Abstract
Although, as human beings, we do not derive all our attitudes, beliefs, and values from empirical evidence, we do try, as social scientists, to conduct our research and interpret our results as objectively as we can. Despite our best efforts, however, I would like to suggest that some assumptions are so basic to a particular culture or subculture and so pervasive that we let them shape both theory and research, with only minimal acknowledgment or awareness of their influence. In this chapter, I would like to explore the notion that research on the use of cooperative classroom groups as a strategy to facilitate positive interethnic relations has been profoundly affected by the two ideologies that have dominated North American thought on this issue: the melting pot and the mosaic—or, more prosaically, assimilation and pluralism.
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Towson, S. (1985). Melting Pot or Mosaic. In: Slavin, R., Sharan, S., Kagan, S., Hertz-Lazarowitz, R., Webb, C., Schmuck, R. (eds) Learning to Cooperate, Cooperating to Learn. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3650-9_10
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