Twelve experimental groups were organized using ability and mutually positive attitudes among the three members of each group as criteria. Mutually positive attitudes were defined as group cohesiveness. Three different interaction patterns--competitive, competitive-supportive, and supportive--were established through instructions read to the…

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a comparative morphology of groups which would be applicable to the whole of social scientific research. The key to the morphological classes suggested is not a focus on the group system itself but on its relationship with the next higher system--the group system's environment. The information exchange…

This study observed the communication behavior within ad hoc and established groups and compared the two types of groups on several indexes of interaction patterns. Ad hoc groups were individuals who had no in-group activity with each other prior to the experiment. Established groups were individuals who had nine 50-minute sessions of ingroup…

This publication attempts to summarize and paraphrase the views expressed by participants in a conference on organizational processes in education. Purpose of the conference was to recommend areas of basic field research in education that emphasize both traditional ethnographic procedures and the use and development of more controlled methods for…

Describes the development of the Multidimensional Audioconferencing Classification System (MACS), an instrument for the tabulation, analysis, and interpretation of audioconferencing instructional interactions. MACS draws on three theoretical and empirical streams: (1) systematic small group interaction analysis; (2) systematic classroom…

A science education process model was proposed for ultimate use in research on science teaching. In this model, classroom interaction was presented as the middle component of a three-phase system. The on-going process of classroom interaction was viewed in terms of a communications model: interaction exchanges provided communications paths through…

The aim of this study was to observe the dynamics of a socio-psychological process, namely, cohesiveness, occurring among seven-year old pupils organised in groups of five engaged in an improvised drama activity. (Author/RK)

Implications of using pupil-to-pupil discussion with mathematics classrooms are discussed, with different ways in which such discussion might promote mathematical understanding. A framework for instruction includes the learning of the computer language Logo. (MNS)

Describes a study conducted to analyze the verbal interactions of children assigned to multiage classrooms. Subjects were children aged 3 to 11 years. (CM)

Reports on a study of five multicultural third grade students' responses to literature across the interaction patterns of adult-dominated, peer-dominated, and adult-balanced social situations. Concludes that a direct relationship exists between the structure of the social interaction pattern and its consequence in verbal behavior. (FL)

This study examined the effects of high and low communication inhibition on small group interaction. Communication inhibition was identified in terms of a scale developed through the factor analysis of the Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker--Short Form, the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension--College, and Unwillingness to…

The paper evaluates the use of group dynamics training for Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) aides in Ohio and assesses low income homemakers' adoption of group participation. The treatment group of aides was given week-long experimental group dynamics training which was coupled with nutrition and money management subject…

In this paper a broad perspective on the phenomenon of teaching and learning is presented. The complex dynamics of interaction between teacher, student, and educational researcher are explored. Conventional research in education is characterized as relying heavily on methods adopted from other types of research in such fields as agriculture and…

Classroom interaction may be described in terms of communication events, i.e., sequences of teacher-pupil communicative behaviors separated from preceding and succeeding sequences of behaviors by natural boundaries. Communication events may be institutional (related to managing the classroom and meeting the expectations of the institution), task…

The purpose of this study was to develop an observation system which would describe some of the important phenomena in groups that have the task of making a decision about a controversial issue involving value conflicts. The basic design to develop the observation system involved the analysis of transcriptions of group discussions of controversial…