A study described the characteristics of sociocognitive conflicts and the discourse associated with such conflicts, and determined how the cognitive processes exercised during discussion were internalized. Participants were 97 fourth-grade students and 6 elementary classroom teachers. Peer-led and teacher-led discussions of texts were examined to…

This bibliography of 146 scales contains measures requiring the observation of a particular set of actions and the recording, usually at a later time, of some inference or judgment concerning the observed actions. Judgment may be in terms of an indication of the presence, degree, or frequency of a behavior. The majority of instruments target the…

Educators have a responsibility to learn more about at-risk youth. This paper examines such youths' family systems and dynamics, their identifying characteristics, and explores possible interventions. If a family perceives many situations as crises, that family usually possesses inadequate coping skills. Children in such families develop their own…

Teachers' perceptions of student behaviors were examined to explain teachers' attitudes toward their students with and without learning handicaps. The study involved 44 intermediate-grade teachers who had students with learning handicaps and nonhandicapped students in their classrooms. Teachers' attitudes were measured with a four-question survey,…

Interactive classroom activities can be dominated by a small group of students called target students. This publication explores what has been learned about target students and the reasons why mathematics and science teachers permit a relatively small number of target students to dominate interactions involving the teacher and other resources.…

This monograph addresses the challenge of improving literacy learning for all children, especially those in language-minority classrooms. The monograph introduces some of these classrooms in detail, examining and describing their literacy practices and setting forth some of the principles of learning and language that underlie them. It is the…

Two studies examined the relationship between metacognitive knowledge and performance among Japanese children. It was predicted that highly prosocial children would have more appropriate knowledge of helping than would children who were low in prosocial behavior. The first study involved 109 third graders and 129 fifth graders and examined the…

This report describes a model academic improvement program for 18 third graders with low achievement. Data from a questionnaire filled out by four teachers and from observations by the teachers revealed that students targeted for the program demonstrated low learning readiness skills, which resulted in less than desirable behavior, study skills,…

In Nebraska, where nearly 70% of elementary school districts are rural, there is much debate about whether students from small rural schools have educational opportunities equal to those of students from town or city schools. This paper compares the performance, participation, and behavior of high school juniors who attended elementary schools in…

This research probes the content and consequences of the decisions that teachers make while conducting a lesson. Subjects included 2 middle school teachers (grades 7 and 8) and 35 of their students. This research employed participant observation, informant interviewing, and shared viewing of a videotaped lesson to explore interactive decision…

A study investigated the instructional usefulness of HANGMAN, a computerized vocabulary development game, for university students of English as a Second Language. In the ten microcomputers available to students, the regular version of the game was replaced with a modified version in which all student key-strokes were recorded automatically.…

This study examines the use of teacher and student humor in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom. A summary and synthesis of previous research on theories of humor, humor and its use in society, and applications of humor revealed its importance as an object of study. An analysis of audiotaped transcripts of samples of ESL classes…

This seminar overview presents a summary of widely accepted findings by researchers on the qualities, behaviors, and characteristics of effective teachers. As defined in this paper, an effective teacher is one who can engage students in the learning processes, minimize disruptive behavior, and produce desired learning in a large number of…

Three researchers, addressing the problem of instructional improvement, identify sound research findings and cite problems associated with the transfer of these findings into classroom practice. Donald M. Medley, in "An Overview of Research on Classroom Teaching," identifies three variables which consistently differentiate between effective and…

A study was conducted to investigate issues related to the development of preschool children's self-definitions of attractiveness. Research questions were (1) At what ages can children state a self-definition of attractiveness? (2) Are self-definitions temporally stable? (3) To what degree are children's self-judgments similar to judgments made of…