Initially, the author began her teacher inquiry project by focusing on the superhero play she had been observing in her classroom and on her concerns about how it might be impacting the classroom community. Through an ongoing process of self-reflection and reading research, she was able to open herself up to interacting and engaging with the…

Studies of primary education within the UK have shown that small groups can feature within classrooms; however, equivalent research within secondary education remains scarce. Research has established effective group work approaches, yet secondary teachers may encounter difficulties employing approaches tied to parameters embedded within primary…

This article describes a video review process for providing feedback to students and documents students' teaching practices using the CLASS in a practicum course and student teaching. Students videotaped themselves in their field-based settings and then met with the course instructors and classmates in small groups to review strengths and…

This paper discusses interactional patterns in classrooms in primary school in rural Tanzania, based on an ethnographic study on literacy practices. The paper argues that the official policy of Swahili-only in primary school, together with the huge gap between high expectations on educational outcome and lack of resources, have resulted in the…

Some learning scientists are beginning to investigate social and cultural aspects of learning by examining the interactions between a learner and the environment as well as with other people in the learning environment. This article proposes conversational analysis (CA) as a tool to analyze interactions between learners and instructors in…

The paper describes an observation instrument originally developed as a research tool to assess both the special setting and the regular classroom. The instrument can also be used in determining appropriate placement for students with learning disabilities and for programming the transfer of skills learned in the special setting to the regular…

Former candidate for U.S. Assistant Attorney General Lani Guinier is attempting to make law school and the legal profession more welcoming to women, in part by rejecting use of the Socratic method in classroom discussion, which she feels is intimidating, combative, and discriminates against women. Others say the Socratic approach encourages men…

"A Study of Schooling" is an in-depth descriptive study of 38 purposively sampled schools in the United States. Many aspects of the educational process were examined, from student attitudes to principal leadership styles. Essential to this comprehensive view of education is a view of within classroom processes, including teacher student…

This six-section manual provides information for preparing appropriate classroom narratives and their accompanying student engagement ratings. The manual's introduction emphasizes the importance of an accurate classroom narrative, which is a detailed record of events, time use, and behavior in the classroom. Also discussed is the recording of…

Discusses the reaction of Vietnamese students to the spontaneous interaction and exchange that occurs in US classrooms. The article argues that teachers' lack of knowledge about their immigrant students' learning styles and strategies may result in teachers making inaccurate judgments about these students' classroom interaction behavior. (two…

An overview is presented of classroom observation instruments which have been created and refined since 1962. The components of teacher-pupil transactions measured by different observation methods are listed, and the complexities and difficulties encountered when using the instruments are discussed. A description is given of the Coping Analysis…

A format is presented for use of student teachers in structuring their classroom observation techniques. Fifteen classroom and school activities are listed with a comprehensive questionnaire accompanying each. These questionnaires guide the student on what behaviors to observe and suggest objective and subjective responses to these behaviors to be…

Weak increases in classroom cohesion for three seventh-grade classes instructed by a mastery learning technique compared to three conventionally instructed classes are demonstrated using block analysis of variance, triadic census (balance theory), and block modelling (role theory) analytic techniques on repeated-measures sociometric rating data.…

This grant application describes the theoretical background and research design of a project intended to study the interaction between children's styles of functioning and the opportunities and requirements of an open classroom environment. A major assumption to be tested is that exploratory children function more effectively in open classrooms.…

Ways in which a publication on sex discrimination has been used by colleges and universities are described. The publication is entitled "The Classroom Climate: A Chilly One for Women?" In addition to identifying over 35 kinds of behaviors by which faculty may treat men and women students differently, the publication discussed in this document…