Two studies were conducted to examine (1) 1- to 3-day-old infants' imitation of their mothers, and (2) mothers' imitation of their newborn infants. For the infant imitation study, 30 mothers and their infants served as subjects. Two observers stood behind the mother to view the infant's face while the mother presented one of the following…

Definitions and recording rules for use in observing parent/child interaction are stipulated in this codebook. Settings and behaviors of focal concern are those associated with the type and amount of instruction provided by parents to children. Definitions are established for setting, parent behavior and child behavior variables. The four…

PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO QUANTIFY BEHAVIOR CHANGES OF FOURTH, FIFTH, AND SIXTH GRADE MATH TEACHERS WHILE THEY WERE TAKING A 15-WEEK IN-SERVICE EDUCATIONAL TV COURSE, TAUGHT BY THE AUTHOR. 16 PAIRS OF TEACHERS WERE SELECTED FROM 6 DISTRICTS TO PARTICIPATE. 1 MEMBER OF EACH PAIR WAS CHOSEN BY LOT TO TAKE THE COURSE, AND THE OTHER AGREED NOT TO…

An experiment is reported in which an attempt was made to bias college students' observations of a videotape of children at play. The study is framed in terms of W.I. Thomas' ideas concerning the definition of the situation. Observer bias is an instance when a definition of a situation is based primarily on subjective situational factors. Reliance…

In order to assess the classroom behavior of PLAN students relative to students in other instructional systems, the PLAN Student Observation Scale (PLAN-SOS) was developed. Specifically, PLAN-SOS was designed to measure the percentages of time that students spend performing various behaviors judged to be important to the learning process in a…

The objective of this study was to show how classroom observation systems measuring different dimensions of student behavior might be used simultaneously to record and analyze classroom process variables used by teachers. The subjects of the study were 71 student teachers, and the four observational systems were the Reciprocal Category System, the…

Classroom observation has the potential of obtaining valuable information regarding teacher and child behavior. This study examines the accuracy of observers coding a standard stimuli. In this procedure the observer's bias is examined, as well as the confidence that can be placed in the observation code itself. Through these procedures the exact…

Simply presenting information that displays clearly any discrepancy between a teacher's ideal and actual classroom performance does not, in itself, promise constructive change. This is true in part because teachers confronted with such discrepancies often experience anxiety. Teachers who wish to change often find it difficult to behave differently…

The classroom experiences of children in two model preschool programs were compared using an observational technique which was developed for a study of Head Start classrooms. The main objective of the study was to determine if the observational scale could discriminate between two programs of widely differing philosophy. The second goal of the…

This document contains papers from a variety of sources related to the topic of teacher evaluation. Following a brief introduction, chapter two provides a definition of evaluation. Chapter three outlines some current problems in appraisal and suggests a new approach. Chapter four contains four models of appraisal procedure: classroom observations,…

This paper contains optional modifications and additions to the Brophy-Good Dyadic Interaction Coding Manual (ED 042 688). Included are 1) suggestions for changes in the way level-of-question is coded; 2) modifications of the child's answer categories for simplification or expansion; 3) new distinctions for coding the teacher's feedback following…

As a result of a concern over the adequacy of teacher rating instruments, a project was begun to develop a pool of items describing teacher behavior. Most of the items were derived from the literature; some were written by the project. The item pool presently consists of 1137 items subsumed under 19 categories. Examples of categories are: personal…

This paper illustrates how behavioral models which embody a critical language can be used to describe and predict some categories of classroom events. It defines teaching-learning as a set of events which are mediated primarily by a person, the consequence of which is change in behavior of a second person. A language for describing this phenomenon…

Recent interest in the direct, descriptive study of teaching has led to renewed attention to the types of questions asked by teachers. An important contributing factor has also been the progress made in the analysis of cognitive operations and the identification of a complex hierarchy of operations. Several observation systems developed from…