Cooperative Learning and Strategies for Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity in the Classroom.

Rapidly changing demographics, low student achievement and increasing diversity in the classroom pose daunting challenges to educators. This book, the first in a series entitled Children, Youth, & Change: Sociocultural Perspectives, is based on the premise that all children of different abilities and backgrounds can benefit academically and socially from cooperative learning techniques used in a Single, inclusive classroom. Culturally diverse students are of "varying cognitive abilities, developmental and learning disabilities, sensory impairments and different cultural, linguistic and socioeconomic backgrounds." Unlike traditional classrooms, where competition and conformity serve to isolate students with special needs, inclusive classrooms encourage students to recognize each other's differences and support one another. The challenge lies in teaching all students the social skills needed to benefit from inclusive classrooms. This volume addresses the needs of general educators.

In the first two chapters, the authors provide a rationale for inclusive classrooms and a description of cooperative learning principles and approaches. Chapters 3 and 4 describe instructional adaptations for including students with disabilities in cooperative groups and the need to redefine the role of the special educator as a member of a cooperative education team. Chapters 5 and 7 describe strategies for meeting students' needs while establishing fairness in the regular classroom and using cooperative learning for developing caring communities in culturally diverse classrooms. Chapter 7 provides sample activities used by one classroom teacher to get her culturally diverse middle school students to accept and value their differences. Chapter 6 focuses on using cooperative learning to promote young children's social and cognitive development. The final chapter describes innovative classroom programs for full inclusion. Each chapter has an extensive bibliography.

Surprisingly, the book glosses over the issue of how to include recent immigrants and ESL students in the learning process. Many of the approaches described in the book could work well for this growing portion of the classroom population.

This book is based on a statewide staff development project and strikes an effective balance between theory and practice as a result of field experiences included in the book. Case studies, sample learning activities and teacher planning guides help make the book a worth-while contribution to the topic of inclusive classrooms.

Reviewed by Lorraine Valdez Pierce, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA