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…

Only when one can describe teaching behavior in concrete terms, and can prove objectively whether a given type of behavior did or did not occur, can he hope to modify teaching methods with any efficiency. (Author)

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…

Student teachers of home economics were taught Interaction Analysis and then their verbal behavior was observed in a teaching situation. Comparisons were made between the teacher-student verbal interaction in classes taught by the experimental and by the control group. The technique was found useful in helping student teachers objectively view…

Recent research on the topic of effective teaching is reviewed in this article, with emphasis given to teacher behavior, research methodology, and directions for future research. (DS)

It was hypothesized that individual differences in observer attitudes might affect the way observers code teacher behavior. A questionnaire assessing educational attitudes was given to 22 subjects who were trained on 3 classroom observation systems: the Flanders Interaction Analysis, the Classroom Observation Scales, and the Classroom Observation…

Using a specific teaching model as the criterion, three groups of elementary school teachers with differing levels of teaching experience were observed with a microcomputer recorder while teaching in their classroom settings. A step-wise discriminant analysis isolated specific motivational and instructional techniques from the model which produced…

It is proposed that changes in the classroom aimed at effective teaching be based on analysis, theory, and the gathering of data from systematic and controlled observational surveys, laboratory studies and controlled field experiments in the classroom. (Author/JB)

The development of effective team teaching is seen as an answer to many school problems. This author tends to agree, and adds a number of conditions that remind us that it may be easy to say'', but not so easy to do''. (Author)

Since there is general agreement that all teachers do not produce the same amount of learning even when provided with similar or identical classes and teaching conditions, this study attempted to determine the relationships between specific teacher behaviors and pupil-on-task-performance. (Author/RK)

Using data gathered by way of ethnographic research techniques in an intensive collaborative investigation of the classroom practice of two experienced teachers, each teacher's uniqueness is deliniated, and it is illustrated with examples of classroom practice, what it means for each teacher to know what to do in spontaneous practice.…

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…

These materials will help the educator develop an awareness of nonverbal behavior, which is complimentary to and independent of the verbal realm, to give a complete picture of the classroom. The purpose of the manual is to enable the teacher to identify nonverbal components of behavior, including dimensions other than behavioral of the teacher's…