Notes Augusta State University's "Family Fun Fair," developed in 1981 by early childhood teacher candidates, and now a major requirement of one of Augusta's early childhood courses. Describes several fun fair activities and how activities devised by the students are evaluated by the instructor. (HTH)

Discusses the purpose, design, implementation, and value of an issues-based role play exercise in a first year Australian university undergraduate topic. Explains that the exercise requires students to consider implications for environment, economy, and culture of a large-scale tourist development on Rarotonga (Cook Islands). (CMK)

Data are presented from a study of cooperative learning as a teaching strategy in teacher education courses. Two university methods courses were restructured to incorporate learning teams and interactive practice activities. Results indicated that students who had difficulty mastering specific content performed better with cooperative learning…

Discusses collaborative planning as a heuristic for dealing with the rhetorical elements often considered by experienced writers when they plan and prepare documents. Defines collaborative planning, identifies its benefits, discusses its implementation in upper-level business communication courses, and presents a series of examples of students…

Offers a view of writing as a process involving three forms of collaboration: coauthoring, workshopping, and knowledge making. Offers guidelines for designing courses in which writing is consciously, deliberately collaborative in all three of the realms identified. (MG)

Provides a classroom exercise, known as Synergistic Convergence (SYNCON), in which students are divided into small groups, and then into successively larger groups, until the entire class is involved in one problem. Asks students to develop a list of five heroes and five villains in history. Generates insights into the nature of historical…

Reports on the development of a critical pedagogy in a sociology of education course. Examines the effectiveness of the project, using drama, in terms of the opportunities provided for students to relate common-sense understandings to sociological concepts. Looks at students' political development in a collaborative group situation. (Author/LS)

Discusses modifications of the usual lecture approach for a environmental geology course by including class discussion, class projects, and group projects which are designed to help students see the relevance of geology to their lives. Author claims that in this interactive approach both instructor and students become more actively involved in the…

Suggests that the cooperative learning group is more effective than the straight lecture method of teaching written business communication. States that, in an earlier study, students' comments showed maturation in the area of interpersonal relationship skills. Suggests procedures for structuring and implementing cooperative learning groups and…

This chapter explores some of the historical underpinnings of collaborative learning and highlights the issues involved in designing collaborative approaches including roots of collaboration in education, epistemological theory, reframing the student and teacher roles, and shared inquiry as a process of reform. (MLW)

Reports on the use of small group instruction in a college sociology course. Contends that teacher-assigned groups using students' perception of their level of knowledge on a topic is an effective strategy. Maintains this technique helps enrich class discussions and improves student understanding of course content. (CFR)

Discusses why group presentations are a valuable activity for humanities courses illustrating how presentations elicit discussions, enable students to share their talents, and make the study of art and history relevant to the students' lives. Addresses the formation of groups, the guidelines for assignments, and the evaluation of the group work.…

Describes the development of a course at Indiana University of Pennsylvania on Web Site theory and design for undergraduate and graduate students. Highlights include the classroom configuration; software; hardware; teaching strategies; and the project-based approach for a course model, including student assessment, student projects, work groups,…

Investigated how 30 tertiary English-as-a-Second-Language learners, at advanced and intermediate levels, engaged in a text reconstruction task. The study examined the types of grammatical items that caused the students most concern, and the reasoning they used to arrive at grammatical decisions. (Author/JL)

Outlines a classroom exercise that assists white undergraduates in recognizing their racial privilege and the effects of racism. Forces students to unknowingly assume roles analogous to those held by dominant and nondominant social groups while working in collaborative groups. Reports that students' reflections on the project provide evidence of…