Undergraduate statistics students vary widely in performance, and many are passive learners. Worksheets (problem sets) help students to be more active and to learn by doing. Working individually, however, students may require too much time to complete worksheets in class, when the instructor is available to help. In the "jigsaw classroom" technique described, a worksheet is divided into 2 to 4 complementary steps that are distributed to different groups of students. Students with the same step complete it together and then collaborate with other classmates to finish the entire worksheet in class. Students reported that this jigsaw technique helped them understand a statistical procedure, used class time efficiently, and increased the variety of learning experiences available in this challenging course.

Stigma impedes the social integration of persons recovering from psychiatric disability, especially those with criminal histories. Little is known about factors that lessen this stigma. Four hundred and four adults listened to one of four vignettes describing a 25-year-old male with schizophrenia and responded to a standard set of items measuring social distance. The individual who was gainfully employed (vs. unemployed), or who had a prior misdemeanor (vs. felony) criminal offense, elicited significantly less stigma. Employment may destigmatize a person coping with both psychiatric disability and a criminal record. Mental health services should encourage paid employment and other paths to community integration.

Individuals often report positive, transformative changes in response to adversity. Cognitive transformation involves a turning point in a person's life characterized by: (1) the recognition that coping with adversity resulted in new opportunities; and, (2) the reevaluation of the experience from one that was primarily traumatic or threatening to one that is growth-promoting. Cognitive transformation often signifies enhanced adaptation to adverse circumstances, and thus, is a marker of resilience. The present study examined the relationship of cognitive transformation to indicators of resilience among 35 acutely bereaved young adults and a nonbereaved comparison group. Findings strongly supported the hypothesis that transformation predicts resilience, and may reduce one's risk trajectory to enhance adaptation. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for research on resilience, and on recovery from acute or chronic adverse circumstances, including addiction.

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