Mrs. Spicher kicked off class today by declaring, "We have been commissioned by the Hawaiian government to design new islands off the coast of Hawaii!" The 1st & 2nd grade students are now research teams busy investigating various landforms to be included in their designs.
Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. Documented results include improved academic achievement, improved behavior and attendance, increased self confidence and motivation and increased liking of school and classmates. **From the Education Research Consumer Guide produced by the Office of Research, Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) of the U.S. Department of Education.
