This paper reports a study of selected examples of verbal behavior patterns in primary grade classrooms during science activities. The subjects were 32 elementary teachers within five mid-Michigan public school districts. A control group of 16 teachers taught science in the conventional manner. The experimental group received an in-depth study of…

Compared with teachers of "conventional" science courses, teachers who attended a summer workshop and then taught Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) materials tended to increase the amount of indirect verbal influence used at the beginning of the school year, becoming more direct later, and asking more high-level questions (hypothesizing…

Dynamics of discussion in the classroom are analyzed based on data from 64 classrooms in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. Among the discourse problems considered are the separation of answers from questions, the relationship between the presupposition of an utterance and the speaker/hearer assumptions, and the relationship between utterance form and…

An analysis of questioning strategies considers the kinds of responses that can be made to a question (different kinds of questions and their customary responses, and different kinds of response to the same kind of question). Additionally, the advantages/disadvantages to the use of the reproduction criterion in a sociological study are assessed.…

This study described and analyzed questions that teachers ask their pupils and investigated the teachers' responses to their pupils' answers. An attempt was made to determine if teachers from different grade levels used different question-and-answer techniques during daily classroom interaction. Two hypotheses were investigated: a) no significant…

VERBAL INTERACTION BETWEEN TEACHERS AND PUPILS WHEN THEY ARE READING CRITICALLY IS REPORTED. SIX HUNDRED FIFTY-ONE CHILDREN AND 24 TEACHERS FROM SEVEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN COLUMBUS, OHIO, SERVED AS SUBJECTS DURING THE 9-MONTH INVESTIGATION. TWELVE CLASSES, TWO AT EACH OF THE SIX ELEMENTARY GRADE LEVELS, WERE GIVEN TRAINING IN CRITICAL READING…

This study investigates the pattern of teacher questioning regarding three elements: sequence, student respondent, and cognitive process. The rationale for this type of teaching rests on the claims for teaching students the process of critical (reflective) thinking. In this type of teaching it is necessary to have data before the students. Only…

Interaction process analysis was used to study the verbal behavior patterns of 10 junior high science teachers. For each teacher, the highest and lowest ability intact classes with whom the teacher worked were studied. Findings revealed that teachers were significantly more indirect and asked more divergent and evaluative questions of the higher…

This study examined the effects of teaching student teachers specific verbal skills through "explaining," a procedure involving more than lecturing. Another group had explaining as well as peer teaching. A control group had neither. Fifteen-minute tapes were made of the teachers leading a small group discussion which explored a concept, both…

The effect of training in the Cognitive Interaction Analysis System on the way teachers interact with students was studied with 15 graduate students enrolled in a college teaching course. The students represented a variety of disciplines, including agriculture, science, liberal arts, and education. Enrollees were required to teach a typical…

This study investigated the relationship between teacher behavior and pupil reflective dialogue in the classroom assuming that social problems provide a natural springboard for inquiry through classroom discussion. It was hypothesized that different teacher strategies promote different types of class interaction. Discussion styles were to be…

Limitations of past research on college teaching and a recent exploratory study are considered. The study focused on the degree to which teachers encourage, praise, or use student ideas; the degree to which teachers ask questions that encourage evaluative and divergent thinking; the degree to which students make higher levels of cognitive…