Promoting Safe Educational
And Community Environments:
The Three Cs Program
And Community Environments:
The Three Cs Program
David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson
University of Minnesota
60 Peik Hall
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
Reynolds, A., Weissberg, R., & Walberg, H. (1999). Positive Outcomes In Children And Youth: Promotion And Evaluation. Chicago: University of Illinois.
Promoting Safe Educational And Community Environments: The Three Cs Program
University of Minnesota
Promoting a Safe Environment
Frances Hodgson Burnett, in her book, The Secret Garden, stated, Where you tend a rose, a thistle cannot grow. By enhancing the positive development of children and youth (i.e., tending roses), the development of children and youth who are antisocial and pathological is prevented. Schools, families, and communities should tend roses to prevent thistles from developing. Doing so may be difficult. Many cities and towns have become what criminologists have described as criminogenic communities-places where the social forces that create predatory criminals are far more numerous and overwhelmingly stronger than the social forces that create virtuous citizens. Many children and youth are now growing up surrounded by teenagers and adults who are deviant, delinquent, or criminal and who may abuse, neglect, or criminally prey upon the young. This is not just an urban problem. Many suburban and rural children and adolescents are also neglected or preyed upon by members of their family and neighborhood.
It is difficult to change the nature of a family, neighborhood, or city. It is less difficult to change the nature of the school experience. A school community may be created to enhance the positive development of children and youth, prevent disruptions to healthy development, and restore order after a disruption has taken place.
Positive Development
There are many definitions of positive development from Freud, Erikson, Piaget, and many others. To the authors, healthy social development includes six elements (Johnson, 1975, 1997; Johnson & Johnson, 1989). The first is the ability to manage interdependence with others. Children and youth need to learn how to assess the cooperative and competitive forces in a situation and respond appropriately, cooperating skillfully with others, competing for fun and enjoyment, and working autonomously on their own. The second is an overall balance of trust rather than distrust toward other people. Most people should be perceived to be trustworthy. They should believe that most people are trustworthy most of the time. The third is the ability to view situations and problems from a variety of perspectives. Children and youth need to recognize the limitations of their idiosyncratic perspective and learn to assume the perspectives of others. The fourth is a meaningful sense of direction and purpose in life. Children and youth need to develop a sense of "where I am going" that is valued by others and that is similar to the goals of the significant people in our lives. The fifth is an integrated and coherent sense of personal identity. Every person needs a strong, integrated, and distinct image of him- or herself as a certain kind of person who is differentiated and discernible from others. Finally, children and youth need a positive process for deriving self-esteem. Conclusions about self-esteem can be derived through reflected self-acceptance (seeing oneself as others see one), basic self-acceptance (seeing oneself as being intrinsically worthwhile), conditional self-acceptance (seeing oneself as being of value when one meets the external standards and expectations of others), self-evaluation (estimating how positively one's attributes compare with those of peers), and real-ideal congruence (the correspondence between what one thinks one is and what one thinks one should be).
A school community is created in which positive development of children and youth is enhanced (and healthy development are prevented) when students, faculty, and staff (as well as parents and neighborhood members) (a) are involved in cooperative efforts, (b) manage conflicts constructively, and (c) base their actions on civic values.
The Three Cs Program
Healthy and positive development of children and youth are built on the three Cs: Cooperative community, constructive conflict resolution, and civic values (see Figure 1). This is true of the family and community as well as schools, but it is the school setting that is the focus of our work. The school is a cooperative system in which faculty/staff, students, and parents work together to achieve mutual goals concerning quality education. Sometimes conflicts arise over how best to achieve goals and coordinate actions. These conflicts have to be resolved constructively if the community is to survive. Both a cooperative community and constructive conflict resolution are based on civic values that recognize and support the long-term benefits of working together and contributing to the welfare of others and the common good as well as working for one's own well-being.
Working cooperatively with peers, resolving conflicts constructively, and internalizing prosocial values are experiences that all students need. Ideally, all students in a school and a school district will engage in these activities. These experiences are both (a) primary prevention and a secondary intervention for children and adolescents who may be at risk for future problems and (b) essential for the positive development of all children and adolescents. The Three Cs Program, described below, has been implemented in a wide variety of schools throughout North America and many other parts of the world. It has been used with inner-city, lower class students and with upper-class private school students and with everyone in between. It has been used in schools in third world countries as well as in North America and Europe.
The First C: Cooperative Community
The Nature of Community and Social Interdependence
Positive development of children and youth begin with establishing a learning community based on cooperation (i.e., working together to achieve mutual goals). Scholarship and learning do not exist in isolation; they are products of a community and a culture characterized by mutual respect and trust. Community is a group of people who live in the same locality and share common goals and a common culture. The school community is made up of the faculty and staff, the students, their parents, and members of the neighborhood. Broadly, the school community includes all stakeholders including central administrators, college admission officers, and future employers.
The heart of community and culture is social interdependence. Social interdependence exists when each individual's outcomes are affected by the actions of others (Deutsch, 1949; Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Social interdependence may be positive or negative. Positive interdependence (cooperation) exists when individuals work together to achieve mutual goals and negative interdependence (competition) exists when individuals work against each other to achieve a goal that only one or a few may attain. Social independence, where the outcomes of each person are unaffected by others' actions, is characterized by individualistic actions.
To create a learning community, positive interdependence (i.e., cooperation) must be structured at all levels of the school: Learning group, classroom, interclass, school, school-parent, and school-neighborhood. Members of the community must see themselves to be partners, not adversaries. The school cannot be a learning community if students are pitted against each other in the classroom or if students are isolated with no friends in the classroom. Just as the family is the beginning of community in society, the learning group is the beginning of community in the school.
The Power of Cooperation
During the past 100 years, over 550 experimental and 100 correlational studies have been conducted by a wide variety of researchers in different decades with different age subjects, in different subject areas, and in different settings (for a detailed review of the research on cooperative, competitive, and individualistic efforts, see Johnson & Johnson [1989]). In our own research program at the Cooperative Learning Center (University of Minnesota) over the past 30 years we have conducted over 90 research studies to refine our understanding of the nature of cooperation and how it works. Research participants have varied as to economic class, age, sex, nationality, and cultural background. A wide variety of research tasks, ways of structuring cooperation, and measures of the dependent variables have been used. Many different researchers have conducted the research with markedly different orientations working in different settings, countries, and decades. The research on cooperation has a validity and a generalizability rarely found in the educational literature.
Working together to achieve mutual goals can have profound effects on the individuals involved. The type of interdependence structured among individuals determines how they interact with each other which, in turn largely determines outcomes. Structuring situations cooperatively results in individuals promoting each other's success (individuals help, assist, support, and encourage each other's efforts). Structuring situations competitively results in individuals opposing each other's success (individuals obstruct and block each other's efforts). Structuring situations individualistically results in no interaction among individuals (individuals ignore each other and work alone) (see Table 1). These interaction patterns affect numerous variables, which may be subsumed within the three broad and interrelated outcomes of (see Figure 2) (Johnson & Johnson, 1989).
1. Effort exerted to achieve (higher achievement and greater productivity, more frequent use of higher-level reasoning, more frequent generation of new ideas and solutions, greater intrinsic and achievement motivation, greater long-term retention, more on-task behavior, and greater transfer of what is learned within one situation to another).
2. Quality of relationships among participants (greater interpersonal attraction, liking, cohesion and esprit-de-corps, valuing of heterogeneity, and greater task-oriented and personal support).
3. Psychological adjustment (greater psychological health, greater social competencies, higher self-esteem, a shared identity, and greater ability to cope with stress and adversity).
Taken from Johnson, D.W. and Roger Johnson (1989). Cooperation and Competition: Theory and Research. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.
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| Positive: Cooperation | Formal Cooperative Learning | Positive Interdependence | Effort To Achieve |
| Negative: Competition | Informal Cooperative Learning | Individual Accountability | Positive Relationships |
| None: Individualistic | Cooperative Base Groups | Promotive Interaction | Psychological Health |
| Interpersonal And Small Group Skills | |||
| Group Processing |
Note: There are three types of interdependence, the most important of which is cooperation. The basic use of cooperation in schools is cooperative learning. There are three types of cooperative learning. Efective cooperation depends on five basic elements being structured int the situation. When the five elements are present, three types of outcomes tend to result.
Effective cooperation requires that five basic elements be carefully structured into the situation (Johnson & Johnson, 1989; Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1998a) (see Table 1). First, there must be a strong sense of positive interdependence, so individuals believe they are linked with others so they cannot succeed unless the others do (and vice versa). Individuals must believe that they sink or swim together. Positive interdependence may be structured through mutual goals, joint rewards, divided resources, complementary roles, and a shared identity. Second, each collaborator must be individually accountable to do his or her fair share of the work. Third, collaborators must have the opportunity to promote each other's success by helping, assisting, supporting, encouraging, and praising each other's efforts to achieve. Fourth, working together cooperatively requires interpersonal and small group skills, such as leadership, decision-making, trust-building, communication, and conflict-management skills. Finally, cooperative groups must engage in group processing, which exists when group members discuss how well they are achieving their goals and maintaining effective working relationships.
Cooperative Learning
"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up...And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken."
Ecclesiastics 4:9-12
Positive development is enhanced by keeping students constructively engaged in learning from the moment they enter the classroom until the time they leave. The most effective way to do so is by using cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1998a). Within cooperative learning groups students discuss the material to be learned, help and assist each other to understand it, and encourage each other to work hard. Any assignment in any curriculum for any age student can be done cooperatively. When you walk down the halls of a school you should see signs of cooperative learning in every classroom. Desks should be clustered, group name placards should designate team work stations, posters should celebrate the benefits of teamwork, bulletin boards both inside and outside classrooms should display the products of students' cooperative efforts, and students should huddle in their groups and celebrate mutual accomplishments with high-fives, smiles, and handshakes. These signs are indicative of the use of the three types of cooperative learning (see Table 2) (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1998a, 1998b).
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| Completes assignment, lesson, unit, project to maximize own and groupmates' learning | Discusses assigned questions for few minutes to focus attention, organize knowledge, set expectations, create mood, ensure cognitive processing and rehearsal, summarize, precue next session, provide closure | Permanent, lasts for one semester, one year, or several years to ensure all members make academic progress and develop cognitively and socially in healthy ways |
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| Make Pre-Instructional Decisions | Conduct Introductory Focused Discussion | Structure Opening Class Meeting To Check Homework, Ensure Members Understand Academic Material, Complete Routine Tasks Such As Attendance, And Prepare Members For The Day |
| Explain Task and Cooperative Structure | Conduct Intermittent Pair Discussions Every Ten Or Fifteen Minutes | tructure Ending Class Meeting To Ensure All Members Understand The Academic Material, Know What Homework To Do, And Are Making Progress On Long-Term Assignments |
| Monitor Learning Groups And Intervene To Improve Taskwork and Teamwork | Conduct Closure Focused Discussion | Members Help And Assist Each Other Learn In-Between Classes |
| Assess Learning And Process Group Effectiveness | Conduct Semester Or Year Long School Or Class Service Projects |
Formal cooperative learning consists of students working together, for one class period to several weeks, to achieve shared learning goals and complete jointly specific tasks and assignments (such as decision making or problem solving, completing a curriculum unit, writing a report, conducting a survey or experiment, or reading a chapter or reference book, learning vocabulary, or answering questions at the end of the chapter) (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1993). Any course requirement or assignment may be structured cooperatively. In formal cooperative learning groups teachers:
1. Make a number of preinstructional decisions. Teachers specify the objectives for the lesson (both academic and social skills) and decide on the size of groups, the method of assigning students to groups, the roles students will be assigned, the materials needed to conduct the lesson, and the way the room will be arranged.
2. Explain the task and the positive interdependence. A teacher clearly defines the assignment, teaches the required concepts and strategies, specifies the positive interdependence and individual accountability, gives the criteria for success, and explains the expected social skills to be used.
3. Monitor students' learning and intervene within the groups to provide task assistance or to increase students' interpersonal and group skills. A teacher systematically observes and collects data on each group as it works. When needed, the teacher intervenes to assist students in completing the task accurately and in working together effectively.
4. Assess students' learning and helping students process how well their groups functioned. Students' learning is carefully assessed and their performances evaluated. Members of the learning groups then discuss how effectively they worked together and how they can improve in the future.
Informal cooperative learning consists of having students work together to achieve a joint learning goal in temporary, ad-hoc groups that last from a few minutes to one class period (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1998b; Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1998). During a lecture, demonstration, or film, informal cooperative learning can be used to focus student attention on the material to be learned, set a mood conducive to learning, help set expectations as to what will be covered in a class session, ensure that students cognitively process and rehearse the material being taught, summarize what was learned and precue the next session, and provide closure to an instructional session. During direct teaching, the instructional challenge for the teacher is to ensure that students do the intellectual work of organizing material, explaining it, summarizing it, and integrating it into existing conceptual structures. Informal cooperative learning groups are often organized so that students engage in three-to-five minute focused discussions before and after a lecture and two-to-three minute turn-to-your-partner discussions interspersed throughout a lecture.
Cooperative base groups are long-term, heterogeneous cooperative learning groups with stable membership (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1998b; Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1998). Base groups give the support, help, encouragement, and assistance each member needs to make academic progress (attend class, complete all assignments, learn) and develop cognitively and socially in healthy ways. Base groups are permanent (lasting from one to several years) and provide the long-term, caring peer relationships necessary to influence members consistently to work hard in school. The use of base groups tends to improve attendance, personalize the work required and the school experience, and improve the quality and quantity of learning. Positive development is enhanced when base groups are given the responsibility for conducting a year-long service project to improve the school.
Benefits of Cooperative Learning
A focus on cooperative learning and persistence in implementing it in every classroom is instrumental in laying the foundation for a constructive learning environment (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). First, cooperative learning ensures that all students are meaningfully and actively involved in learning. Active, involved students do not tend to engage in disruptive, off-task behavior.
Second, cooperative learning ensures that students are achieving up to their potential and are experiencing psychological success so they are motivated to continue to invest energy and effort in learning. Those who experience academic failure are at risk for tuning out and acting up which often leads to physical or verbal aggression.
Third, systematic use of cooperative learning promotes the development of caring and committed relationships for every student. Students who are isolated or alienated from their peers and who do not have friends are at-risk for violent and destructive behavior compared to students who experience social support and a sense of belonging.
Fourth, cooperative groups provide an arena in which students develop the interpersonal and small group skills needed to work effectively with diverse schoolmates. Students learn how to communicate effectively, provide leadership, engage in effective decision making, build trust, and understand others' perspectives.
Fifth, the cooperative base groups provide the arena for discussions in which personal problems are shared and solved. As a result, students' resilience, and ability to cope with adversity and stress tend to increase. Children who do not share their problems and who do not have caring, supportive help in solving them are at more risk for disruptive and destructive behavior.
Sixth, cooperative groups promote a sense of meaning, pride, and esteem by academically helping and assisting classmates and contributing to their well-being and quality of life.
Seventh, all the benefits of cooperation for students can also be found to result from the cooperation among faculty, between faculty and administrators, and among administrators.
Finally, the systematic use of cooperative learning provides the context for resolving conflicts in constructive ways. To constructively resolve conflicts, students, faculty, and staff need a common set of procedures, which is why a school-wide conflict resolution and peer mediation program is implemented.
Classroom Interdependence
Ways to extend the positive interdependence within the learning groups to the classroom as a whole include class goals (a criterion for each student or a total class score as a specified criterion) class rewards or celebrations (academic and nonacademic rewards or a class party), class roles (establishing a classroom government, placing teams in charge of daily class cleanup, running a class bank or business), or dividing resources (having the class publish a newsletter in which each cooperative group contributes one article). An example of divided resources is:
One class was studying geography. The ceiling was turned into a large grid giving latitude and longitude. The class was divided into eight cooperative groups. Each group was assigned a geographical location on which to do a report. The groups summarized the essential information about their location on a placard, located where on the ceiling it should be placed, and placed it there. The class then planned an itinerary for a trip to visit all eight places. Yarn was used to mark their journey. As they arrived at each spot, the appropriate group presented its report on the location, including its latitude and longitude.
Class meetings can be held as a forum for discussing how well the class is functioning and how the quality of classroom life may be improved. Finally, a common identity may be created by such things as a class name, slogan, flag, or song.
Interclass Interdependence
Cross-class cooperation can occur in many ways. An interdisciplinary team of three to six teachers may organize their classes into a "neighborhood" or a "school within a school" where classes work together and engage in joint projects for a number of years. Science and math, or English literature and social studies may be integrated and the classes combined. Students of different ages can be involved in cross-class "reading buddies" that meet weekly throughout the year so they can jointly share and explore literature. Several classes can do periodic projects on learning specific social skills and values so students from different classes can demonstrate the skills and values to each other and use them in the hallways, on the playground, and in the lunchroom. In these and many other ways, cross-class interdependence may be created.
School Interdependence
School level positive interdependence is established in numerous ways (Johnson & Johnson, 1994). First, the school mission statement may articulate the mutual goals shared by all members of the school and may be displayed on the school's walls and printed at the top of the agenda of every meeting involving faculty and staff. This "keeps the dream" in front of the faculty and staff and is a constant reminder of their commitment.
Second, just as students work in cooperative learning groups, ideally teachers will work in a variety of cooperative teams (Johnson & Johnson, 1994). All faculty and staff can meet weekly in teaching teams and/or study groups. Colleagial teaching teams are formed to increase teachers' instructional expertise and success. They consist of two to five teachers who meet weekly and discuss how better to implement cooperative learning within their classrooms. The teaching teams plan lessons together, orchestrate their use of integrated curriculum units, schedule the times they will teach together and apart, and explore how best to promote each other's instructional success for the following week. Regular teaming among faculty promotes colleagial relationships, ongoing professional growth, and induction of new faculty. Colleagial study groups are formed to meet regularly to discuss a book about an instructional method (such as cooperative learning, block scheduling, or creating an integrated curriculum). Teaching teams and study groups remind faculty and staff about the important instructional procedures, involve the faculty in a continuously improvement process, and provide a procedure for socializing new teachers into the faculty. At one of the schools we work with, for example, a teacher stated:
One challenge we face each year is bringing new faculty on board. We want them to become part of our school community as quickly as possible and that means training them in the components of our program. Study groups help accomplish this. We have one study group, for example, on the Nuts and Bolts of Cooperative Learning for new faculty who have not been trained in cooperative learning and another study group on Teaching Students to be Peacemakers for new faculty who have not been trained in conflict resolution. A trained, experienced teacher leads each study group. Each meeting we take a chapter in the book and go over it in detail. Then we plan how to implement it in our classrooms. We make sure we have those programs in every classroom in the school. This is how we keep the climate the way it is.
Third, in addition to the colleagial teaching teams and study groups, teachers may be assigned to task forces to plan and implement solutions to school-wide issues and problems such as curriculum adoptions and lunchroom behavior and ad hoc decision-making groups during faculty meetings to involve all staff members in important school decisions.
Finally, school interdependence may be highlighted in a variety of schoolwide activities, such as the weekly student-produced school news broadcast, special activities organized by the student council, all-school projects, and regular school assemblies.
School-Parent Interdependence
Cooperation is built between the school and the parents by involving parents in establishing mutual goals and the "strategic plan" to achieve the goals. Parents can produce a school weekly newsletter. Parents, with the help of students, can publish the school yearbook. Parents can volunteer in their children's classes and help conduct special projects. Parents may serve on all school committees and the site council. Parents can organize and conduct a variety of school activities, including a school carnival, a school gift-wrap sale, periodic parties in each classroom, and field trips. The PTA may raise money for additional supplies and technology. A faculty-parent task force may be formed to deal with serious discipline problems and ensure that parents are notified when a student misbehaves. The ideal goal is to have 100 percent of the parents participating in the school.
School-Neighborhood Interdependence
The school community may be extended into the neighborhood. Local merchants can support the school mission by giving a discount to students who achieve a "B" average or above. Members of the neighborhood could play in the school band. Classes could do neighborhood service projects, cleaning up a park or mowing the yards of elderly residents. There are many creative ways that the school and the neighborhood can join together to accomplish mutual goals.
The Second C: Constructive Conflict Resolution
Conflict is the moment of truth within any community. It is almost paradoxical that the more committed members are to the community's goals, and the more caring and committed the relationships among members, the more frequent and intense the conflicts. In addition, positive development requires that individuals learn how to manage conflicts constructively. When they are managed constructively, conflicts can result in such positive outcomes as (a) increasing energy, curiosity, and motivation, (b) increase achievement, retention, insight, creativity, problem-solving, and synthesis, (c) increase healthy cognitive and social development, (d) clarify own and others' identity, commitments, and values, and (e) strengthen relationships (Johnson & Johnson, 1995a 1995c, 1996): If the conflicts are managed destructively, they destroy relationships and tear the cooperative system apart.
Whether positive or negative outcomes result depends largely on (a) disputants having clear procedures for managing conflicts, (b) disputants being skilled in the use of the procedures and value using them, and (c) whether the norms and values of the school encourage and support the use of the procedures. If one or more of these conditions are not met, then conflicts will tend to be managed destructively. Faculty and staff need to teach students (and learn themselves) three procedures for managing conflicts: academic controversy, problem-solving negotiation, and peer mediation procedures (see Table 3) (Johnson & Johnson, 1995a, 1995c).
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| One person's ideas, information, theories, conclusions, and opinions are incompatible with those of another and the two seek to reach an agreement. | The actions of one person attempting to maximize benefits prevents, blocks, or interferes with another person maximizing their benefits. |
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| Research and Prepare Positions | Describe Wants |
| Present and Advocate Positions | Describe Feelings |
| Refute Opposing Position and Refute Attacks On Own Position | Describe Reasons For Wants and Feelings |
| Reverse Perspectives | Take Other's Perspective |
| Synthesize and Integrate Best Evidence and Reasoning From All Sides | Invent Three Optional Agreements That Maximize Joint Outcomes |
| Choose One And Formalize Agreement |
Academic Controversies
To promote healthy development, teachers can structure academic controversies frequently and teach students how to resolve them (Johnson & Johnson, 1995c). A controversy exists when one person's ideas, opinions, information, theories, or conclusions are incompatible with those of another and the two seek to reach an agreement. Controversies are resolved by engaging in what Aristotle called deliberate discourse (i.e., the discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of proposed actions) aimed at synthesizing novel solutions (i.e., creative problem solving). Teaching students how to engage in the controversy process begins with randomly assigning students to heterogeneous cooperative learning groups of four members (Johnson & Johnson, 1979, 1989, 1995c). The groups are given an issue on which to write a report and pass a test. Each cooperative group is divided into two pairs. One pair is given the con-position on the issue and the other pair is given the pro-position. Each pair is given the instructional materials needed to define their position and point them towards supporting information. The cooperative goal of reaching a consensus on the issue (by synthesizing the best reasoning from both sides) and writing a quality group report is highlighted. Students then:
1. Research And Prepare A Position: Each pair develops the position assigned, learns the relevant information, and plans how to present the best case possible to the other pair. Near the end of the period pairs are encouraged to compare notes with pairs from other groups who represent the same position.
2. Present And Advocate Their Position: Each pair makes their presentation to the opposing pair. Each member of the pair has to participate in the presentation. Students are to be as persuasive and convincing as possible. Members of the opposing pair are encouraged to take notes, listen carefully to learn the information being presented, and clarify anything they do not understand.
3. Refute Opposing Position And Rebut Attacks On Their Own: Students argue forcefully and persuasively for their position, presenting as many facts as they can to support their point of view. Students analyze and critically evaluate the information, rationale, and inductive and deductive reasoning of the opposing pair, asking them for the facts that support their point of view. They refute the arguments of the opposing pair and rebut attacks on their position. They discuss the issue, following a set of rules to help them criticize ideas without criticizing people, differentiate the two positions, and assess the degree of evidence and logic supporting each position. They keep in mind that the issue is complex and they need to know both sides to write a good report.
4. Reverse Perspectives: The pairs reverse perspectives and present each other's positions. In arguing for the opposing position, students are forceful and persuasive. They add any new information that the opposing pair did not think to present. They strive to see the issue from both perspectives simultaneously.
5. Synthesize And Integrate The Best Evidence And Reasoning Into A Joint Position: The four group members drop all advocacy and synthesize and integrate what they know into a joint position to which all sides can agree. They (a) finalize the report (the teacher evaluates reports on the quality of the writing, the logical presentation of evidence, and the oral presentation of the report to the class), (b) present their conclusions to the class (all four members of the group are required to participate orally in the presentation), (c) individually take the test covering both sides of the issue (if every member of the group achieves up to criterion, they all receive bonus points), and (d) process how well they worked together and how they could be even more effective next time.
As Thomas Jefferson noted, "Difference of opinion leads to inquiry, and inquiry to truth." Over the past thirty years we have conducted over twenty-five research studies on the impact of academic controversy and numerous other researchers have conducted studies directly on controversy and in related areas (Johnson & Johnson, 1989, 1995c). The considerable research available indicates that intellectual "disputed passages" create higher achievement (characterized by higher achievement, longer retention, more frequent use of higher-level reasoning and metacognitive thought, more critical thinking, greater creativity, and continuing motivation to learn), more positive interpersonal relationships, and greater psychological health when they (a) occur within cooperative learning groups and (b) are carefully structured to ensure that students manage them constructively (Johnson & Johnson, 1989, 1995c). Engaging in a controversy can also be fun, enjoyable, and exciting. Two of the most important aspects for constructive learning environments, however, are (a) the emphasis on viewing the issue from both perspectives and (b) learning that conflicts can have positive outcomes when people listen to each other and work cooperatively to reach solutions.
Conflict Resolution Training
Conflict resolution and peer mediation programs have their roots in four sources (Johnson & Johnson, 1995a): Researchers in the field of conflict resolution, advocates of nonviolence, anti-nuclear war activists, and members of the legal profession. The research-based peer mediation programs began in the 1960s with the Teaching Students To Be Peacemakers Program (Johnson & R. Johnson, 1995a, 1995b). It was derived from social interdependence theory (Deutsch, 1949; Lewin, 1951; Johnson & Johnson, 1989) and focused on teaching all students in a school the nature of conflict, how to use an integrative negotiation procedure, and how to mediate peer conflicts. All students then take turns in being a class and school mediator. A similar program was initiated by Morton Deutsch in the 1990s (Deutsch, 1992).
The nonviolence advocates, represented primarily by the Quaker Church, began a conflict resolution program in 1972 when Priscilla Prutzman directed a Quaker Educational project in New York City to teach nonviolence to children known as the Children's Creative Response to Conflict. They teach all students that the power of nonviolence lies in justice, caring, and personal integrity. The anti-nuclear war activists are represented by the Educators for Social Responsibility who in 1985 began the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program. The program includes (a) a ten-unit curriculum with lessons on intergroup relations, cooperative learning, and dispute resolution procedures, and (b) 20 hours of training in how to be a peer mediator. Finally, the legal profession became involved in President Carter's Neighborhood Justice Centers and in the 1980s, Helena Davis wrote a conflict manager curriculum for training a cadre of peer mediators in elementary schools that was later extended and modified by Gail Sadalla. The training lasted for two days and focused on the role of mediator and basic communication skills. The program is known as the San Francisco Community Boards Conflict Managers Program.
Problem-Solving Negotiations
Intellectual conflicts are not the only conflicts that occur within a community and must be resolved constructively. There are conflicts based on individuals' differing interests within a situation. Conflict of interests exist when the actions of one person attempting to maximize his or her wants and benefits prevents, blocks, or interferes with another person maximizing his or her wants and benefits. Such conflicts are ideally resolved through problem-solving (integrative) negotiation. When negotiation does not work, then mediation is required.
All members of the school community need to know how to negotiate constructive resolutions to their conflicts. There are two types of negotiations: distributive or "win-lose" (where one person benefits only if the opponent agrees to make a concession) and integrative or problem solving (where disputants work together to create an agreement that benefits everyone involved). In ongoing relationships, only a problem solving approach to negotiations is constructive. The steps in using problem solving negotiations are (Johnson & Johnson, 1995a, 1995b):
1. Describing what you want. "I want to use the book now." This includes using good communication skills and defining the conflict as a small and specific mutual problem.
2. Describing how you feel. "I'm frustrated." Disputants must understand how they feel and communicate it openly and clearly.
3. Describing the reasons for your wants and feelings. "You have been using the book for the past hour. If I don't get to use the book soon my report will not be done on time. It's frustrating to have to wait so long." This includes expressing cooperative intentions, listening carefully, separating interests from positions, and differentiating before trying to integrate the two sets of interests.
4. Taking the other's perspective and summarizing your understanding of what the other person wants, how the other person feels, and the reasons underlying both. "My understanding of you is..." This includes understanding the perspective of the opposing disputant and being able to see the problem from both perspectives simultaneously.
5. Inventing three optional plans to resolve the conflict that maximize joint benefits. "Plan A is..., Plan B is..., Plan C is..." This includes inventing creative options to solve the problem.
6. Choosing one and formalizing the agreement with a hand shake. "Let's agree on Plan B!" A wise agreement is fair to all disputants and is based on principles. It maximizes joint benefits and strengthens disputants' ability to work together cooperatively and resolve conflicts constructively in the future. It specifies how each disputant should act in the future and how the agreement will be reviewed and renegotiated if it does not work.
Peer Mediation
Once the problem-solving negotiation procedure is learned, all members of the school community need to learn how to mediate conflicts of interests (Johnson & Johnson, 1995a, 1995b). A mediator is a neutral person who helps two or more people resolve their conflict, usually by negotiating an integrative agreement. Mediation is not arbitration. Arbitration is the submission of a dispute to a disinterested third party (such as a teacher or principal) who makes a final and binding judgment as to how the conflict will be resolved. Mediation consists of four steps (Johnson & Johnson, 1995a, 1995b):
1. Ending hostilities: Break up hostile encounters and cool off students.
2. Ensuring disputants are committed to the mediation process: To ensure that disputants are committed to the mediation process and are ready to negotiate in good faith, the mediator introduces the process of mediation and sets the ground rules. The mediator first introduces him- or herself. The mediator asks students if they want to solve the problem and does not proceed until both answer "yes." Then the mediator explains:
a. "Mediation is voluntary. My role is to help you find a solution to your conflict that is acceptable to both of you."
b. "I am neutral. I will not take sides or attempt to decide who is right or wrong. I will help you decide how to solve the conflict."
c. "Each person will have the chance to state his or her view of the conflict without interruption."
d. "The rules you must agree to are (1) agree to solve the problem, (2) no name calling, (3) do not interrupt, (4) be as honest as you can, (5) if you agree to a solution, you must abide by it (you must do what you have agreed to do) and (6) anything said in mediation is confidential (you, the mediator, will not tell anyone what is said)."
3. Helping disputants successfully negotiate with each other: The disputants are carefully taken through the negotiation sequence of (a) jointly defining the conflict by both persons stating what they want and how they feel, (b) exchanging reasons, (c) reversing perspectives so that each person is able to present the other's position and feelings to the other's satisfaction, (d) inventing at least three options for mutual benefit, and (e) reaching a wise agreement and shaking hands.
4. Formalizing the agreement: The agreement is solidified into a contract. Disputants must agree to abide by their final decision and, in many ways, the mediator becomes "the keeper of the contract."
Once students understand how to negotiate and mediate, the peacemaker program is implemented. Each day the teacher selects two class members to serve as official mediators. Any conflicts students cannot resolve themselves are referred to the mediators. The mediators wear official T-shirts, patrol the playground and lunchroom, and are available to mediate any conflicts that occur in the classroom or school. An example is as follows.
During lunch on the playground, a ball rolls out of bounds during a lively game of soccer. A cluster of students walking by laugh as one of them kicks the ball away from the player trying to retrieve it. An argument ensures. A pair of peer mediators with clipboards in hand quickly approach the two disputants. "Would you like some help resolving your conflict?" So begins the mediation process through which the disputants arrive at a mutually agreeable solution that makes both happy. They shake hands as friends and return to their activities while the peer mediators make a note of the resolution, then continue to be available for other schoolmates who may need help resolving conflicts.
The role of mediator is rotated so that all students in the class or school serve as mediators an equal amount of time. Initially, students mediate in pairs. This ensures that shy or nonverbal students get the same amount of experience as more extroverted and verbally fluent students. Mediating classmates' conflicts is perhaps the most effective way of teaching students the need for the skillful use of each step of the negotiation procedure.
If peer mediation fails, the teacher mediates the conflict. If teacher mediation fails, the teacher arbitrates by deciding who is right and who is wrong. If that fails, the principal mediates the conflict. If that fails, the principal arbitrates. Teaching all students to mediate properly results in a schoolwide discipline program where students are empowered to regulate and control their own and their classmates actions. Teachers and administrators are then freed to spend more of their energies on instruction.
Continuing Lessons To Refine and Upgrade Students' Skills
Additional lessons are needed to refine and upgrade students' skills in using the negotiation and mediation procedures. Gaining real expertise in resolving conflicts constructively takes years of training and practice. A few hours of training is clearly insufficient. Negotiation and mediation training may become part of the fabric of school life by integrating them into academic lessons. Literature, history, and science units typically involve conflict. Almost any lesson in these subject areas can be modified to include role playing situations in which the negotiation and/or mediation procedures are used. In our recent research, for example, we have focused on integrating the peacemaker training into history units and English literature units involving the studying of a novel. Each of the major conflicts in the novel was used to teach the negotiation and/or mediation procedures and students participated in role playing how to use the procedures to resolve the conflicts in the novel constructively.
Spiral Curriculum From the First Through the Twelfth Grades
The Teaching Students to be Peacemakers Program is a 12-year spiral program that is retaught each year in an increasingly sophisticated and complex way. It takes years to become competent in resolving conflicts. Twelve years of training and practice will result in a person with considerable expertise in resolving conflicts constructively.
Benefits Of Conflict Resolution And Peer Mediation Programs
We have conducted fourteen studies on implementing the Peacemaker
Program in schools involving students from kindergarten through
the tenth-grade and several other researchers have conducted
relevant studies (Johnson & Johnson, 1995a, 1996). The benefits
of teaching students the problem-solving negotiation and the
peer mediation procedures are as follows.
First, students and faculty tended to develop a shared understanding of how conflicts should be managed and a common vocabulary to discuss conflicts. Second, students tended to learn the negotiation and mediation procedures, retain their knowledge throughout the school year and into the following year, apply the procedures to their and other people's conflicts, transfer the procedures to nonclassroom settings such as the playground and lunchroom, transfer the procedures to nonschool settings such as the home, use the procedures similarly in family and school settings, and (when given the option) engage in problem-solving rather than win-lose negotiations. Third, students' attitudes toward conflict tended to became more positive. Students learned to view conflicts as potentially positive and faculty and parents viewed the conflict training as constructive and helpful. Fourth, students tended to resolve their conflicts without the involvement of faculty and administrators. A teacher states:
"It's so great to be able to say, "These people are having a conflict; is there someone who can help them resolve it?" Twenty hands go up and everybody wants to help them. And I choose someone and say, "All right, take these people back to the mediation table and solve the conflict and let me know how it goes." Sometimes it will take 2 minutes and sometimes it will take 15 minutes. As a teacher, I respect so much and appreciate immensely, that students can do that for themselves. It enables everybody in the class, including me, to focus on what we're learning."
Classroom management problems, in other words, tended to be significantly reduced. The number of discipline problems teachers have to deal with decreased by about 60 percent and referrals to administrators dropped about 90 percent. Faculty and administrators no longer had to arbitrate conflicts among students; instead they spend their time maintaining and supporting the peer mediation process. A teacher commented, "Classroom management problems are nil as far as I'm concerned. We don't do a lot of disciplining per se. A lot of times, when a conflict occurs on the playground, they resolve it there and do not bring it back to the classroom. So there is a lot less I have to deal with in the classroom."
Fifth, the conflict resolution procedures tended to enhance the basic values of the classroom and school. A teacher who emphasizes the value of "respect" states, "The procedures are a very respectful way to resolve conflicts. There's a calmness in the classroom because the students know the negotiation and mediation procedures." Sixth, students generally liked to engage in the procedures. A teacher states, "They never refuse to negotiate or mediate. When there's a conflict and you say it's time for conflict resolution, you never have either one say I won't do it. There are no refusals."
Finally, when integrated into academic units, the conflict resolution training tended to increase academic achievement and long-term retention of the academic material. Academic units, especially in subject areas such as literature and history, provide a setting to understand conflicts, practice how to resolve them, and use them to gain insight into the material being studied.
The Third C: Civic Values
"Students are sitting in a circle on the carpet. A class meeting is in progress. Today the issue is respect. One of the students risked telling her classmates that she felt hurt during recess the day before because she was trying to tell kids the rules to a new game, but nobody would listen. So began a discussion on what it means to be respectful, why that is important, and the sharing of everyone's personal experiences of times they felt respected versus not respected."
Some historians claim that the decline and fall of Rome was set in motion by corruption from within rather than by conquest from without. Rome fell, it can be argued, because Romans lost their civic virtue. Civic virtue exists when individuals meet both the letter and spirit of their public obligations. For a community to exist and be sustained, members must share common goals and values aimed at increasing the quality of life within the community. No one should be surprised that in a community where competitive and individualistic values are taught, people will behave in accordance with such values. When that happens in a society, for example, people may stop obeying the law. Running stoplights may become a common occurrence as the individualist thinks it is rational to do so as he or she will arrive at the destination sooner. If someone is killed, it will be a pedestrian, not the driver. But each of us is at some time a pedestrian. Community cannot be maintained unless members value others and the community as a whole, as well as themselves.
There are a wide variety of programs to teach students values (Kohn, 1997). Some of these programs focus on listing values that should be taught and others on developing student character. Both approaches tend to be collections of exhortations and extrinsic inducements designed to make children work harder and do what they are told. Students are often drilled in specific behaviors rather than engaged in discussions that require reflection on how one should live. Kohn criticizes these approaches and concludes that a more generic approach is needed that (a) focuses on the overall organizational structure of the school, (b) assumes a positive view of human nature, (c) aims at developing individuals who are active advocates for democracy and social justice, (d) instills values (beyond selfishness) aimed at improving the quality of life for all societal members and the common good, and (e) utilizes cooperative learning as the primary means of instruction.
Positive development of students requires that all members of the school community adopt a set of civic values (Johnson & Johnson, 1996b, in press). To create the common culture that defines a community, there must be common goals and shared values that help define appropriate behavior. A learning community cannot exist in schools dominated by (a) competition where students are taught to value striving for their personal success at the expense of others or (b) individualistic efforts where students value only their own self-interests. Rather, students need to internalize values underlying cooperation and integrative negotiations, such as commitment to the common good and to the well being of other members, a sense of responsibility to contribute one's fair share of the work, respect for the efforts of others and for them as people, behaving with integrity, caring for other members, compassion when other members are in need, and appreciation of diversity. Such civic values both underlie and are promoted by the cooperation and constructive conflict resolution that take place in the school.
Membership in a community requires the adoption of the community's values. The community's values may be taught through direct instruction, modeling and identification, the enactment of assigned and voluntary roles, group influences, and the hidden curriculum existing in the pattern and flow of daily school life (Johnson & F. Johnson, 1997). First, the core values can be directly taught by placing them in the school's mission statement, posting them in every classroom, having lessons defining them and giving examples and how they may be expressed in interactions with other people, role playing how to put them into action, pointing out instances where a student demonstrated the values, pointing out models to be imitated, and integrating them into the curriculum. Children's literature may be used to teach values. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson may be used to focus attention on compassion and The River by Gary Paulson may be used to help students focus on responsibility. Class meetings provide a safe forum for talking about the values and how they affect student and faculty lives. Being clear about what is valued enables aligned choice-making throughout the curriculum-from instructional strategies, utilized to topics of study pursued, to instructional resources employed.
Second, faculty and administrators can teach students values through identification by (a) building positive, caring, supportive relationships with the students and (b) consistently modeling the values in interactions with the students. In its simplest form, identification occurs when a student tries to be like someone (an adult, older student, or mythical figure) that the student likes or admires; a person usually perceived as resourceful, powerful, or competent. A student can admire a teacher's scholarship, for example, and strive to become a scholar, or a student can see a teacher behaving honestly and decide to do likewise.
Third, values may be taught by assigning students social roles. A social role is a set of expectations (containing rights and responsibilities) aimed at structuring interactions within a reciprocal relationship. In school, students learn the roles of "student" as well as other roles such as "American," "citizen," "collaborator," and "mediator."
Fourth, individuals adopt the values of their reference groups. Reference groups are the groups to which individuals believe they belong or to which they aspire to belong (Johnson & F. Johnson, 1997). Individuals accept a system of values, attitudes, and behavioral patterns when they accept membership in a new group. The discussion and consensual validation that take place within a group result in personal commitments to adopt the values. Values are not inculcated by focusing on each individual separately, but rather by emphasizing membership in a group (or community) that holds the desired values. By adopting the school community as a reference group, students will adopt its civic values.
Fifth, the value systems underlying competitive, individualistic, and cooperative situations are a hidden curriculum beneath the surface of school life. Whenever students engage in competitive efforts, for example, they learn the values of (a) commitment to getting more than others (there is a built-in concern that one is smarter, faster, stronger, more competent, and more successful than others so that one will win and others will lose), (b) success depends on beating, defeating, and getting more than other people (triumphing over others and being "Number One" are valued), (c) what is important is winning, not mastery or excellence, (d) opposing, obstructing, and sabotaging the success of others is a natural way of life (winning depends on a good offense--doing better than others--and a good defense--not letting anyone do better than you), (e) feeling joy and pride in one's wins and others' losses (the pleasure of winning is associated with others' disappointment with losing), (f) others are a threat to one's success, (g) a person's worth (own and others) is conditional and contingent on his or her "wins," (a person's worth is never fixed, it depends on the latest victory), (h) winning, not learning, is the goal of academic work, and (i) people who are different are to be either feared (if they have an advantage) or held in contempt (if they have a handicap).
The values inherently taught by individualistic experiences are (a) commitment to one's own self-interest (only personal success is viewed as important, others' success is irrelevant), (b) success depends on one's own efforts, (c) the pleasure of succeeding is personal and relevant to only oneself, (d) other people are irrelevant, (e) self-worth is based on a unidimensional view that the characteristics that help the person succeed are valued (in school that is primarily reading and math ability), (f) extrinsic motivation to gain rewards for achieving up to criteria is valued, and (g) similar people are liked and dissimilar people are disliked.
The values inherently taught by cooperative efforts are (a) commitment to own and others' success and well-being as well as to the common good, (b) success depends on joint efforts to achieve mutual goals, (c) facilitating, promoting, and encouraging the success of others is a natural way of life (a smart cooperator will always find ways to promote, facilitate, and encourage the efforts of others), (d) the pleasure of succeeding is associated with others' happiness in their success, (e) other people are potential contributors to one's success, (f) own and other people's worth is unconditional (because there are so many diverse ways that a person may contribute to a joint effort, everyone has value all the time), (g) intrinsic motivation based on striving to learn, grow, develop, and succeed is valued (learning is the goal, not winning), (h) people who are different from oneself are to be valued as they can make unique contributions to the joint effort.
Sixth, the value systems underlying problem-solving negotiations and mediation situations are a hidden curriculum beneath the surface of school life. Constructive conflict resolution promotes the values of subjecting one's conclusions to intellectual challenge, viewing issues from all perspectives, reaching agreements that are satisfying to all disputants, and maintaining effective and caring long-term relationships. In other words, constructive conflict resolution inherently teaches a set of civic values aimed at ensuring the fruitful continuation of the community.
Benefits of Civic Values Program
There are too many developmental and personal benefits from learning civic values to detail all of them here. At the personal level, civic values provide the internal gyroscope each child and youth needs to guide his or her behavior. It ensures that each individual becomes inner-directed (as opposed to other-directed) and has the inner principles needed to regulate their behavior. At the school management level, teaching civic values takes the guesswork out of knowing what the school stands for. The values guide decision making about the curriculum, instruction, and resources. They provide a standard for making selections of curriculum materials. The values provide a structure for faculty and staff to talk to parents, students, visitors, and each other about what is important and why.
Evaluation of Effectiveness
There are numerous articles reporting claims about the impact of programs aimed at providing a safe educational environment and enhancing the positive development of children and adolescents. The articles tend to provide (a) purely descriptive, anecdotal accounts of the programs' impact on various dependent and (b) descriptions of curriculum design and guidelines. Broad claims are presented but not supported by actual research data. Anecdotal reports are inspiring, but do not illuminate what programs are doing, how they are doing it, and how broadly their effects can be generalized. Most programs, furthermore, are atheoretical; they are based more on practical experience and brainstorming than on The Three Cs Program is something of an exception. It is directly based on social interdependence and conflict theories. There is a great deal of research on cooperation (Johnson & Johnson, 1989) and considerable research on the effectiveness of the controversy (Johnson & Johnson, 1995c) and the peacemaker (Johnson & Johnson, 1995a, 1997) programs. There is almost no valid or reliable evidence concerning the effectiveness of any values programs. The Three Cs Program is, therefore, the best researched and substantiated
Recommendations
For schools and communities trying to promote positive youth outcomes, there are recommendations that they may wish to follow.
1. Structure the majority of learning activities cooperatively. This is the most significant influence on positive development.
2. Minimize the use of competitive and individualistic situations.
3. Hold regular class meetings in which students discuss issues, plan for improvements, decide on changes, and reflect on the quality of classroom life.
4. Provide explicit opportunities for students to take each other's perspective and to practice "perspective-taking."
5. Provide continuous opportunities for students to build
positive, caring relationships with each other in which there
are high levels of candor and personal interaction.
6. Regularly engage all students in academic controversies.
7. Teach all students how to engage in problem-solving negotiations and mediate their schoolmates' conflicts.
7. Use academic subject matter (such as literature and history) to teach controversy and peace making (conflict resolution) skills and civic values. Role plays and discussions should be open ended rather than didactic.
9. Provide opportunities for students to behave in ways that support the values being taught. Students, for example, should have the opportunity to tell the truth; opportunities to lie should be minimized.
10. Structure cooperation at the class and school levels. Schools should be learning communities in which students care about each other and are committed to each other's success.
11. Structure cooperation between the school and the parents and neighborhood. Students should have the opportunity to use their teamwork and conflict resolution skills and to express their values in settings beyond the school.
12. Faculty and staff should model cooperation, constructive conflict resolution, and expression of civic values. In doing so they make salient and nurture a concern for others, understanding the effects of one's behavior on others, and having the courage to face moral challenges.
Summary
Schools can create constructive learning environments that enhance positive development of children and youth based on a cooperative community, constructive conflict resolution, and civic values. To establish a learning community, cooperation must be carefully structured at all levels in the school. To maintain the learning community, constructive conflict resolution procedures must be taught to all members of the school. To guide and direct the cooperation and constructive conflict resolution, civic values must be inculcated in all school members. Together the Three Cs are a complete program for creating effective and nurturing schools where children and youth develop in positive and healthy ways.
References
Deutsch, M. (1949). A theory of cooperation and competition. Human Relations, 2, 129-152.
Deutsch, M. (1973). The resolution of conflict. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Johnson D. W., & Johnson, F. (1997). Joining together: Group theory and group skills (6th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1979). Conflict in the classroom: Controversy and learning. Review of Educational Research, 49, 51-61.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1989). Cooperation and competition: Theory and research. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1994). Leading the cooperative school (2nd ed.). Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1995a). Teaching students to be peacemakers (3rd ed.). Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1995b). My mediation notebook (3rd ed.). Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1995c). Creative controversy: Intellectual challenge in the classroom (3rd ed.). Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1995e). Teaching students to be peacemakers: Results of five years of research. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 1(4), 417-438.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1996a). Conflict resolution and peer mediation programs in elementary and secondary schools: A review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 66(4), 459-506.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1996b). Cooperative learning and traditional American values. NASSP Bulletin, 80(579), 11-18.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (in press). Cooperative learning, values, and culturally plural classrooms. In Leicester, M., Modgill, C., & Modgil, S. (Eds.). (1998). Values, the Classroom, and Cultural Diversity. London: Cassell PLC.
Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R., & Holubec, E. (1998a). Cooperation in the classroom (6th ed.). Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.
Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R., & Holubec, E. (1998b). Advanced cooperative learning (3rd ed.). Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.
Kohn, A. (1997, February). How not to teach values. Phi Delta Kappan, 429-440.
Snow, M. (1997, March 6). Mindworks: Disbehavior. Minneapolis Tribune, Section E, 1-2, 14.
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