The authors claim that the principal contribution of research on teacher thinking is enrichment of understanding of what teachers know and what teaching entails. Studies of teacher planning, decision making, knowledge, and theorizing can be used to provide prospective teachers with a realistically complex picture of the cognitive aspects of…

Two models for research on teacher thinking are discussed: the decision-making model and the information-processing model. Research on teaching guided by the decision-making model focuses upon explaining and understanding deliberate teacher activity and is deemed more appropriate for situations in which the teacher has sufficient time and…

Following deCharms' theory of personal causation and Harvey's conceptual systems approach to cognitive complexity, it was hypothesized that the manner in which teachers choose to promote motivating classroom climates is a function of the systems teachers use to substantiate their own beliefs. A focal concept was the degree to which students are…

Three studies on teacher planning procedures are described and synthesized--a survey, a laboratory study, and a series of case studies. The primary goal of this research was to determine how teachers plan classroom activities, why they plan in certain ways, and what is the relationship between teacher planning and teaching effectiveness. A survey…

This paper describes the data collection, data analysis, and findings that point to the importance of instructional context as a factor in understanding the concepts teachers use when they process information about pupils in their classrooms, and the predictions they make about pupil success in learning. Three aspects of context are examined: (1)…

A model has been developed that proposes five different perspectives on the curriculum--the ideal, formal, perceived, operational, and experiential. Each perspective has a different data source, and it is hypothesized that each perspective will produce a different picture of "the curriculum." Data collection for a national study of schooling will…

Designed to create a foundation for collaboration between research on teaching and research on reading, this critical review of teacher effectiveness first provides a historical perspective as a means for creating a "common ground" between the two fields. Teacher effectiveness findings are then presented in two major categories. The first examines…

This report discusses the question of the appropriateness of teacher behaviors in relation to both the counting of frequencies of teacher behaviors and the interpretation of the impact of teacher behaviors on student learning. The recent focus, in research on teaching, on the counting of teacher behaviors gives rise to a concern for the meaning as…