Debate about the balance between child- and adult-initiated activities in early childhood settings is long standing. This article reports a study of 29 children aged 4-5 years in a London state school, on the influences of child- and adult-initiated activities on children's self-regulation and metacognition. Whilst both contexts were supportive,…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of manipulating toy sets on the social verbal interaction that occurs between preschool-age children with disabilities and their typically developing peers. A single-subject alternating-treatments design was used to evaluate the effects of manipulating social toy sets and isolate toy sets on…

The effects of an observer's presence on maternal interactive behavior were examined through observation of mother-child pairs under informed and uninformed conditions. Results indicate mothers played with their children more, were more positive in their verbal behavior, and structured their children's activities more during the informed than…

The Levels of Verbal Intimacy Technique (LOVIT) is an instrument for the analysis of verbal statements along a continuum from most intimate to least intimate. It enables an observer to place all verbal statements in one of 10 categories along this intimacy continuum. The technique has been used in research. (Author)

It has been demonstrated that interaction analysis is a useful tool for helping teachers not only to hold illustrations of their teaching for future analysis but also to focus on and analyze specific aspects of their verbal instructional behavior. Apparently, four conditions are necessary to enable teachers to analyze and evaluate their…

The etiological approach to psychological research is discussed, particularly regarding research on visual and vocal behavior. Thirty-four adult female dyads discussed topics on which they agreed and on which they disagreed. Each subject's looking and talking was recorded by observers on a computer in a time frame data structure. Data were…

Reported is a study designed to determine whether changes in verbal interaction patterns would be demonstrated in classrooms of teachers who received observation training and used it, using a structured checklist of classroom interaction. Twenty-six teachers, from different grade levels, were divided evenly into Experimental (E) and Control (C)…

An interaction analysis observation instrument, with categories found in the definition of "executive competence" by Wenar and related to R. White's effectance motivation, was used to observe 37 toddlers with their mothers. (SB)

Persons quantifying classroom verbal interaction may obtain varying results as a consequence of using different media forms in their experiments. A study was done to see if the medium used in the codification process has an effect upon data obtained, and if so, what the nature of the effect is. Codification consists of the translation of observed…

Educational Testing Service is involved in a measurement approach to research in teaching with a goal of developing procedures for obtaining objective quantitive descriptions of teacher behavior, in terms of a minimum number of dimensions, on the basis of direct observation. The Observation Schedule and Record (OScAR), a card which contains a list…

This paper presents a study designed to determine whether or not parents' attitudes and children's intelligence scores affect children's reactions to television programs. Preschool children's behavior before, during, and after the viewing of two half-hour television programs, "Sesame Street" and "Polka Dot Door," was compared.…

An observational study described and compared verbal interaction in specific language and learning disability (SLD), educable mentally retarded (EMR), and trainable mentally retarded (TMR) secondary level classrooms. Trained observers used Flanders Interaction Analysis system to obtain data in 46 classes. Most teachers used a direct style with…

Examined student behaviors during laboratory activities and the amount of time involved in each behavior. Approximately 89 percent of the student time was spent interacting with others. The amount of time spent on various activities appeared to be dependent on the nature of the activity and on the make up of the laboratory group. (YP)

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,…