Professional Development for Cooperative Learning: Issues and Approaches

Describes different forms of professional development for cooperative learning and shows how the use of cooperative learning in professional development is leading to new insights into teaching and professional growth in schools.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Begin with the Teacher: Focusing Professional Development for Cooperative Learning Introduction: Professional Development and Cooperative Learning Celeste Brody and Neil Davidson 1. The Significance of Teacher Beliefs for Professional Development and Cooperative Learning Celeste Brody 2. Creating Sustained Professional Growth through Collaborative Reflection Carole Cooper and Julie Boyd 3. The Role of Staff Developers in Promoting Effective Teacher Decision-Making Carol Rolheiser and Laurie Stevahn 4. Staff Development That Makes a Difference Patricia Roy Part II: Lessons from the Field: Approaches to Cooperative Learning and Implications for Professional Development 5. Staff Development and the Structural Approach to Cooperative Learning Spencer Kagan and Miguel Kagan 6. Beyond the Workshop: Evidence from Complex Instruction Rachel Lotan, Elizabeth Cohen, and Christopher Morphew 7. A Social Constructivist Approach to Cooperative Learning and Staff Development: Ideas from the Child Development Project Marilyn Watson, Sylvia Kendzior, Stefan Dasho, Stanley Rutherford, and Daniel Solomon 8. Preparing Teachers and Students for Cooperative Work: Building Communication and Helping Skills Sydney Farivar and Noreen Webb 9. The Cognitive Approach to Cooperative Learning: Mediating the Challenge to Change James Bellanca and Robin Fogarty 10. Professional Development for Socially-Conscious Cooperative Learning Nancy Schniedewind and Mara Sapon-Shevin Part III: The Learning Community: Cooperative Learning and Organizational Change 11. Effective Staff Development in Cooperative Learning: Training, Transfer, and Long-term Use David Johnson and Roger Johnson 12. Mutually-Sustaining Relationships between Organization Development and Cooperative Learning Richard Schmuck 13. Faculty Development Using Cooperative Learning Susan Ellis 14. Developing a Collaborative Environment through Job-Embedded Staff Development: One District's Journey Linda Munger Part IV: Return to the Vision of Community 15. Cooperative Learning Communities: Expanding from Classroom Cocoon to Global Connections Liana Forest 16. Afterword: Promising Practices and Responsible Directions Celeste Brody and Neil Davidson Notes on the Contributors Index

About the Author :
Celeste M. Brody is Associate Professor at Lewis and Clark College. She is coeditor, with James Wallace, of Ethical and Social Issues in Professional Education, also published by SUNY Press. Neil Davidson is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Maryland at College Park. He is the coauthor and editor of several books, including Cooperative Learning in Mathematics: A Handbook for Teachers.

Review :
"This book contains well-researched and complete models for the kind of staff development needed today. They represent a variety of perspectives that are all applicable to the educational trends we foresee for the twenty-first century." - Judith W. Irwin, University of Connecticut "The contributors represent a very impressive cross section of the cooperative/collaborative learning community. You do get the sense that these folks are talking from experience in describing what works in staff development." - James L. Cooper, California State University at Dominguez Hills