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…

The booklet presents large group activities designed for severely developmentally disabled individuals. Activities are intended to meet a wide variety of ages and developmental levels and to foster opportunities for student response and participation. The first section explains a large group format entitled circle time. Themes explored in circle…

Ways in which teachers organize classrooms when they have more students than microcomputers available to them were investigated as part of the National Survey of School Uses of Microcomputers, which collected data from 1,082 microcomputer-using schools. These schools represent 68% of a nationally representative sample of about 1,600…

Group activities in the classroom can be a useful way to explore various standard rhetorical patterns. For descriptive writing, students can select and write about unsigned collages made by classmates. The writer can try to find a unifying theme that characterizes the artist's personality. A narrative component can be added to descriptive writing…

Instructional designs are described that respond to the personal needs of adult learners, the general education needed for employees in contemporary, complex organizations, and the need for effective instruction models for use with adult students. Following a discussion of the changing expectations in the work environment that result in a need for…

Collaborative learning, in which students form small groups to analyze their own writing, can cause students who recognize good writing and know the "rules" to reexamine their own writing and writing processes and then produce an acceptable product. Given eight sample paragraphs from their own writing, 20 freshman students working in 5…

This program activity guide provides basic understandings, suggested teaching methods, vocabulary terms, suggested group activities, ideas for interest centers, and lists of resources to aid teachers and caregivers teach children in Air Force preschools and day care centers about their country and national heritage. (Author/RH)

This program activity guide consists of information Air Force preschool teachers and child caregivers can use to increase young children's understanding of the meaning of flags in general and the flag of the United States in particular. (Author/RH)

The small size of college composition classes encourages exciting and meaningful interaction, especially when students are divided into smaller, autonomous groups for all or part of the hour. This booklet discusses the advantages of combining the inquiry method (sometimes called the discovery method) with a group approach and describes specific…

Suggests effective strategies from early childhood education to use in teaching young handicapped children. Teachers could include group activities fostering peer interaction; provide opportunities for free play; practice being less directive and more interactive; and recognize the benefits of a less teacher-controlled classroom environment. (BB)

Describes an experience with using small-group activities and games in teaching French in the elementary grades. The children's enjoyment and involvement, the increase in spoken French, and the growth in confidence and language ability indicate that group work has great potential. (CFM)

Teachers are given too much power in a reading classroom. We choose the texts, design the course syllabuses, and put up a written exam after another written exam. However, we cannot stop our students from becoming book haters as soon as they leave our classroom. By implementing literature circles, we teachers might return the power back to our…

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…

Experiential teaching is seen as an approach for developing life skills through field trips, career education projects, self-awareness experiences, and group activities. (SB)

Five principles of Daily Life Therapy are examined: group-oriented instruction; highly structured routine activities; learning through imitation; reduction of unproductive activity levels through rigorous exercise; and a curriculum based on music, movement, and art. These tenets are discussed in terms of current theory, research, and educational…