Collaborative problem solving (CPS) has been shown to both engage and benefit students' learning of mathematics. However, there is evidence that group work is not always easy to facilitate, in part because educators lack details about learners' engagement during group work: the processes of problem solving involved, and how these are engaged. In…

Restrictive instruction and punitive discipline often run parallel in schools, prompting a continued need to provide authentic learning opportunities that value children's literacy strengths in an inclusive community. Restorative justice has been identified as a pedagogical stance in addressing harmful policies in schools, and it is most often…

The science and engineering practices in the "Next Generation Science Standards" seek to engage students in complex tasks including planning and carrying out investigations or engaging in argument from evidence. However, such tasks often require students to effectively collaborate. While our students get better at working together in an…

Relational thinking is a necessary skill for building students' individual capabilities and a core concept in geography education. Geographical relational thinking refers to being able to give interrelated, causal explanations for geographical phenomena such as regional change. The aim of this study was to gain more insight into differences in…

Groups are central to problem-based learning (PBL) and educational and professional outcomes relevant to clinical education. However, PBL groups in practice may differ from theoretical conceptions of groups. Therefore, this study explored students' understandings of the purpose and value of PBL groups for their learning. We conducted a…

Potential employers require graduates to be able to demonstrate competent teamwork skills in initiating ideas and solving problems cooperatively. Teamwork is prevalent in educational institutions and often included as a way of enriching learning and assessment. Whilst group working can provide a rich opportunity for cooperative learning, its…

Students and faculty are grappling with learning teams in the online environment - more than half of all higher education organizations offer online courses (Hoffman, 2006). As online course developers try to replicate the best practices of traditional classrooms, the asynchronous technology of the Internet has added great capability while also…

This article evaluates the use of a "case study group" method for teaching social movement theory. The aim was to give students the opportunity to practice theorizing actively rather than simply learning theory passively. The method provides this by requiring students to undertake case studies on social movements of their choice for the…

Studies of primary education within the UK have shown that small groups can feature within classrooms; however, equivalent research within secondary education remains scarce. Research has established effective group work approaches, yet secondary teachers may encounter difficulties employing approaches tied to parameters embedded within primary…

Looks at the problems of using collaborative learning with adults and offers suggestions for dealing with problems that arise. (JOW)

Considering recent claims that groups are important to teaching and learning, the authors examine the differences between groups and collections of people to see how one might create learning groups when designing learning and instruction. Based on literature in the fields of group dynamics and education, characteristics of groups are listed and…

This paper describes the development of augmented group awareness tools that take mutual user ratings of their online discussion contributions as input, aggregate these data, and visually feed these data back to the members in real time, thereby informing participants about how the group as a whole perceives their contributions. A specific group…

Group work is increasingly being used in a variety of college courses. A number of strengths have driven the increase in the use of this form of collaborative learning. Still, a number of problems potentially limit the use of group projects. In this study, we report on research in which we examined how students recommended changing group projects.…

This review includes recent research that manipulated features of cooperative learning as well as studies of the relationship between interaction in small groups and outcomes. The analysis examines the kinds of discourse that are productive for different types of learning and moves toward studies of task and interaction. (SLD)

The major purpose of the research reported here was to determine how teachers from middle school to high school levels acquired their understanding of cooperative learning, how they used it in the classroom, and how they kept students accountable for performance. Eleven teachers were interviewed and observed in five disciplines (language arts,…