The Cooperative Learning Project Staff at Cleveland State University studied implementation effects of training and support teams on cooperative learning at nine middle schools. Findings showed that administrators should be trained with teachers and must shape an appropriate environment, recognize the importance of support teams, provide necessary…

Describes a Costume Project wherein Australian Grade Six students and Prep students collaborated to produce costumes from paper, which were later paraded by the Preps at the school Opening Evening. (NH)

This paper discusses a cognitive model of how action agendas and goals emerge through the dynamics of self-organization in collaborative activities. While machines are designed to perform a function, or goal, humans are self-organizing systems that set their own goals and produce order without having external order imposed on them, or, more…

A sixth grade teacher discusses how she enhanced student writing and thinking skills by having them collaborate on a class monster story. The article describes how they created the story. A copy of the story is included. (SM)

Teachers who recognize the value of working together can put their belief into practice through the use of collaboration and cooperative learning methods. Lists 19 characteristics of a well-functioning and collaborative team. (MLF)

The Students Teaching Students cooperative learning method for gifted middle school students has four components: research, team work, presentation, and evaluation. During the presentation phase, students are required to incorporate three basic learning styles (auditory, visual, and kinesthetic) and be sensitive to their audience's response.…

Outlines steps necessary for students to learn how to use one another as resources for doing mathematics, including preparation for group work, fine tuning communication and cooperation skills, and developing helping skills. Includes a "good helper" and "good help receiver" checklist. (Contains 14 references.) (MKR)

Middle school students (n=86) with learning disabilities or emotional disturbance who participated in Cooperative Homework Teams achieved a higher rate of homework completion and higher percentage correct on homework than controls but did not perform better in mathematics achievement. Significant effects were found for grade level but not for type…

This book examines the real-world implications of cooperative learning techniques used in a fourth-grade mathematics class and sixth-grade social studies class in a culturally diverse, suburban elementary school. The book documents not just the successes, but also the failures and missed opportunities exhibited by participating teachers and…

A spirit of collegiality and productivity flourishes at a Glendale, Arizona, middle school. Staff focus on integrating academic, exploratory, and thematic learning to develop students' cooperative learning and thinking skills. Curriculum connections happen by raising awareness about integrated/interdisciplinary curricula, visiting other schools,…

This paper presents and discusses the results of a project in which seven teams of fifth and sixth grade students were involved in designing and implementing interactive multimedia resources in science for younger children, using the Microworlds(TM) Logo programming environment. It was found that students improved significantly in their science…

This paper proposes examining cooperative learning from an anthropological perspective and presents a theoretical framework for doing so. The paper first briefly reviews the psychological theory and research underlying cooperative learning. The paper uses data from a pilot ethnographic study of cooperative learning in a fourth-grade classroom to…

Fourth and fifth graders participated in a study comparing the effects of traditional and modified collaboration models on participation and productivity outcomes. Students in traditional, modified, and control groups completed cooperative projects. Unlike the other groups, control group students had no assigned task roles. The modified and…

Sixth-grade teachers collaborated with staff development coordinators on a cooperative-learning project which taught social skills to 300 students and incorporated attributes of cooperative learning into teaching of all content areas. A primary benefit of the process was the collegiality and teamwork experienced between the teachers and staff…

This study examined what happened in the first month of the school year when a fourth/fifth grade teacher attempted to establish a learning community in her classroom of culturally and linguistically diverse learners. The researcher conducted two teacher interviews and was a participant observer during the first month of the school year. Data…