Describes a method with data analyzed from two lessons on the quantitative assessment of content structure in classroom dialogue. Kinetic structure analysis was used and the fundamental coefficient of structure was calculated for each lesson. The method should provide new directions for looking at verbal interaction in classrooms. (PS)

Nine eighth grade classes were examined to identify the nature, distribution and patterning of verbal discourse. Included are a description of the categories used (Smith and Meux), a description of the nature of the verbal interaction in science lessons, and a resulting comparison between Australian, American, and New Zealand teachers. (DS)

Compared with teachers of "conventional" science courses, teachers who attended a summer workshop and then taught Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) materials tended to increase the amount of indirect verbal influence used at the beginning of the school year, becoming more direct later, and asking more high-level questions (hypothesizing…

The Instrument for the Analysis of Science Teaching was used to evaluate verbal behavior of teacher trainees instructing pairs of students in each of two science concepts. The greatest differences in teacher behavior was due to differences between students, not differences in science content. (AL)

There are two major points to this study. First, not all modeling protocals are equally effective in changing the investigative teaching behavior of teachers. Second, three-dimensional representation used in interpreting verbal interaction matrices should not replace the procedures of conventional analysis of such matrices. (Author/MA)

Predictions from Anderson's theories of structured communication were tested in grade eitht biology classes. Students given verbal instruction with a high degree of structure performed better on acquisition tests than students receiving less structured lessons. (AL)

Interaction process analysis was used to study the verbal behavior patterns of 10 junior high science teachers. For each teacher, the highest and lowest ability intact classes with whom the teacher worked were studied. Findings revealed that teachers were significantly more indirect and asked more divergent and evaluative questions of the higher…