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This study examines the motivational factors of Jewish and Arab parental involvement (PI) in a multicultural city in Israel. Participants were 473 individuals comprised of 54.6% Jewish and 45.5% Arab parents of primary school children. Findings indicate that Jewish and Arab parents most often become involved at home as a result of their children's invitation. Arab parents show higher involvement in school and the community than Jewish parents. We will elaborate on the cultural differences that affect the motivational factors of Jewish and Arab parents to become involved in their children's education.

During the last decade we conducted a set of studies following our methodology developed for the analysis of drawings to assess identity. We gathered interviews and asked for Identity Drawing Maps IDM from 184 students aged 20-30 years. This study is based on qualitative analysis of eight IDMs representing the main groups in the Israeli society: Arabs; Christian, Muslim, Druze and Jews (2 maps for each group). We aim to examine the way in which students from different background use hyphenated identities and express messages of peace and co-existence. The findings give some hope that despite the ongoing conflict, Students from different cultural, national and religious backgrounds wish to live in pluralistic society that respects all the members and encourages values of equality, partnership and co-existence.

High school science curricula of the 21st century have to include science-technology content and pedagogical content knowledge in a continuous interaction in order to be relevant to students’ needs. Learning units, including science, technology and related societal issues written on the Science, Technology and Society (STS), approach have to use teaching/learning strategies, and learning settings, such as cooperative learning in small groups, individual learning and computer episodes, so students will acquire science-technology literacy connected to societal issues. This approach may provide integration and participation in the advance society, so students will be able to look and find a job based on their learning. Dreyfus (1995) emphasized the importance of moral and ethics education. Science knowledge is not only for academic achievement and mastery of cognitive and meta-cognitive skills, but to educate students on the affective domain being active in the community life based on moral and ethical values, and positive attitudes toward societal issues, like social justice. Preservation of the environment and peace, as other values are addressed in the learning units presented.

The present research examined the effect of nature of orthography on the development of reading acquisition among children acquiring Arabic and Hebrew. Speed and accuracy measures were examined in reading texts in Arabic and in Hebrew. It was found that Arabic speakers showed an almost equal control in reading both languages. Furthermore, it was found that the speed of read- ing texts in Arabic among Arabic speakers was 3 times slower than reading Hebrew texts among Hebrew readers. These findings confirm that there is difficulty in identifying and decoding visual stimuli in Arabic. Furthermore, findings of the present research paper emphasizes that reading in Hebrew is faster and more precise than reading in Arabic, beyond mother tongue groups (Arab and Hebrew speakers). In addition, Hebrew readers showed a significant difference in reading in favor of reading in their mother tongue (both in accuracy and speed). In conclusion, findings of the present research suggest that there is an objective difficulty in acquiring reading of the Arabic language, and there is need for systematic intervention among those who face difficulties in the learning process.

In 2008, we conducted a large scale study following our methodology developed for the analysis of drawings to assess identity (Hertz-Lazarowitz, Farah, & Yosef-Meitav, 2012). We gathered interviews and asked for drawing Identity Drawing Map from 184 students aged from 20-30 years. The symbols in the drawings were grouped in 5 categories: religious, national, emotional, secular-cultural and nature and person figure symbols. The most frequent symbols were related to the nature and person figure category, and the least frequent were symbols from the secular-cultural category. The symbol categories with most indicative of identity conflicts were religious and national. The Arabs had more conflicted and complex IDM messages than Jews and the evaluation of their emotions were less positive and less optimistic than the Jews. The IDM methodology revealed the complex and multi-layered expression of identity construction. These findings can provide better understanding into the mechanism of identity construction in a society and the University context which has been conflict ridden for many decades.

The theory of “Hyphenated identity” (HI) argues that people living in complex political-social contexts construct HIs with various sub-identities. The University of Haifa (UH) is a meeting space and experience for people of different nationalities and religious backgrounds. Thus they live “on the hyphen”, between identities found in contrast vs. harmony. This study was initiated and carried out as part of a Cooperative Participatory Action Research (CPAR). Nineteen graduate students, all teachers in a multicultural society ridden with conflicts, were interviewed about their life stories, their family background and the development of their identity as shaping their personal and professional lives. At the end of the interview, they were asked to draw an Identity Drawing Map (IDM) and add an explanatory text. Finding indicated that many women transferred their complex identity in order to create a balanced and a challenge in their life; they became leaders in their communities and empower other women to follow them toward self actualization. The study’s contribution is in broadening the understanding of concepts of HI development, by analyzing the similarities and differences within each ethnic/national group. Since identity development influences significantly people life, we can learn about these processes. Using the creative methods of drawing identity fabricated a deeper understanding and emotional presentation of the person.

This study examines attitudes towards bilingual Jewish–Arab education among Jewish and Arab adults in Israel. The sample consisted of 1014 respondents who participated in a national phone survey in late 2006. Results indicate that Arabs are significantly more supportive of bilingual education in Israel than Jews. Positive attitudes regarding the importance and the status of Arabic, integration between Jews and Arabs and civil society were all predictive of positive attitudes towards bilingual education among Arab participants. The same variables, along with lower religiosity, predicted attitudes towards bilingual education among Jewish participants. Attitudes towards integration were the strongest predictors of attitudes towards bilingual education in both groups. Implications and limitations, as well as possible avenues for future research, are discussed.

This paper describes a long‐term research seminar, developed in 2001 by Hertz‐Lazarowitz at the University of Haifa (UH). The goal of the seminar was to involve students in a meaningful, experiential and cooperative–interactive learning environment, based on topics relevant to their development as individuals coming from diverse collectives to the university campus, and to prepare them for life in an increasingly multicultural society. The seminar was based on the principles of the Participative Action Research and Group Investigation methods. The researchers aimed to create a model of learning, teaching, and action to bring awareness and enable change within the university’s community, so that it could become a place of justice, equality, and recognition of the many cultural groups on campus. Since 2001, the Cooperative Participatory Action Research (CPAR) seminar has been offered to students through UH’s Department of Education. This paper describes the theoretical framework and the stages and structure...

PurposeFundamentally, the success of schools depends on first‐rate school leadership, on leaders reinforcing the teachers' willingness to adhere to the school's vision, creating a sense of purpose, binding them together and encouraging them to engage in continuous learning. Leadership, vision and organizational learning are considered to be the key to school improvement. However, systematic empirical evidence of a direct relationship between leadership, vision and organizational learning is limited. The present study aims to explore the influence of principals' leadership style on school organizational learning, using school vision as a mediator.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from 1,474 teachers at 104 elementary schools in northern Israel, and aggregated to the school level.FindingsMediating regression analysis demonstrated that the school vision was a significant predictor of school organizational learning and functioned as a partial mediator only between principals' transformational leadership style and school organizational learning. Moreover, the principals' transformational leadership style predicted school organizational vision and school organizational learning processes. In other words, school vision, as shaped by the principal and the staff, is a powerful motivator of the process of organizational learning in school.Research implications/limitationsThe research results have implications for the guidance of leadership practice, training, appraisal and professional development.Originality/valueThe paper explores the centrality of school vision and its effects on the achievement of the school's aims by means of organizational learning processes.

This paper explores the role that entrepreneurial leadership vision plays in the entrepreneurial process of nonprofit and for-profit ventures. The results indicate significant differences in the meaning of vision articulated for each type of venture. Differences between ventures were also found with regard to the relationship that vision has with the ventures' strategies and performance. In the nonprofit organizations vision was associated with a wide-range strategy as well as the ventures' performance and growth. In addition, wide-range strategy partially mediated the relationship between the ventures' vision and its performance and growth. In business enterprises, vision directly predicted only a differentiation strategy, which also mediated the relationship between vision and the ventures' performance and growth. In contrast, a wide-range strategy in these organizations actually reduced growth. These findings contribute both to the literature on vision as well as to the literature on entrepreneurship.

Under the Israeli language education policy, the mother tongue is learned first for several years, followed by a second language (English for Jews, Hebrew for Arabs) and then a third language (English for Arabs, Arabic/French for Jews). This type of limited bilingualism seems to suit the Israeli reality in the context of the Israeli–Arab conflict, the definition and perception of Israel as a Jewish–Zionist state and the complex Jewish–Arab relations within Israel. In 1997, the Hand in Hand Center for Jewish–Arab Education in Israel initiated a new model of Hebrew–Arabic bilingual education in Israel, assuming that direct contact between Arab and Jewish pupils would bring about far-reaching changes in the conflict-ridden Israeli society. Currently, three schools have adopted the new model. Several studies of the new model have provided rich information, mainly about educational, cultural and national issues. However, no systematic study has focused on the implementation of bilingual education in the school...

In this paper a conceptual model of instruction “the six mirrors of the classroom” used as a frame for teaching a learning topic, the microorganisms are depicted. The paper consists of four sections: (a) the six mirrors of the classroom model (SMC); (b) the SMC as implemented in the expository and cooperative modes of instruction in classrooms and results; (c) a “Journey of Inquiry into the Wonderful World of Microorganisms” (JIWWM), developed according to the Science–Technology–Environment–Peace–Society (STEPS) approach; and (d) teaching and learning the JIWWM, in ninth-grade classes, within the SMC model. The results show that science topic can be taught in the frame of the mirrors of the classroom. When the instructional goals of the teachers used the mirror “1, classroom organization” and mirror “6, pupils’ social behavior” and the third ring around the all six mirrors cooperative skills were practiced, academic outcomes were achieved, and attitudes toward environmental preservation and peace improved. The SMC model can serve as a valuable tool for teachers, since it can design their teaching and learning settings in a more controlled environment, in terms of objectives, teachers’ and students’ social behaviors, and academic outcomes.

A two-year (1998–2000) School–Family Partnership for Coexistence (SFPC) programme was implemented in Acre, a mixed Jewish-Arab city in Israel, to promote parents' role as facilitators of their children literacy development and to empower parents to advance coexistence and inter-group relations. The SFPC program was part of a five-year (1995–2000) holistic project, designed to bring about a systemic change in Acre. Two studies are presented. In the first (1999), 174 Arab parents and 111 Jewish parents of first-grade children responded to a 31 item Parents' Literacy Questionnaire (Horovitz & Hertz-Lazarowitz, 1998). In addition, interviews were conducted with mothers, teachers, and children. The questionnaire yielded seven factors related to home literacy and learning environment, and to School-Family Partnership. Findings indicated that Arab parents perceived themselves as more effective facilitators of literacy development of their children than Jewish parents. In the second study (2000), 120 Arab parents...

Sociocultural anthropology has long been concerned with the dynamics of change in so-called traditional societies. This article examines the gendered aspects of change within Israeli Arab society, analyzing the life stories of six women originally studied by Shapira (1999). The women came from traditional, male-dominant Muslim families living in villages or small cities in Israel as members of a national and political minority. They varied in age and socioeconomic and marital status, yet all were motivated to fulfill their educational and career aspirations. Negotiating cultural constraints, they assumed important leadership roles in their communities. We begin with a discussion of the segregated Arab educational system in Israel, highlighting historical and recent educational trends. We then discuss women's status in Arab society and Israel in particular, noting that teaching is a primary route for women's professional growth. Next we discuss life history in terms of a collective case study methodology and present the women's biographical profiles as related to educational-anthropological theories of change in traditional societies. We then examine women's higher education as a springboard for change through modeling and caring within the contexts of the family, school, and community. Finally, we propose thematic interpretations of the strategies the women used to advance themselves professionally and to promote changes within their society that will afford greater opportunities for women in positions of leadership.

Strategies are actions and behaviours used by the writer to solve problems in the writing process. These actions and behaviours reflect four clusters: meta-cognitive, cognitive, social, and affecti...

Israeli Jewish and Arab experts within Israel have developed innovative intergroup relations programs, educational efforts designed to improve relations between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs. Social scientists, educators, and practitioners on both sides of the Arab-Jewish conflict have dedicated themselves to lessening the hostility between these two groups within Israel through coexistence educational training. This issue presents theory, methods, and data from these coexistence educational programs. The introductory article presents a brief history of this conflict; the groups' differing perceptions regarding the dispute; some information about the role of culture, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity in the discord; and some of the social psychological processes that perpetuate and recreate the hostilities. Last, it provides a brief preface of this issue's articles.

This article presents a five-year action-research project of systemic change toward coexistence in Acre, a mixed Arab-Jewish city in Israel. Educational activism was the basis for this project. Because education in Acre was closely interwoven with discriminative politics, this project used a citywide systemic approach consisting of three layers: (a) work in schools that used cooperative learning to increase achievement, (b) work with parents in school-family literacy partnerships, and (c) work with the city's educational and political leadership for citywide change. Data presented for each layer show the potential of this long-term holistic approach to bring coexistence to the community even though regional and political factors worked against community coexistence.

Similarities and differences in children’s interpersonal relationships were assessed through examination of the effects of culture and gender as reflected in the quality of children’s relationships in their social network at school. Two cultural contexts representing collectivistic and individualistic orientations were studied. Questionnaires were completed by 1449 fourth- and fifth-grade students (604 Arab and 845 Jewish students) regarding their best friend, their class peers, their homeroom teacher, and their class climate. As expected, findings demonstrated better quality of peer relationships among Arab students (from a relatively collectivistic culture) and among boys, whereas Jewish students (from a relatively individualistic culture) and girls showed better quality of best-friend relationships than their counterparts. The results also highlighted a similarity in children’s relationships for both cultures and both genders, reflected in the highest intimacy of best-friend relationships.

Haifa University (HU) is the stage for a prolonged social drama between Arabs (20%) and Jews. 86 students (38 Arabs and 48 Jews) were interviewed on their experiences of injustice. Three major differences emerged. For the Arabs, 92% of injustice took place on campus compared to 40% for the Jews. Arabs attributed injustice to discrimination (60%), Jews to the actors' personal characteristics (58%); the Arabs transformed injustice events into a political struggle for national recognition, identity, and narratives. The analysis intimates that Arabs' “social being” is developing through the staging of negative expressive acts, namely, respect/contempt and power/weakness. Thus actors at HU can stage social processes, and change sites of surveillance and injustice into places of reconciliation and coexistence.

Writing has become central in today's schools as a measure for academic success. In this study 599 5th- and 6th-grade students, 210 Jews and 389 Arabs (310 boys and 289 girls), studied in three learning environments: cooperative learning (CL), computer-mediated communication (CMC), and the combination of CMC and CL. The students reported on their perception of and attitudes to writing. Their teachers evaluated their students as writers, and scored their portfolio writing outcomes. Measures included (1) students' perceptions of writing (SPWC), a 38-item self-report measure on writing apprehension, efficacy, self-regulation, and writing with computer derived from the study of writing; Alpha coefficient 0.90; (2) teachers' assessments of their students as writers (6 items);(3) portfolio evaluation. All students answered the SPWC twice in a pre-post test design in their first language (Arabic or Hebrew), and teachers gave their evaluation at the end of the year. Repeated measure of Manova was used for students' data and Anova for teachers' data. Findings using Multivariate repeated measures showed those students in CMC-CL scored higher on all measures. Teachers' evaluation was similar for CMC and the combined learning environment. Arab students were similar to Jewish students on some of the measures. Surprisingly, no differences were found for gender. The findings indicate that the power of peer interaction in cooperative learning with CMC was greater than each learning environment by itself. The quality implementation of these two (computer and peers) is the key element for students' writing development.

This case study explored the way principals in Israel organized a forum and assumed roles beyond their educational responsibility. This occurred as an unexpected result of a state‐wide project that was initiated and operated by the Ministry of Education. The aim of the project was to strengthen local educational systems by developing local educational leaderships and by improving scholastic achievements. Participant observation, interviews, and reading of documents and newspapers revealed that the principals changed their role in a three‐phase process. First, the project unintentionally raised principals’ awareness of the social‐political nature of their work. Second, principals organized into an interest group that cooperated with other community groups. Third, they sought to revitalize their respective communities, beyond their educational leadership. They extended their turf from school to community, and their role from school leadership to community avant‐garde.

(1999). Cooperative learning in Israels Jewish and Arab schools: A community approach. Theory Into Practice: Vol. 38, Building Community Through Cooperative Learning, pp. 105-113.

In this study we evaluated the effects of a cooperative learning program, Bilingual Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (BCIRC), on the Spanish and English reading, writing, and language achievement of 222 limited English proficient second and third graders in Spanish bilingual programs. We expected BCIRC to improve student achievement during the transition from Spanish to English by giving students daily opportunities to use language to find meanings and solve problems and by enabling teachers to apply well-established principles of cooperative learning to increase student motivation and achievement. A comparison of standardized test scores in matched BCIRC (N = 3) and comparison (N = 4) schools generally supported these expectations. On the Spanish Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, second graders scored significantly better than comparison students in writing and marginally better (p < .06) in reading. On the English Norm-Referenced Assessment Program for Texas, third graders scored signif...

Two learning units, the cell and plant topics were taught for seven weeks in four 10th grade classes. Two experimental classrooms (N = 52) were instructed in a Group Mastery Learning (GML) method, and two comparison classrooms (N = 61) in Individualized Mastery Learning (IML). For entry behaviour, data was collected on students’ aptitudes (GATB), and their math and science scores. Students’ pre‐ and post‐tests scores on academic achievement, self‐esteem, perception of classroom learning environment (CLE) and attitudes toward biology were tested using covariance analysis. Students in the GML classrooms had higher scores in self‐esteem, attitudes toward biology, and in the sub‐scales of the CLE. In the IML classes, a decline on these measures occurred. Students in the GML method, scored higher in the cell unit, while students in the IML method scored higher in the plant unit. This result is discussed within the framework of the complexity of the learning units.

These words of the supervisor Rania illustrate the objective difficulties faced by Arab women, who wish to realize senior careers in education, in a territory perceived as “male territory.” Her words inspired us to investigate the difficulties, obstacles, and challenges that beset Arab women when they aspire to attain a career in educational supervision, trying to understand how they cope as women in a “male territory” and what could be learned from this experience.

From 2007 to 2010, we interviewed 22 Arab women managers. Listening to their stories in their natural settings, we were able to learn about their leadership of the educational and social welfare institutions that they headed.

Iman, an elementary school principal, considered a path-breaker in her society, told us how her candidacy for a school principalship was received in the early 1990s: “They didn’t consider me, and no one took me into account.” The words of Iman, like the testimony of other Arab women elementary school principals described in this chapter, succinctly illustrate the fact that these women often have the sense that they are invisible in their society. Despite their impressive performance as school teachers, they are still not considered capable of managing an educational institution. Why are some Arab women able to overcome these inhibitory forces, while others remain subject to restrictive social norms? One critical factor for the Arab woman’s ability to break through conventional barriers seems to be her biographical background and the resources and enrichment gained within her family from early childhood.

Until now we have focused on the respondents’ family backgrounds, exposing their social relationships as leaders and their professional relationships as principals and leaders in different social spheres.

This chapter examines 20 years of CL practices in Israel, from historical and ideological perspectives. The examination reveals that U.S.A. methods of CL are inherently culture-bound, and that their basic structure and techniques are incompatible with Israeli educational values. Small group teaching methods developed in Israel are commensurate with social characteristics of the culture. Israeli-generated cooperative teaching methods focus on intrinsic motivation, peer discussion and knowledge construction, via investigative and creative procedures. These methods have successfully permeated the schools of Israel while other methods have failed.

A learning unit in earth science was taught to high school students, using a jigsaw-group mastery learning approach. The sample consisted of 73 students in the experimental group and 47 students who learned the topic in an individualized mastery learning approach. The study lasted 5 weeks. Pretests and posttests on academic achievement and affective outcomes were administered. Data were treated with an analysis of covariance. The results show that students of the experimental group achieved significantly higher on academic outcomes, both normative and objective scores. On the creative essay test, the differences in number of ideas and total essay score were not significant between the groups, although the mean scores for number of words were higher for the individualized mastery learning group. On the affective domain, jigsaw-group mastery learning students scored significantly higher on self-esteem, number of friends, and involvement in the classroom. No differences were found in cohesiveness, cooperation, competition, and attitudes toward the subject learned. The results are discussed through the evaluation and comparison of the two methods of instruction used in this study. The cooperative learning movement began in junior high schools as part of the desegregation process, aiming at facilitating positive ethnic relations and increasing academic achievement and social skills among diverse students (Aronson, Stephan, Sikes, Blaney, & Snapp, 1978; Sharan & Hertz-Lazarowitz, 1980; Slavin, 1980). However, elementary teachers quickly recognized the potential of cooperative methods, and such methods were adopted freely in elementary schools before becoming widespread on the junior and senior high level. It has only been during the past few years that application of cooperative learning has been studied extensively with these older students. Cooperative learning methods generally involve heterogeneous groups working together on tasks that are deliberately structured to provide specific assignments and individual contributions from each group member. Cognitive as well as social benefits are expected, as students clarify their own understanding and share their insights and ideas with each other as they interact within the group (Deutsch, 1949). Experiments in the science laboratory have always required students to work in groups of two to four, due to the constraints of experimental processes and limited equipment and sup- plies. Thus, science courses are a natural curriculum area for examining cooperative learning practices. Now that cooperative methods are being refined to develop particular capabilities in the students, science teachers need to examine ways of structuring specific tasks to achieve the academic, affective, and socialization goals for their students. Although most of the studies of cooperative learning in the high school science classroom have centered around the cognitive outcomes of achievement testing and process skills, affective and social outcomes are also significant with students of this age. But few studies in science classes have attempted to assess such aspects of students' progress. As part of a previous revision, the science faculty at the high school where this study was conducted developed an exemplary individualized mastery learning (1ML) program for teaching science. This program seemed to alleviate the severe motivational problems and the extreme individual differences among the students in this rural/bhe-collar community. Students learned to work independently on their science studies. They had almost no lectures and few large group activities. As they worked through their assignments, however, they were free to interdct with other students. Looking in on a typical class, one would see several clusters of two or three students working together, sometimes tutoring each other, sometimes just talking through an assignment. Yet at least half of the class members would be working all alone. The importance of the overall social setting in the classroom as it relates to learning (Bruner, 1986, p. 86) and the central function of social interaction as learning occurs (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 106) seemed to have been ignored. Therefore, group mastery learning (GML), a cooperative learning tech- nique, was suggested as an antithesis to IML for teaching science over short periods. The cooperative mode of instruction considers learning as a cognitive as well as a social process, where students interact with each other as well as the teacher. To bring the social dimension back to science classrooms, the researchers chose to imple- ment GML in Grades 1 I and 12. The goal of the study was to investigate the GML's impact of the method on the individual student's academic achievement, creativity, self-esteem, and number of friends and on the overall learning environment of the classrooms. The researchers were also concerned with the students' attitudes toward earth science, the course being taught at the time of the experiment. Both cognitive and affective outcomes for students who participated in the cooperative GML approach were compared with outcomes for students who studied the same topic in an IML approach. The study addressed a number of questions related to academic and nonacademic outcomes of the two methods of study. First, it sought to determine whether academic achievement of the students taught in the cooperative GML mode would be different from the achievement of students who learned in an individualized method. Second, it sought to determine whether gains or losses would be seen in nonacademic outcomes, such as classroom learning environment, social relations, and students' self-esteem experienced by the students. The results of this study may support more use of cooperative learning in high school science.

This study investigated the effect of therapy/counseling groups on friendships of latency-age children lacking in social efficacy, referred for counseling by their homeroom teachers. Experimental students underwent weekly therapy in six small groups, whereas control students received routine academic counseling services over the same period (an entire school year). Self- and other-reported data confirmed significant gains in intimacy in best and second-best friends among experimental students, particularly the boys.

Several studies have revealed teachers' asymmetric perceptions of girls and boys in their classes. The present research examines these effects on schoolchildren's own perceptions of the prominence of male and female peers in school relevant categories. A total of 147 (native born, Jewish middle class) second and sixth graders participated in the study. A questionnaire in two versions was prepared: One formulated in the masculine plural, habitually used in Hebrew as the generic plural for both sexes. The other in both masculine and feminine (optional he/she) plural, also admissible in Hebrew usage. Overall, students judged more boys as prominent, even more so in sixth grade. Subjects also pointed to same-sex peers as prominent. Surprisingly, the sex-optional formulation of the questionnaire did not decrease stereotyping perceptions. Results raise questions about the status of girls in school. Implications for girls' future as achievers in modern society are discussed. Furthermore, the effectiveness of language manipulation in Hebrew regarding sexist vs. nonsexist attitudes is put into question.

National identity and religion have been core issues within the protracted conflict between Jews and Arabs in Israel. The dynamics of identity formation among Arabs and Jews in Israel reflect a complex political and historical context characterized by conflict such as the 1948 war, subsequent wars with neighboring Arab countries, and more recently, the “Intifada” of the Palestinians in the occupied territories. Since 1948, Israel has been a Jewish state with a Jewish majority, maintaining a moderate democracy, with only partial equality of civic rights for the Arab minority (White-Stephan, Hertz-Lazarowitz, Zelniker, & Stephan, 2004; Yiftachel, 2006).

The chapter presents four systemic cooperative learning (CL) long-term programs conducted in northern Israel, with Arabs and Jewish schools in mixed cities or neighboring communities. In each of those programs the teachers-educators expanded their roles implementing reforms based on cooperation. The first program extended the classic method of Group Investigation (GI) to Innovative Technology (IT) sites of learning. The second program expanded the "face to face" model of "The Six Mirrors of the Classroom" to classrooms using complex investigations in the open spaces and the highway of technology. The third broadened the role of teachers to become facilitators of a CL school-family partnership within the school and across schools. The fourth, formed a principals community of leaders, who based on cooperation transformed their vision, skills and knowledge to generate a vision of critical cooperative pedagogy aimed to empower and bring equality to the schools and the community at large.

In Israel, the seven main universities are the most heterogeneous spaces for interaction between Arabs and Jews. With an Arab population of 20% attending alongside Jews, Haifa University is the most heterogeneous campus in Israel and thus has been a main stage for prolonged social coexistence on the one hand and consistent bitter conflicts on the other. This chapter explores how young undergraduates identifying as Arabs and Jews perceive their mutual rejection and acceptance, in the unique context of coexistence at a nationally and religiously heterogeneous university in Israel. The goal is to understand the factors that support peaceful coexistence, and those that explain the eruption of conflicts and violent behaviors on campus. It is argued that students' perceptions of coexistence are sources of conflict and harmony. In interviews where the research team asked students to speak about the full range of their positive and negative experiences as members of national groups on campus, both Arab and Jewish students highly valued “close relationships” and “cultural diversity,” while in terms of negative experiences, Arab students reported “discrimination” and “political tension,” more frequently than Jewish students, as the main processes of rejection in their lives on campus. On the basis of such findings, the chapter challenges the university to increase acceptance, and reduce rejection, on its heterogeneous campus.

The goal of the study was to investigate via Writing Strategies Interviews (WSI) and Writing Think Aloud Procedure (WTAP), the use of writing strategies defined as actions and behaviors used by the writer to solve problems in the writing process. A writer’s profile was defined as the average score for each of the four theory-based clusters used: Meta-cognitive strategies, cognitive strategies, social strategies and affective strategies. After the participants (352 sixth grade students from Arab and Jewish schools) completed a self-report Likert-type Writing Strategies Questionnaire (WSQ), 31 randomly selected participants were further engaged in an interview (WSI), and in a think aloud procedure (WTAP), regarding writing, and their composition was scored.

This paper describes a communication project carried out between fourth grade pupils at Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael and Ayalon School in Tel Aviv. Pupils communicated with each other, once a week, via computer on subjects related to their social and personal worlds. Topics included presenting themselves, describing hobbies and collections, composing serial stories, dealing with personal and general conflicts, and exposing to each other different cultural elements, ceremonies and festivals on kibbutz and in the city.