CULTIVATING AN APPRECIATION FOR DIVERSE RELIGIOUS WORLDVIEWS THROUGH COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN UNDERGRADUATE CLASSROOMS

Perspectives courses at Valdosta State University are charged with expanding undergraduate students' intellectual and attitudinal horizons by exposing them to both interdisciplinary and multicultural perspectives. The Religion and Culture Perspectives course focuses on how a diversity of religions respond to real-life dilemmas using the medium of cross-cultural case studies and religious autobiographical narratives. This course can effectively foster imaginative engagement with and appreciation for diverse religious perspectives and practices through specific cooperative learning strategies. Research explored the effects of cooperative learning on appreciation of religious difference. Students showed changes in their attitudes as a result of course participation.