This study provides longitudinal observations of young children's behaviors while viewing television in their own homes, over a time when the children were actively involved in the process of language acquisition. A total of 16 children were observed for a period ranging from 6 to 8 months. At the beginning, their ages ranged from 6 and 1/2 to 29…

The validity of classroom research literature, centering on content, methodology, and audience, and the appraisal process for teachers are examined. Those engaged in classroom observation should be aware of the limitations of research. The concept of action research provides an alternative to the study of teachers and classrooms that recognizes…

This study examined the mobilization and implementation stages of introducing microcomputers into elementary and middle schools in a majority adopter (i.e., schools which began implementing microcomputers for instruction in 1983-84) school district. Data collection included structured interviews with school district staff and principals;…

The paper presents an observational system for use in evaluating preschool handicapped children's social integration in mainstreamed classrooms. An adaptation of LeBlanc, Etzel, and Tyler's observational system, this model also employs White's system of evaluating affective tone. The method entails choosing a handicapped child in a classroom and a…

The purpose of this investigation was to gain an understanding of the role that television plays in the daily lives of a number of elderly male individuals who are partially confined and socially restricted in a long care facility. An inductive, qualitative study was conducted over a three-month period in western Canada in order to obtain an…

Presented is an interactional analysis of preschool circle time that builds on the view of classrooms as social systems within the broader culture of schooling. In the preschool studied, 18 children, 2 teachers, and several student teachers learned to use circle time together. The head teacher's approach to circle time was a developmental one,…

This study tested, in the classroom, the proposition derived from organizational theory that the operation of the classroom organizational system is related to the aggregated achievement gains of the students, or, more specifically, that collective achievement is the product of the interrelationship of the instructional technology, the type of…

This study reports the application to classroom dialogue of the Thematic and Structural Analysis (TSA) Technique which has been used previously in the analysis of text materials. The TSA Technique identifies themes (word clusters) and their structural relationship throughout sequentially organized material. Dialogues from four Year 8 science…

The first of a projected series of three studies addressing the differing organizational contexts of the special education director's work and the resulting consequences, this investigation examined the work of a special education director in a "staff" position with respect to the consequences to the district at this organizational…

All first, second, and third grade teachers in one rural southwestern school district were observed to find out (1) what they were doing while their reading groups read stories, (2) whether they changed their teaching strategies when they changed reading groups, and (3) whether their strategies during story reading changed from grade to grade.…

A longitudinal study tested the hypotheses that in relation to parents with an external locus of control, parents with an internal locus of control: would have a higher level of mother-infant interaction, would have more self-directing and less conforming values for children, and would have children who showed more academic competence. The initial…

This study focused on a comparison of the factor structures of the scores on l8 teacher competencies measured by both low-inference and high-inference observation. The observation inventories used were the Classroom Observations Keyed for Effectiveness Research (COKER) for low-inference observation, and the Teacher Performance Assessment…

The report describes a study which looked at two-way interactions among teachers and severely physically disabled and nondisabled children who were followed from kindergarten through first grade. Seven of the children had cerebral palsy and one a muscular disorders. Data collection included direct classroom observation on 74 days; interviews with…

Research on everyday learning has begun to illuminate some of the relations between activity and knowledge, and thus can help educators reconceptualize classroom activities. For example, how and what children learn about money epitomize many of the differences between everyday and school-based problem solving. The general goals of this paper are…

This manual gives teachers information about the score reports they receive after participating in the Tennessee Career Ladder evaluation process. It also contains a discussion of the scoring and equating process used to calculate the results. The score report consists of the following: (1) a summary; (2) results by domain; (3) results by…