A study investigated and compared the instructional behaviors, class content, and class organization of kindergarten and first grade movement educators and traditional physical education teachers. Literature on this topic suggests that movement educators focus on indirect teaching methods, nontraditional classroom settings, student involvement,…

Current literature about children of one-parent families can provide educators with information on what effects living in a one-parent family have on a child's personality, behavior, and academic performance. Research indicates that at the elementary level children often fear abandonment, act aggressively, and display attention-seeking behaviors…

This paper discusses findings of ecological studies of classroom learning drawn from the fields of anthropology, sociology, and ecological psychology. The aim of the studies is to illustrate the processes of teaching and learning rather than to establish generalizable rules for instruction by challenging the methodology and findings of traditional…

Path analysis was used to discover predictors of personality, school conduct, and distractibility-hyperactivity problems in this 4-year longitudinal study of 173 rural children. While previous studies had shown that children's behavior disorders are related to sex of child, family disruption, IQ, Bender-Gestalt Test scores, and socioeconomic…

To understand and deal with student behavior, we must understand that most behavior is caused by objects and events in the world around the student; that students have learned personal ways of relating to those objects and events; and that in a setting like a school it is easier and more productive to alter those objects and events than to change…

Several teacher motivation variables were examined for relationships to stategies teachers use for responding to problem students. During interviews, 98 elementary school teachers described general strategies to twelve types of problem students: (1) failure syndrome; (2) perfectionist; (3) underachiever; (4) low achiever; (5) hostile aggressive;…

Teacher education programs should stress the development of classroom management skills before and during preservice teachers' field experiences. Research on interpersonal communications, as related to the role of the teacher and the teaching situation has identified a need for increased effectiveness in facilitative interpersonal functioning and…

This report is based on the results of a field experiment in three racially integrated elementary schools. The study reports that groupwork is an effective strategy to produce equal status behavior among racial groups of different socioeconomic background and different levels of academic skills. It also reports that small groups are of critical…

Moral contradictions and cross-purposes in society make formal moral training in the schools difficult. A discussion is presented of the pressure on the schools to provide values education at a time when society itself is unclear about values. The examples provided by parents, television, and other influences in the lives of young people are…

The eight papers in this compendium were commissioned from faculty and staff members to provide a research and theoretical base for selected components of a University of Kentucky report on a teaching experience involving mainstreamed elementary school children. That experience was reported in "Perspectives of an Ivory Tower Realist," a monograph…

Techniques for observing the classroom behavior of teachers and students are examined. These techniques provide a framework for analyzing and understanding classroom interaction, for making decisions about what should be happening, and for changing instructional behavior when it is necessary. The observation methods allow collection, analysis, and…

Since the questioning process is critical in stimulating student learning, an urgent need for more extensive, controlled research on this topic exists. Previous studies indicate that a high percentage of questions asked by teachers call only for factual answers and that oral activity in the classroom is largely teacher-dominated. Further, no…

Addressing the need for effective teaching and accountability in music instruction, this document describes a study of an inservice project to train teachers in the use of consistent verbal and nonverbal behaviors. The project involved 27 music teachers in the inner city, multiracial community of East Harlem in New York City. The workshop sessions…

The 99 observation systems described in this anthology describe measurable categories of behavior, rather than global concepts. These systems function as a meta-language--a language for describing communication. Each represents one or more of seven major categories: affective, cognitive, nonverbal, activity, content, sociological structure, and…

A GUIDANCE UNIT ON ATTITUDES WAS DEVELOPED FOR USE AT THE SECONDARY LEVEL. THE OBJECTIVES WERE TO STUDY COMMON ATTITUDES, POSITIVE OUTLOOKS, PERSONAL IMPROVEMENT, THE RELATIONSHIPS OF PERSONALITY TO VOCATIONAL CHOICE AND JOB SUCCESS, AND EGOCENTRIC AND ALTRUISTIC BEHAVIOR PATTERNS. AN INDIVIDUAL'S LIFE IS SEEN TO BE MOLDED BY HIS OUTLOOK AND…