Studies of primary education within the UK have shown that small groups can feature within classrooms; however, equivalent research within secondary education remains scarce. Research has established effective group work approaches, yet secondary teachers may encounter difficulties employing approaches tied to parameters embedded within primary…

Changing practices in schools is a very complex endeavor. This paper is about new practices we prompted to foster collaboration and critical reasoning in science classrooms: the presentation of pictures representing different perspectives, small group synchronous argumentation, and moderation of synchronous argumentation. A CSCL tool helped in…

A classroom observation procedure for recording and quantifying complex, sequential interactions between subject and teacher or peers has been developed. Two instruments, used in tandem, test hypotheses concerning the consistency of the subject's interactions. The Sequential Record, which is used to record observation, is analyzed for repetitious…

Changes in verbalized inquiry behavior of teachers and students who participated in the Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory's Instructional Staff Development program in inquiry were identified. Teachers' verbal behaviors were analyzed in terms of their teaching strategies as related to three inquiry models. An expanded modification of…

To help children use valuing processes, a teacher uses strategies of value clarification. The Flanders' Interaction Analysis Behaviors can be used as a model to construct an instrument for use with value-clarifying responses by teachers. The instrument entitled, "Interaction Analysis of Value-Clarification Behvaiors" (IAVCB) is constructed on this…

This paper makes an informational analysis of teachers' verbal discourse. A behavioral analysis is also made in terms of "tacts" and "mands," as defined by Skinner. These behavioral components of a message may be quantified in terms of "originality,""redundancy," and "complexity." But the most…

Research supported by the U.S. Office of Education. Reprints from: Joseph M. Masling, Psychological Clinic, State University of New York, Room 211, Townsend Hall, Buffalo, New York 14214.

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)

Behavioral measures indicated that nonparticipant observation increased the frequency, but not the appropriateness, of teacher-pupil interactions and did not affect the appropriateness of student behaviors. (Author)

Study aim: To evaluate verbal and non-verbal behaviour of teachers and pupils in elementary swimming education and their impact on pupils' achievements. Material and methods: A total of 77 swimming lessons were videorecorded and coded with the modified Cheffers' Adaptation of Flanders Interaction Analysis System (CAFIAS); 46 PE teachers, swimming…

The theory that teachers treat students from whom they expect superior achievement differently than those from whom they expect inferior performance is examined. Five ways of reacting on the part of the teacher are identified for the purpose of this study--teacher warmth, teacher feedback, teacher selection of materials, opportunity offered for…

The author argues here that progress toward greater validity in description through increasingly specifiable standards for quality control is crucial for the advancement of theory as well as for the improvement of method in descriptive studies of classroom life. Some standards for judging the validity of descriptions of classroom action are…