The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teachers' classroom discipline techniques and students' individual and communal responsibility in Australian, Chinese, and Israeli classrooms. The sample comprised 5521 students in grades 7-12 and 748 teachers. The participating Australian, Chinese, and Israeli schools included both…

Explores what children know about finding and using information books and observes what these children actually did when involved in information finding tasks. Finds that schools and teaching do have an effect in this area but that there was a gap between what children said about how they would use information books and what they actually did. (RS)

Observation in 281 elementary and junior secondary classrooms and interview with teachers found large variation in communication behaviors of Botswana teachers, related to subject matter, presence of a textbook, and school size. Much class time was spent on choral recitation, which was positively related to expatriate staff and pupil persistence.…

Presents an overview of communication patterns between Swedish students during ordinary lessons. Reveals that they are filled with internal communication that is not random, even if it is out of the teacher's conscious control. Identifies contextual factors that contribute to the intensity of communication that teachers can turn to educational…

This review of research examines the contributions of American and European researchers to understanding how classrooms work and what "frame" or format factors exert their influence and supply the foundation that underlies academic achievement. (IAH)

In 24 third and sixth grade classrooms, 78 percent of instructional time involved quiet work or teacher talking, whereas 1 percent involved brainstorming, discussion, oral problem solving, and role playing combined. Talk structures were affected by subject and teacher sex but not by grade or teacher experience. Contains 71 references. (Author/SV)

Examines the reciprocal nature of contributions made by 36 pairs of English infant school peers as they worked in classroom task groups. Indicates that year two children were significantly more responsive and demonstrated a great capacity for extended reciprocal interaction. Discusses the relational findings that children develop the ability to…

Focusing on the use of category systems in classroom observation, this report summarizes factors that may significantly affect the validity of cross-national and cross-cultural comparisons of classroom behaviors. Category systems measure well-defined behaviors by recording events observed at specific intervals or as they begin and end. Areas of…

The program described in this paper was designed to address two sets of questions, one concerning the nature of classroom teaching and learning of science in secondary schools and the other concerning their mechanisms. The program consisted of four phases: (1) "Establishment" (emphasizing trust between teachers and consultants); (2)…

The classroom behaviors of 129 Barbadian children (77 boys and 52 girls) ages 5 to 11 years, who had suffered from moderate to severe protein-energy malnutrition in the first year of life were compared with children with no history of malnutrition. Data were gathered from questionnaires administered to teachers who were unaware of the children's…

A model of teacher expectancy postulating links between teacher expectations, teacher and pupil behaviors, and academic achievement was tested in grades three and four. Although a number of significant relations were found, it was concluded that a teacher expectancy effect was not operating in this situation. (Author/JKS)

The study described here was conducted to compare classrooms in France and the United States. Two brief episodes from a U.S. first-grade classroom and two from a French first-grade classroom were shown to groups of parents and teachers in France, and to groups of teachers in the United States. Participants were asked to record their reactions on a…

This paper reports a study directed toward educational improvement through individual and group change. It is a 3-year naturalistic case study centering on 9 experienced science teachers, 13 novice science teachers, 64 secondary science students, and 4 researchers. The three aims of this study are to know more about: (1) what it is to be a teacher…

Interactive classroom activities can be dominated by a small group of students called target students. This publication explores what has been learned about target students and the reasons why mathematics and science teachers permit a relatively small number of target students to dominate interactions involving the teacher and other resources.…

This article describes the methodology of a four-study research program designed to develop a grounded theory of pupil learning in elementary classrooms. Findings illustrate the relationship of instructional contexts, content variables, and pupil behavior and utterances to short-term and long-term learning. (Author/IAH)