The rationale for providing university teaching improvement courses is documented and explained. Although graduate students in modern universities are typically well prepared to criticize, formulate, and conduct high level research projects in their respective disciplines, no parallel training in critiquing, formulating, and carrying out teaching…

Interviews with the day teaching faculty at American River College were conducted to determine which variables most affect class withdrawal and retention rates. During the interviews, each instructor was asked to think of any one of his/her day classes taught during the preceding semester and to answer 30 questions concerning, among other items,…

Teachers were designated as more and less effective according to their ability to teach specially constructed reading and mathematics curriculum units over two weeks. They were then studied to determine if their perceptions of classroom interaction and interactive decision making were different. They were also studied to determine whether they…

Although specific procedures for "participant observation" (PO) vary, it is always based on the principle that while the observer (O) will adopt preconceived structural outlines and dimensional scales in the course of his summary, he--rather than any outlines or scales--is the instrument for inferring data. Applications of modified PO…

This report reviews 3 demonstration studies in which the Topic Classification System of classroom interaction analysis (a system of analyzing teacher objectives and student performance) was applied to 3 samples of classroom behaviors to determine the range and limitations of the system. In the introduction the system is discussed with reference to…

Cooperating teachers, college supervisors, and student teachers must work as a team to plan student-teaching programs which will provide opportunities for evaluating teacher performance and subject matter competence and which will encourage individual teaching styles. The evaluation of student-teacher performance can be improved by three-way…

The purpose of this study was to describe fully day care programs, to find factors predictive of differences in programs, and to evaluate the effectiveness of day care centers. Teachers in 50 randomly selected day care centers in Los Angeles were observed for four 20-minute periods daily for 10 days. The results indicated the following points:…

A method for combining the techniques of microteaching with those of interaction process analysis is presented. Using this method a matrix analysis can be performed which will give a teacher feedback on the target objectives for a given microteaching session. This handbook gives the rationale for this method, presents a General Inventory Guide for…

Although classroom "openness" has been much discussed in recent years, there has been little effort to investigate to what degree this openness occurs within a general sample of classrooms. The purpose of this study is to identify significant attributes of classroom activity and organization relevant to the concepts of "traditional" and "open" and…

This paper traces the development of the Maternal Teaching Style Instrument (MTSI) at the Demonstration and Research Center for Early Education (DARCEE). The MTSI was developed to document changes in maternal behavior; to better understand the role of maternal behavior as it influences children's cognitive growth and development and to redefine…

This conference paper suggests a promising model, based on a study of elementary school teachers in California, to investigate the relationship between the cognitive characteristics of teachers, their teaching behavior, and the academic success of their pupils. In the research model, two major components which affect student achievement were…

A factorial design with 48 student teachers (40 were enrolled in the author's Social Studies Curriculum course at the University of California) was used to study the effect of a Social Studies curriculum course, self-confrontation on videotape, videotape-coding practice, and Guided Self-Analysis (GSA) upon the nature of teachers questions, teacher…

Nine papers deal with (1) the problems of early adolescent education and the role of the English teacher, (2) the teacher's need to re-evaluate the function of writing assignments and the criteria by which themes are judged, (3) the organization of classroom procedures to capitalize on children's natural powers of expression, (4) the influence of…

Part I of this social studies report presents the results of curricular research, at Utah State University, to develop a set of "critical thinking" concepts appropriate for the analysis of political-ethical public issues, and to prepare materials and suggestions for teaching those concepts. The analytic concepts, presented in both outline and…

This report presents a chronological review (1893 to 1963) of formal and informal classroom observational studies which, in examining the use of recitation as a pedagogical method, show that teachers talk during the majority of classroom time, asking or reacting to factual questions posed to students. Included is a brief discussion of Arno…