A pilot study at the University of Wisconsin (UW) Green Bay campus examined the attitudes of college faculty toward adult students in classes comprised of both adult and traditional-aged students. During the study, researchers interviewed 10 teachers of intergenerational classes at the Green Bay Campus of the University of Wisconsin and…

The definition of teacher stress is presented along with a brief description of its manifestations. Statistics are offered regarding the causes and severity of teacher stress. A major focus is put upon the real role and ego ideal of teachers, chronic discipline problems, and frustration with poor student achievement. Three processes for helping to…

The decontextualized nature of literacy has been a recurrent issue in discussions of the consequences of literacy over the last twenty years. The central thesis of these discussions is that the nature of written discourse itself leads directly or indirectly to changes in cognitive processing, linguistic progressing, cultural development, and/or…

The processes entailed in facilitating or leading workshops or seminars for researching the curriculum in Technical and Further Education (TAFE) were examined by using a modified Delphi process, which was followed by a 2-day workshop. Participants in the study were all experienced curriculum development specialists with knowledge of one or more of…

Two ninth-grade classrooms and the dynamics between the social organization of the classroom and the teaching of subject matter were studied. A general mathematics and a social studies class, both geared for the academically deficient, were observed during one academic year. Observations focused on student and teacher behavior in the two classes…

Designed to assist the observer in the understanding of the Group Reading Interaction Pattern Observation Instrument (GRIP) training manual, this programmed review contains a series of coding activities provided for the purpose of determining if each observer can differentiate between the categories and subcategories of the instrument as well as…

This study investigated modes of communication adopted by six student jazz musicians during rehearsal and performance. Six one-hour rehearsal sessions and a performance were observed and videotaped for analysis. Results revealed six modes of communication that formed two main categories, verbal and non-verbal, each containing three distinct modes…

Administrative isolation involves the absence of colleagues to share problems, seek advice, offer and receive feedback, and obtain valid information regarding one's professional effectiveness. This condition of administrative isolation is exacerbated for women in administrative roles who are further isolated by their minority status. This paper…

Some bases of intra-group identification among Black people who inhabit urban ghettoes are discussed, as well as the economy of the ghetto, especially as it pertains to the strategies that Black Americans have evolved to deal with their subsistence problems. An attempt is made to relate these strategies to the presence of in-group schisms and to…

The study described in this volume investigated the talk of thirteen-year-old boys and girls, recorded while they were working in small groups on tasks set by their teachers. Specifically, research focused on the interplay between cognitive and communicative functions of speech in contexts planned for learning. "The Children and Their Talk"…

The usefulness of equity theory for understanding the social/motivational dynamics of the classroom was studied. Attention was directed to how faculty (and students) calculate equity and what the consequences may be. A first set of questionnaires was completed by 238 graduate students and 41 faculty members in 56 classes at a large southern state…

This study addresses the question: Is the verbal interaction between teachers and students reciprocal? Teachers' and students' verbal behaviors were investigated using the verbal behavior classification system (CVC) in 72 seventh through ninth grade classrooms. The CVC system consists of a matrix of process and substance dimensions. Categories in…

Three discrete but related studies contribute to the larger research question of how adult educators can help community problem-solving group members gain new skills and compentencies as they work together on community problems. The first study addresses defining individual growth in the context of rural community problem-solving groups and…

In contrast to a teacher-dominated literature classroom where authority rests with the one who has the power to grade, a classroom dedicated to cultivating the creative process breaks down the traditional hierarchies (such as theory and practice, text and reader, and organization and improvisation) and concentrates on the needs of the individual…

Participatory decision-making strategies have been suggested as effective in groups with the task of solving unstructured problems or creating innovations. Concerned about evaluating children's affective growth in open classrooms, eight educators in a large metropolitan area agreed to meet regularly after school hours to develop an instrument to…