This paper, focusing on young children's need for privacy, describes a study conducted to determine the manner in which children in day care centers resolve the problem of reduced space and time for privacy. A pilot study revealed that children displayed three privacy seeking behaviors: (1) verbal and nonverbal territorial behavior (use or defense…

This handbook is designed to assist teachers in obtaining a degree of awareness and sensitivity to another culture. It was specifically developed for the teacher traveling in a foreign country. The introduction examines the role of the teacher in traveling, identifies some of the reasons for teacher travel abroad, and looks at the impact of the…

A research design is described which refines standard classroom observation schedules and techniques in order to reveal the social organization of schooling as the environment for processes of cultural transmission. The author believes a combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional study of classrooms and grade levels is the most effective way…

This paper discusses the potential value of field experience for student teachers in physical education. Emphasis is placed upon the importance of observation of behaviors in the students, with constant assessment as the instrument by which such behaviors may be modified and improved. Preferred methods of observation are described, and the…

Three papers exploring facets of the teaching process are presented in this report. The papers are part of the Didactic Process Analysis (DPA) Helsinki research project. The DPA research team, composed of educators investigating instructional processes, has, since 1967, examined taxonomies and classifications of teaching processes. The first…

Focusing particularly on messages transmitted by socializing agents in preschool settings, this exploratory study investigates (1) the incidence of communication events in which standards for achievement are expressed, (2) the nature of the standards, and (3) variations across settings in the nature of standard-setting events. The relationship of…

The results of an evaluation of various aspects of the Instructional System in Mathematics (ISM) are presented. ISM is an objectives-based, computer-supported, management system which builds upon a previously developed mathematics curriculum. Questionnaires to school-based personnel and students, in-school observations, and interviews, were used…

The study involving 35 learning disabled children (7 to 10 years old) investigated the relationship of properties of formal lessons and teacher communication to task related attention of the children. Ss in seven resource room settings were observed during three formal lessons for a total of 72 minutes each. During observations, data on lesson…

The validity of the interpersonal cognitive problem solving (ICPS) skills model of children's adjustment was investigated (1) by determining whether ICPS skills demonstrated during preschool predicted teacher ratings of adjustment in school during the next two years and (2) by assessing the objectivity of teacher ratings of adjustment through the…

This study measured the extent to which physical education student teachers demonstrated each of 39 role competencies. Eighty one college seniors were assigned to public schools for teaching experience. The student teachers, cooperating teachers, and college supervisors pretested and posttested the competency statements for each student teacher,…

This paper reports results of an exploratory study designed to identify some of the issues most critical for understanding how naturalistic inqiry is done and why researchers behave as they do. Preliminary results are discussed of an inquiry into ten case studies, The Case Studies in Science Education (CSSE), funded as one project by the National…

Ethnography as a classroom observation method addresses itself to the situations, events, patterns, and contexts that exist in a classroom at a given time. A priori categorical observation and evaluation systems measure what the system is designed to "see," and may fail to record anomolies and salient events that affect teaching and learning in…

The prosocial behavior of 52 preschool children was assessed using three different approaches: naturalistic observation, laboratory measures, and teacher ratings. During the naturalistic observation, an observer, either male or female, focused on one child at a time and recorded any examples of prosocial behavior demonstrated by the child as well…

Reporting on part of the data collected in the Junior High Classroom Organization Study, this document focuses on the mathematics subsample. Twenty-six mathematics teachers in 11 junior high schools were observed in two classes. The major purpose of this paper is to describe the classroom procedures and behaviors of teachers identified as…

Results of a study conducted to develop and validate an instrument for objective and continuous assessment of student performance in the physics laboratory are reported. Two modes of teacher assessment of student performance were compared: (1) video-tape recording of two students performing experiments; and (2) an instrument for continuous,…