Cooperative learning : theory and research /

Editor Sharan successfully combines a unique blend of perspectives from educational theorists and research analysts alike to make this volume on cooperative learning (CL) one of the very best to date. Essayists, including such CL advocates as Robert Slavin, David Johnson, Roger Johnson, and Sharan, bring a practitioner's perspective to the analysis of findings supporting CL as a model of teaching worthy of incorporation with all other standard, time-honored instructional methods. One of the most endearing aspects of this volume is the text of running comments of students actually working in various CL group settings (Chapter 5). The volume closes with Sharan calling for an increase in CL throughout the curriculum as a means of "retiring" whole-class instruction to a fraction of its current dominance. This is a valuable source for any educational library and it would also be an excellent text for graduate and undergraduate elementary, middle school, and high school methods courses. -J. H. Buckner, University of Kentucky