This book is the result of the collaborative efforts of the seven authors, who have been using cooperative lerning in collegiate mathematics courses for a number of years. Cooperative learning consists of the following components:
– students participate in permanent, stable groups; each group contains three or four students;
– a significant amount of the required work of the course is done in groups;
– the classroom climate is such that a spirit of mutual responsibility develops among group members;
– group work is included in the evaluation process.
Students in groups can develop the skills necessary for solving a wide variety of problems, both social and academic.
The readers will find in this book detailed useful discussions on each aspect of cooperative learning. Examples of group problems and group test questions for various mathematics courses are given. An extensive annotated bibliography as well as some practical forms and information that instructors might use are also included.
This book is a valuable resource for any instructor who uses cooperative learning groups in an undergraduate mathematics class.