Communicative skills develop when there's something meaningful for children to communicate about-when they are taking an active role.

In cooperative learning, you have a purposeful, meaningful, and authentic context in which children can sharpen their communicative skills.

Provide lots of opportunities for children's natural curiosity to manifest itself. With very young children, our role is one of supporter and guide.

In both cooperative learning and project work, the teacher encourages children to talk to one another. This helps them pay attention to each other's efforts and ideas. Children take to these kinds of exchanges very readily, but the teacher really needs to encourage this interaction.

Children involved in project work are encouraged to serve the group needs and share responsibility for what's accomplished.

Young children are unlikely to have their self-esteem strengthened from excessive praise or flattery. On the contrary, it may raise some doubts in children; many children can see through flattery and may even dismiss an adult who heaps on praise as a poor source of support-one who is not very believable.

All children, are born with the disposition to make sense of their experiences.