These learning activities are intended to help elementary school children learn how to communicate, cooperate, and prevent or solve conflicts through creative thinking. There are 17 chapters. The first five chapters provide background information for teachers, discussing the Children's Creative Response to Conflict (CCRC) Program, ways to create a…

These learning activities will help children in grades 1-8 learn about issues concerning nuclear war and disarmament and help them develop their own framework for decision making in the nuclear age. The introduction discusses curriculum objectives and the procedures for implementing the curriculum. A sample letter to parents and instruments for…

Third-party intervention is increasingly recognized as an effective means of settling social, institutional, community, and interpersonal disputes. Traditionally, mediation efforts have been directed toward conflicts involving labor/management relations. Since the 1960s, however, mediation efforts have also been applied to situations involving…

A workshop in social conflict and negotiative problem solving was developed by The Improving Teaching Competencies Program of the Northwest Regional Education Laboratory. Participants--teachers, administrators, and other school personnel--were provided with multiple opportunities to be involved in learning about conflict at personal,…

The purpose of this paper is to report on the development and validation of the Social Problem Situation Analysis Measure (SPSAM), a measure of the ways in which children understand and attempt to resolve problematic social situations. The SPSAM is an assessment procedure in which children are shown cards depicting sequences of unfolding action in…

Based on a review of 500 sources dealing with change, this presentation sets forth the practical applications of change literature for school administrators. The report concludes that change is a term neither commonly used nor commonly understood, and that ther e exist few scientifically developed (i.e., theoretically based and empirically tested…

In order to help parents in rearing children, a theory of parent effectiveness was developed. Based on the idea that parents should be honest with their children about the child's behavior, the theory identified ownership of problems and conflict resolution. Children's behavior was defined as being acceptable and nonacceptable to the parent,…

It is time to reevaluate the myths of the nineteenth century and the structures they created pertaining to education. There is a need to utilize new power relationships to creatively build a pluralistic educational system. It must be recognized that conflict can lead to collaboration if respect is present, whereas collaboration which ignores…

Having a twofold purpose, this booklet serves as an instructional guide for teachers and as a text for junior high students. Emphasis is upon students learning to think reflectively about major issues facing a Democratic society and to analyze various claims that they read and hear everyday in the world around them. An objective of the study is to…

This paper summarizes the findings of a ten-year longitudinal research study of attitude changes among faculty resulting, at least partially, from their collective bargaining experience. The study focused on Henry Ford Community College (Michigan), using the participant-observation approach. A number of techniques for gathering qualitative…

This action research project evaluated the impact of a program for enhancing interpersonal problem-solving skills on academic achievement in elementary students in an industrial, urban Illinois community. The lack of social skills and inability to think critically were documented through office referrals and teacher observations of kindergarten,…

Many children enter school demonstrating excessive aggressive and impulsive behaviors, causing classroom disruption and interpersonal conflict. This intervention was designed to help first graders achieve social competence through conflict resolution training, problem solving, and anger management techniques to reduce aggressive and impulsive…

This book provides a comprehensive guide to teaching students to do the right thing. After "Introduction: Caring Teachers Can Make a Difference," 11 chapters include: (1) "Setting the Stage for Appropriate Behavior"; (2) "Expectations, Limits, and Rules" (unreasonable barricades and how to build moderate fences); (3)…

This training manual provides materials for conducting a workshop on problem solving and creating good agreements in special education. The first section of the manual provides a brief introduction to the world of special education and discusses why special education law is complex. Section 2 explores why conflict is created, seven types of…

Examined effects of problem-solving training on acquisition of interpersonal problem-solving skills by kindergartners. Consisted of pretesting, training, and post-testing activities. Showed that problem-solving training was effective in helping children acquire interpersonal problem-solving skills, specifically an increase in solutions generated…