The central goal of our exploratory study was to investigate differences in college chemistry students' interactions during lab experiments with different levels of inquiry. This analysis was approached from three major analytic dimensions: (i) functional analysis; (ii) cognitive processing; and (iii) social processing. According to our results,…

The fundamental differences in classroom social structure and the effect of teaching behavior on the unique patterns of classroom social structures were studied. Subjects included fifth-grade classrooms with female teachers in a small city school system. Eighteen classrooms with a total of 576 children fit these criteria. Instrumentation included…

Situational analysis of student-teacher and student-student interaction during a kindergarten/first grade social occasion provides information on verbal and nonverbal behavior forms, situational contexts, and tacit rules of classroom interaction. (MJB)

Ten-minute video recordings of the dyadic interactions between seven deaf children (mean age 5.5 years) and their communication partners (either deaf or hearing) were analyzed. Findings are reported in terms of interaction variables (initiation, continuation, ending, and complexity) and communicative modalities (sign, actions, conventional…

Evaluation of the conversational behavior of 36 children (ages 48-59 months) playing in dyads with 3 different materials (modeling dough, a farm set, and animal puppets) found that each toy elicited the same amount of talking, though there were differences in discourse structure attributable to play materials. (DB)

This study examined three potential situational determinants of children's question-asking: (1) the presence or absence of a peer; (2) whether or not the children are given tactual access to the materials being used to induce questions; and (3) whether these materials are presented three-dimensionally (as objects) or two-dimensionally (as…

Examines patterns of social interaction among 19 cancer patients ranging in age from 8 to 21 years and their caregivers (i.e., medical personnel, teachers, family, and friends). Conditional probability analyses of patient behavior following caregiver vocalizations at three phases of medical treatment indicate variability and change in patients'…

This study was conducted to examine the developmental patterns in young children's ability to use others as a resource in problem-solving situations and to compare the roles that mothers and same-age peers play as resources for children in such situations. A total of 48 middle-class 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children participated in the study with…

Reviewed and analyzed are studies on task-related verbal interactions among students in small groups in mathematics classrooms and their links to mathematics achievement. Factors that predict group interaction are considered and research-based strategies for shaping group interaction are discussed. (MDH)

Social interaction and play behavior were compared in community-based infant day care and at home for two matched groups of 18-month-old infants. Adult-infant, infant-peer, and infant-toy interaction were time-sampled. (Author/SS)

The purpose of this study was to see if a social learning method for training verbal social skills might influence the social effectiveness of third grade children with low peer acceptance. Children were trained in three verbal skills: asking questions of peers; leading peers (e.g., offering useful suggestions or directions); and, offering…

Descriptive data on a wide range of family day care homes and on children's experiences within those homes were obtained in this study. Additionally investigated were the effects on caregiver and child behavior of six central family day care issues: (1) home regulatory status, (2) number and age mix of children, (3) regional differences, (4)…

This investigation was conducted to determine if 5-year-old students randomly chosen from an open classroom for 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds communicated at random across sex, race, and age groups. The classroom was composed of nine learning centers and was organized around the following activities: math, dramatic play, blocks, art, reading, listening,…

This paper examines the power of particular affect and rejection socioquestions to produce characteristic patterns across all the sociometric choices of 576 fifth-graders in 18 classrooms. Of particular concern are the degrees of centrality exhibited in response to socioquestions which pertain to academic competence and failure and the overall…