Welcome to the third issue of the IASCE Newsletter for 2001. The buzz at IASCE these days is about the 2002 international conference we are co-sponsoring with The United Kingdom Co-operative Learning Network and the Co-operative College. The conference, to be held in Manchester, England, at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), will be June 20-23, 2002. The theme: Cooperative Learning and Responsible Citizenship in the 21^st Century, communicates the urgency of applying the principles of cooperative learning to today’s national and international realities. In this issue and on our website you will find the invitation for practitioners and researchers to participate in the IASCE conference by proposing a session or attending the conference. Maureen Breeze, IASCE board member from Great Britain, is planning school visits and visits to historic sites before and after the conference. We expect graduate credit will be available for conference participation and school visits.

This issue provides rich evidence of the vibrancy of cooperative learning in different arenas. In From the Bookshelf, we read about a new book by Liana Forest that combines cooperative learning with multiple intelligences and lessons from the natural world. In From the Journals, readers will encounter an eclectic mix of recent work in cooperative learning, in areas that range from the teaching of Mandarin to the teaching of science, in settings that reach from first grade to university, and on topics that include the effect of culture on group process in distance education as well as how teachers promote peer interaction and mutual respect to enhance engagement among middle school students.

Also from journals, Rashmi Kumar discusses groups in the business world in her review of four articles from the Harvard Business Review. Lynda Baloche highlights a special issue on collaboration in education in The Journal of Experimental Education edited by Angela O’Donnell, an IASCE board member.

From the Internet focuses on the George Lucas Educational Foundation’s e-newsletter devoted to Project-Based Learning. Finally, on a lighter note, we conclude with the news that IASCE Treasurer Larry Sherman has won an Ig Nobel Prize for his study of glee in small groups of preschool children.