http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/12/19/group_iq/
The Sloan School at MIT has a "striking" report on a study of how groups work together successfully. Carolyn Johnson of The Globe is reporting on the study here (I want to read the report itself), but the gist of it is that the study looks at the collective intelligence of groups, not the same thing as intelligence within a group's membership.

http://wacenter.evergreen.edu/docs/JLCRarticleGMandEL.pdf

As a large scale project for examining what kinds of learning takes place within learning communities on college campuses (aka why, how, and under what assignment "conditions" they work well), this report provides a tool for assessment and design of those interdisciplinary course pairings. It does not include a section on evaluation of the project itself. I found a few ideas relevant to my CCT project in this.

http://regionalchange.ucdavis.edu/publications/2010%20Fully%20Engaged%20201005010-page4.pdf

This is a very brief overview with images that speaks in a large away about participatory action research. What strikes me is the range of folks who work together. In this case, conditions and land use impacts the region - do we think abut the future and others often and deeply enough when we plan developments?

I live in a town where a landfill was capped. A furniture retail giant built on top of the cap. The building is grotesque (opinion) and built specifically for this retailer's use. What happens in 20 or 30 years when this company goes belly up? Will we have an empty, dated, monster building that cannot be readily renovated or demolished due to its precarious position?

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2010/11/27/iceland_turns_to_ordinary_people_to_draft_a_new_constitution/

This is a brief report from the AP news syndicate that tells of an exciting experiment happening in Iceland. It puts forth a quick view of the situation that prompted the decision to take action and what we might expect to see come out of it. Rewriting a constitution for a nation is a bold move. One concern is the interpretation of what brought the nation to its heels - if Iceland's economy was hurt, was it due to the existing power structures or what has been happening globally? In other words, how might the new constitution better protect Iceland in the future (and is the concern really just around money?)

Constituency building?

In today's Globe, Robert Gavin summarizes work done by a pair of researchers at UMass/Amherst. The work brings to light potential conflicts of interest or unreported influence that investing in the market itself may have on those reporting on the economy as experts, thus clouding their objectivity. The article is followed by a brief interview. I wonder if developing like mindedness through profits is a passive form of "constituency building."

Sidebar: I feel there is a loose parallel to the Bush-McGraw-Pearson story. If experts create a situation to be addressed, others may benefit from the attempts to change the situation, only for the economists, they failed to see clearly. Not so long ago, much pressure was put on the lending industry, by governments and others, to open up the mortgage market to higher-risk groups. That practice ensured a glut of bad loans that we are living with now.

This is a brief report on an Action Research project that spans three years. It includes some student samples and reports positive outcomes. An interdisciplinary team of 4 worked to infuse critical thinking development into curriculum.

http://www.nefstem.org/project/final_reports/Badillo.pdf

This is an action research project report from and educator who was concerned about group domination by the more skilled student. It speaks to the ways we arrange groups, manage them, and perhaps fail to set clear roles for group members. This researchers response was to create more homogeneous with regard to level of math success or comfort. The results showed some improvement in some areas, but may have failed to consider a more global issue of group dynamics. It raises concern for me that heterogeneous grouping might be seen as a less efficient way to mastery of content.