To be effective, thinking skills interventions are likely to require specific fine-grain changes in the quantity and quality of teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil dialogue in the classroom, but these are difficult to establish. This study investigated the effects of collaborative philosophical enquiry over time on quantity and quality of interactive…

The underrepresentation of women in science and engineering might be caused by certain differences in science training processes. This study investigated sex differences in classroom atmosphere and classroom behaviors of science teachers and students. Males were dominant in working on classroom displays and classroom activities. (YP)

A study related the communication responsiveness of instructors to the affective and cognitive outcomes of students in basic speech communication courses. Specifically, the study investigated both the instructors' overall responsiveness and their responsiveness as climate makers. The communication responsiveness of instructors was measured by the…

This article suggests that students with emotional/behavioral disorders may use disruptive behaviors to escape and avoid teacher instructional language for which they do not have comprehension skills and thus find aversive. Teacher instructional language thus maintains aberrant behavior through a negative reinforcement paradigm. Recommendations…

This study was designed as an effort to understand how student-directed small-group discussions can further student thinking about issues related to social studies. The study utilized participant observation to collect data two to three times weekly as students engaged in a literature-based reading program called Book Club. The specific questions…

Reports on a study to determine the interaction effects of selected personality characteristics, science achievement, and two classroom climates, one which encouraged discovery learning and one that did not. Demonstrated that student achievement is influenced by dynamic interactions within classrooms. (TW)

Reports on a study of the social construction of gender differences in classroom interactions during the first five years of a former women's college's transition to coeducation. Finds that the classroom interaction patterns of male and female professors and students were altered considerably by the transition. (CFR)

Differences in interaction patterns between teachers and high/low achieving and high/low expectation students were examined in four grade 3 and six grade 6 classes, involving 237 students. Teachers interacted most frequently with high achieving/expectancy students, but spent more time waiting for and interacting with low achieving/expectancy…

Defines inappropriate challenges as behaviors suggesting incompetence based solely on certain professor's social characteristics, especially gender and race. Discusses recent research on this problem concerning challenges from students, colleagues, and administrators. Lists suggested coping strategies, including changing the climate on campus and…

An ethnographic study was made of the portion of pre-lesson transition activity, the call to lesson time (CTL), devoted to "setting up" lessons in elementary classrooms. Participants were two teachers and 62 elementary school students in two classrooms: a grade 1-3 open classroom and a traditional third grade classroom. Videotapes of 7.5…

Investigates the relationship between the social organization and educational practices of schools and how they relate to students' ability to recognize differences between curriculum-specific talk. The study recorded students' observations regarding Mathematics and Art to determine their ability to speak in subject-specific ways teachers deem…