Although most people acknowledge the importance of interactions in class, it is commonly seen some students still rarely actively participate in face-to-face interactions, especially those from a Confucian cultural background. Previous research focused on many factors to understand this phenomenon, yet social anxiousness has not been given enough…

This ethnographic study of a self-contained classroom of eight-, nine-, and ten-year-olds examined sexual differences in peer interactions. Within the observed classroom, males and females established separate social systems which had only limited contact with each other. Males were found to interact with significantly more classmates than…

The goal of this book is to help teachers create a positive social climate in the elementary school classroom. Six group processes areas are identified as combining to create the social climate of the classroom: (1) attraction; (2) leadership; (3) communication; (4) student norms of conduct; (5) individual expectations; and (6) group cohesion. The…

The purpose of this paper is to discuss principles of behavior and interaction that teachers can use in formulating intervention approaches with their pupils. (Author)

The study reported in this paper focuses on teacher perceptions of students' affective or noncognitive behavior in the classroom. Elementary school teachers were asked to describe in writing five events or situations involving students that they judged to be fairly typical and that had occurred in their classrooms. The emphasis was upon events…

Student interactivity in web-based educational environments has shown to increase academic learning and motivation (Jiang, 1998; Petraglia, 1998). However, instructors often find it difficult to assess the quality of online group dynamics without visual observations of student behaviors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of…

In this chapter, a path to learning about individuals interacting with settings is proposed. Settings may be places where individuals work, live, care, become committed, or engage in any type of living. The path consists of observational and reflective techniques that may be fruitfully used by educators or any persons interested in enhancing the…

Reciprocal interactions between teachers and two groups of preschoolers (four autistic, four mildly developmentally delayed) were observed and recorded. Teachers or aides ignored most negative initiations. Although most neutral interactions (e.g., question-answer) were reciprocal, students (especially the autistic group) did not respond…