Science education research has recommended cooperative inquiry based science in the primary science context for more than two decades but after more than 20 years, student achievement in science has not substantially improved. This study, through direct observation and analysis, investigated content-related student interactions in an authentic…

Described are the procedures whereby data from teachers and children may be collected in classrooms. The techniques of interaction analysis (including matrix analysis) are applied to the collection and analysis of these data. The categories applied to the classroom behaviors of teachers and students have been developed specifically for the Science…

A system of interaction analysis, the Instrument for the Analysis of Science Teaching (IAST, Part 1), and an accompanying sign system (IAST, Part 2) were developed. Originally used to analyze teaching behavior observed in elementary school classrooms where "Science--A Process Approach" was being taught, IAST was later found to be…

Described are Science Curriculum Assessment Study (SCAS) techniques and instruments and how they are applied to children and teachers. SCAS is a system for monitoring changes (in children and their teachers) associated with the classroom implementation of a variety of science curricula. SCAS combines the interview techniques and theories of Jean…

Describes an experiment designed to compare different behaviors exhibited by second grade teachers and pupils using the Science - A Process Approach program to a comparison group of teachers and pupils. Includes and analysis of 12 teacher and 10 student behavioral factors. (PR)

Presents the procedures, results, and conclusions of a study of a project which brought 6th grade children from both inner-city and outer-city schools together at the Franklin Institute for instruction in physical science. The project involved 700 students and 20 teachers from 20 different schools in 8 Philadelphia Public School Districts. Student…

This paper reports a study of selected examples of verbal behavior patterns in primary grade classrooms during science activities. The subjects were 32 elementary teachers within five mid-Michigan public school districts. A control group of 16 teachers taught science in the conventional manner. The experimental group received an in-depth study of…

Relates the advantages of using child-child and adult-adult transactions in the physics classroom and laboratory including implications for laboratory instructional strategy. (GS)

The main purpose of the study was to describe teacher and pupil behavior during science lessons. Subjects of the investigation reported in this document were 144 first, second, and fifth grade pupils and the twelve teachers who taught these pupils. Each classroom was observed during five lessons of Science - A Process Approach. The instrument used…

Using interaction analysis, studied the classroom verbal interactions of three types of elementary science classes: not using a process-promoting curriculum; using a process-promoting curriculum, with or without a consultant. Among the findings was that teachers who interacted with a consultant were more indirect in their teaching. (MLH)

The study sought to investigate the effects of available science materials, the physical plant, and the patterns of teacher behavior on the behaviors of fifth-grade students. Some significant treatment as well as aptitude-treatment effects were observed. (CP)

The system of interaction analysis employed in this instructional module is "The Instrument for the Analysis of Science Teaching" (IAST), which has fourteen categories: eight for teacher talk, four for student talk, and two special categories. By using the IAST base, the indirect-direct climate of Flanders can still be considered; and, in…

Elementary science teachers allow an average of one second for a response to a question, and follow a student response by a comment within an average of nine-tenths of a second. When these two "wait times" are extended to three to five seconds, a number of changes occur in student variables. There are increases in the length of the…