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| Introduction | |
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| What Is Cooperative Learning? | |
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| The Benefits of Cooperative Learning | |
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| How to Get the Most From This Book | |
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| About the Authors | |
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| Getting Started With Cooperative Learning | |
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| Principle: Cooperation as a Value | |
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| How can I get my class started using cooperative learning (CL)? | |
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| What classroom management techniques might work well with CL? | |
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| How might the room be arranged for CL? | |
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| Principle: Heterogeneous Grouping | |
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| How can I form cooperative groups? | |
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| How can I help my students work together smoothly? | |
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| What are some strategies for team building? | |
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| Principle: Positive Interdependence | |
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| What is positive interdependence? | |
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| How can I help my students develop positive interdependence? | |
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| How can we encourage an "all for one, one for all" spirit among students? | |
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| Principle: Individual Accountability | |
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| How can I encourage all students to participate and learn? | |
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| How can I help students learn to take responsibility for their group? | |
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| Principle: Simultaneous Interaction | |
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| How can I give students lots of opportunities to express their ideas? | |
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| Should students report on their group work to the whole class? | |
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| How can I encourage students to explain their thinking to their group? | |
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| Principle: Equal Participation | |
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| How can I promote equal participation in groups? | |
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| How might CL help with differences in student ability levels? | |
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| What about the students whose main strengths do not lie in academic skills? | |
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| Principle: Collaborative Skills | |
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| Is it necessary to teach students how to cooperate? | |
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| Can students learn collaborative skills while learning content, or does it have to be done separately? | |
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| How might cooperative learning help students develop thinking skills? | |
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| Principle: Group Autonomy | |
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| How can I help groups become more independent of the teacher? | |
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| How much should I intervene when students are working in their CL groups? | |
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| What is the teacher's role when students have become more autonomous? | |
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| Assessment in Cooperative Learning | |
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| How can I assess learning in cooperative groups? | |
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| What are my options for grading students, and what are the pros and cons of giving all group members the same grade? | |
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| How might I involve students in assessing themselves and each other? | |
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| What about assessing how cooperative students are? | |
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| Frequently Asked Questions About Cooperative Learning | |
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| Preparing Our Classes for Cooperative Learning | |
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| What size should groups be? | |
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| What if there is an uneven number of students? | |
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| How long should CL groups stay together? | |
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| What if students want to choose their own partners? | |
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| How can CL work when students don't believe they can learn from their peers? | |
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| Should anything special be done when groups end? | |
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| Managing Cooperative Learning Classes | |
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| Isn't CL a recipe for behavioral chaos? | |
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| Should I use time limits with group tasks? | |
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| Won't there be a lot of disruption and wasted time while students are moving into groups? | |
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| How can I quickly get students' attention when they are working in groups? | |
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| How do you deal with groups that are too noisy? | |
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| What if some groups are not carrying out the task or activity properly? | |
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| Is it a problem when groups finish at different times? | |
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| How can group reporting be a learning experience for everyone in the class? | |
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| How can I listen in as students are working together in their groups? | |
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| Creating CL Tasks | |
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| How often should I use CL? | |
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| How can I find the time necessary to prepare structured CL activities? | |
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| How are CL lessons different from teacher-fronted lessons? | |
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| Won't group activities take too long? | |
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| Won't students complain about using the same CL technique, or even using CL, again and again? | |
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| What if CL tasks are too difficult for students of different ability levels? | |
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| Enhancing Thinking When Using CL | |
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| How can I encourage students working in groups to show creativity or other evidence of higher-order thinking? | |
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| How can I ensure that group members avoid reaching quick consensus and have richer discussions? | |
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| Using CL in Special Situations | |
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| How do I use CL with preschool and lower elementary school students? | |
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| How do I use CL with students learning in a second language? | |
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| How should we respond when students use their first language in CL groups using another language? | |
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| How do I use CL with large classes? | |
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| Helping Groups That Aren't Functioning Well | |
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| What can I do when students don't get along with their groupmates? | |
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| My students argue with one another. How can I turn arguing into productive disagreement? | |
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| What can I do about students who don't participate much in CL activities? | |
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| What about students who really want to work alone? | |
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| What about students who dominate the group? | |
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| What can I do when less able students hurt their group's performance? | |
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| What can I do when students give each other the wrong information? | |
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| What can I do when there is cooperation within groups but not between groups? | |
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| Collaborating With Other Teachers | |
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| Most other teachers at my school don't seem interested in CL. Should I give up on them? | |
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| A few other teachers I know are using CL. How can we help each other? | |
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| What goals should my teacher support groups strive for? | |
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| With what other changes in teaching does CL fit well? Why? | |
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| Working With Administrators and Parents | |
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| How can I respond to administrators and parents who worry that CL won't prepare students for multiple-choice tests such as the SAT? | |
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| Will CL give me enough time to cover the syllabus and finish the textbook? | |
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| How can I work with administrators who do not support CL? | |
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| Resources for Cooperative Learning | |
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| CL Print Resources | |
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| Web Sites | |
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| Index | |