This paper reports on a third grade elementary school math class in which children were allowed to freely interact with each other. Through comparison of this class and two other classes where students were not allowed to interact freely, the researchers found that students in the former showed greater academic improvement than they did in the latter. In particular, students who were having trouble with the subject matter showed significant improvement. Children in the class that allowed free interaction also showed improvement in the quantity and quality of their interactions with other students. Furthermore, they were seen to give timely support to their peers. We believe that these factors had a positive impact on the academic improvement witnessed. It is believed that the introduction of free interaction into the classroom is an effective way of tailoring lessons to meet individual needs.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of grouping on Learning Through Discussion (LTD.). LTD was utilized in basic seminars in a junior college at the freshmen level. Forty junior college students were divided into two groups, a mixed group and a homogenous one. The former consisted of both students who rated themselves highly on discussion skills and of those who rated themselves poorly on the same skills. The latter consisted of two smaller homogenous groups, one of only students who ranked themselves highly and one of only students who ranked themselves poorly. After each seminar, students in the mixed group and homogenous groups were asked to evaluate their degree of satisfaction with the seminar, their mastery of the topic, and their sense of contribution to the discussion. They were also asked to provide a self-evaluation of discussion skills in the first and the final seminars. Results showed that students in the homogenous groups evaluated themselves higher than those of the mixed group in the first half of the seminar. Based on these results, it is suggested that homogenous grouping was effective at the introductory level when using LTD.

The article overviews possibilities of “Cooperation in Education” within university EFL programs in Japan and assumes some challenges the teachers would face. “Cooperation in Education” focuses on group autonomies and it needs learners' full participation, so that it can develop students' social skills as well as communication skills. In addition, the concept of “Cooperation in Education” respects learners' diversity and its introduction to the EFL programs in Japan will benefit learners and teachers in various ways. The author assumes that some challenges teachers might face exist: i. grouping of students, ii. classroom layouts, iii. development of suitable materials and resources for “Cooperation in Education”, iv. evaluation of students' achievements, v. teacher training. In the future, teachers and researchers in Japan who aim for “Cooperation in Education” should make collaborative efforts in material/program developments, and research and studies, based on the actual situation in Japan, and then share findings.