The authors of this volume define cooperative learning as "principles and techniques for helping students work together more effectively." Teachers of every level will find this book full of useful ideas on how the power of student-student cooperation can enliven their classrooms.

The authors share eight key principles of creating effective and efficient cooperative learning (CL), along with a variety of CL techniques and examples of how to use them. Research has shown that by participating in CL, students can benefit in the following areas (supporting research is described in the Resources):

- Improved academic achievement

- More active involvement in learning by students regardless of past achievement level or individual learning needs

- Increased student responsibility for their own learning

- Improved collaborative skills

- Improved student attitudes toward learning, school, peers, and self

- Greater opportunities for the teacher to observe and assess student learning

At the same time teachers are learning a new way to teach, students are learning a new way to learn - along with the content being taught. Just as students can learn better when working with peers, so too can teachers; the benefits of teachers working together with colleagues are also described.