produce creative and high-quality ideas than to generate many ideas and believed brainstorming would enhance the quality of others' ideas (n=109). (Author/CR)

Examples are given of how spontaneous discussions of school and home problems enabled fourth grade children to seek solutions to difficulties in an open and cooperative way. (JD)

For interdisciplinary teams to function effectively, members must be cognizant of the effects of group dynamics on team decision-making. Individual characteristics, group characteristics, and situational factors are discussed as they relate to the processes teams use in carrying out their goal of providing early intervention services to children…

Describes nine group activities used to build cooperation and teamwork in adventure-, challenge-, and experiential-education settings. Includes target group, group size, time and space requirements, activity level, props needed, instructions, ideas for post-activity group processing and reflection, and facilitator tips. Target groups include…

Investigates how parliamentary procedure is practiced in community groups, and how the use of parliamentary procedure facilitates or constrains vigilance and critical thinking. Finds that parliamentary procedures are widely practiced in a limited form. Reports on a case study showing how parliamentary procedure was employed to facilitate…