Level of spontaneous social initiating by three adult caregivers toward a youth with autism was studied during a program to increase the youth's level of social initiating. The youth's social initiations toward each adult were systematically reinforced. Frequency of spontaneous initiating toward the youth increased for each adult as the youth's…

Bakhtin's language theories give educators a view into how people develop and communicate with language through dialogue. These conceptions can be applied to teaching in a variety of positive ways. The authors explore how teaching based on Bakhtinian concepts might function in the classroom, paying particular attention to the concepts of dialogue,…

Research on Problem-Based Learning in medical education has undergone an evolutionary process from initial proof of concept studies through critiques of the original methods and beyond. Initial studies focused on whether or not the instructional method was effective for medical students and the goals of medical education. Despite much movement…

In 1998 the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching initiated a comprehensive study of professional education in the United States. By focusing on the interactions of teachers and students in the classroom and other formal and informal educational settings, the foundation hoped to discover how clergy, lawyers, engineers, doctors, and…

A model for processes of abstraction, based on epistemic actions, has been proposed elsewhere. Here we apply this model to processes in which groups of individual students construct shared knowledge and consolidate it. The data emphasizes the interactive flow of knowledge from one student to the others in the group, until they reach a shared…

In the past five years, informal science institutions (ISIs), science communication, advocacy and citizen action groups, funding organizations, and policy-makers in the UK and the USA have become increasingly involved in efforts to promote increased public engagement with science and technology (PEST). Such engagement is described as taking place…

Peer tutoring in Higher Education is being used with increasing frequency to aid in student learning, motivation, and empowerment. Although an extensive body of research documents the efficacy of such programs, it exhibits a surprising lack of awareness of the social dynamics involved. This study focuses on peer tutors and students as they…

A new paradigm for computer-supported cooperative work and a research agenda for developing and testing this paradigm are proposed. The book outlines a comprehensive model of collaboration that integrates the cognitive/conceptual and social dynamics of groups. The challenge faced by all groups engaged in intellectual work is to divide the task so…

This study is an initial report in a research program to examine the nature and influence of one set of structural variables--participation patterns--on patterns of interaction in sensitivity training groups. (Author)

Some disadvantages in the use of process recordings as an assessment and teaching tool for evaluating the communication skills of the student in nurse-client interactions are discussed. A more useful alternative process requires actual observation and subsequent participation by the instructor during student-client interviews. (EC)

This article discusses three characteristics useful in defining the relations between speakers in the turn-taking aspects of conversation: the derivational history of personal relationships, stop-action pseudo-history versus dynamic compacted posing, and the criss-crossing of verbal versus kinetic axes. (Available from Semiotica, Co-Libri, P.O.…

A study of 184 college-age premarital couples on their communications interaction resulted in a revised 40-item scale differentiating between good and poor communication. Utilizing this premarital communication inventory, a second study of 265 couples contemplating marriage was undertaken to establish mean scores. (Author)

The purpose of this paper is to review and summarize the findings of studies that bear on the effects of race as a counselor-client variable in the counseling relationship. For convenience, the studies have been grouped under two major headings: (1) effects on clients, and (2) effects on counselors. (Author)

This article is a review of five selected theories of person/environment interaction. The five theoretical viewpoints reviewed are Barker's theory of behavior settings, the subculture approach, Holland's theory of personality types and model environments, Stern's need X press=culture theory, and Pervin's transactional approach. (Author)