Discusses the fact that despite a decade of changing ideas about student learning and instruction based on learner-centered education, most faculty still rely on lectures. Identifies individual and group dynamics that impede collaborative learning, considers the moral base of collaborative learning, and offers some guiding principles of…

Presents an activity that teaches macroscopic bone anatomy, muscle anatomy, and the creation of movement through model building that encourages cooperative learning and inquiry. (ASK)

Introduces the course Survey of Physical Chemistry, which utilizes cooperative learning methods and aims to create a student-centered learning environment. Integrates the guided reading method into the curriculum. (YDS)

Explores the co-shaping of public and private discourse and some of the circumstances under which one occasions the other in the evolution of mathematical thinking by pairs of 13-year-olds. Provides evidence that adolescents within novel problem situations can experience some difficulty in making their emergent thinking available to partners in…

Describes an integrated curriculum project, Fit Newton's Great Adventure, that combined science, reading, writing, and physical education in cooperative problem-solving tasks. This hands-on learning experience was successfully implemented with at-risk fifth graders at a rural elementary school. Five tables provide illustrations of project…

Explores the potential of science teaching cases to deepen teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. While many teachers began discussions without a clear understanding of certain key concepts, after a two-hour case discussion and brief hands-on activities, they collaboratively developed a deeper understanding of the content.…

Describes the course "The World According to Microbes" which puts science, mathematics, engineering, and technology majors into teams of students charged with problem solving activities that are microbial in origin. Describes the development of learning activities that utilize key components of cooperative learning including positive…

Describes Piaget's ideas about peer relationships, providing a framework for evaluating peer learning based on Piaget's theory. Two goals of peer learning are examined, noting that teachers must consider the socio-moral context in which peer learning occurs and the impact of peer learning on students' feelings about schoolwork and peers. Peer…

Researchers examined three issues: gender and ethnic differences in terms of preferences towards collaborative learning; effects of collaborative learning on student outcomes; and determinants of openness to diversity. Results showed that exposure to collaborative learning practices influenced positively each of the outcomes under study. (Contains…

Discusses key elements in the creation of successful learning communities in the middle school classroom and presents three cases of teachers who have accomplished this in their classrooms in rural, suburban, and urban schools. Considers two characteristics common to each learning community: the teachers' personal commitment to their students, and…

Investigates whether social loafing (the tendency for individuals to reduce their input when performing as part of a group) existed in a collaborative educational task employing groups of three and eight participants. Indicates that individuals working in smaller groups were more productive than those working in larger groups. (CMK)

Describes science curriculum for elementary children which incorporated Vygotskian approach to development of students' ability to engage in persistent, systematic inquiry. Discusses three factors: (1) instruction began by introducing ideas that are central and general to the discipline; (2) students invented and adapted cultural tools for…

Provides background information on constructivism and explains how this theory can be integrated into geography education. Describes a geography course that employs the constructivist-oriented strategy of team-based collaborative inquiry along with Internet communication tools to foster student cooperation, interaction, and comparative analysis of…

The emergence of community-referenced instruction as a general and special education phenomenon and as a tool for learning in the inclusive classroom is examined in this article. In addition, three specific types of instruction that can be implemented beyond school walls are presented: work experiences, research teams, and service learning.…

Describes a cooperative, interactive problem-solving exercise for studying eukaryotic cell structure and function. Highlights the dynamic aspects of movement through the cell. Contains 15 references. (WRM)