Urban environments are characterized by crowding, heterogeneous groups, disparities in opportunity between inner city and suburbia, concentrated hostility, complexity in organizational communication factors, depersonalization, dependence on mass communication, and high interdependence requiring balancing of conflicting goals. While communication…

Frequently speakers confront hostile groups and audiences with opposite points of view. Public communicators faced with this dilemma can choose not to address the group or, in speaking, can avoid points of contention, but a third more subtle alternative used is deliberate ambiguity or vagueness, a rhetorical strategy known as equivocation. But do…

Reported is an investigation of the instructional styles of 23 earth science teachers who used the Earth Science Curriculum Project (ESCP) materials and text with eighth- or ninth-grade students. Flanders' interaction analysis system was used as a basis for the observations. The differences in teaching procedures were identified by using the…

An attempt is made to provide a comprehensive guide to design of the dialogues between man and computer that take place at computer terminals. Particular topics include problems with conventional alphanumeric dialogues, dialogues with sound and graphics, pyschological characteristics of computer terminal users, problems of designing dialogues for…

A series of graphically-oriented computer-assisted instructional (CAI) lessons in elementary beam theory has been developed for an undergraduate course in solid mechanics. The lessons were implemented on the PLATO CAI system at the University of Illinois; the system included a graphical display unit (CRT) and a CDC 1604 computer. The first phase…

The purpose of this bulletin, one of a series designed to aid the social studies teacher, is to explain the use of sociodrama in the classroom. An eight-step procedure for development of the sociodrama is described. Purposes of sociodrama are discussed and three major types of sociodrama are identified: the life problem, the problem story, and the…

Three experiments were conducted to examine the effects of adult expectations on children's learning and performance; one in-classroom study and two experimental studies were made in order to investigate developmental trends in susceptibility to expectancy effects and the relationship of induced vs. self-generated expectancies vis-a-vis children's…

The perception of locus of control among one hundred and seventy-seven grade 4, 5, and 6 pupils in a traditional school, and one hundred and eighty-five grade 4, 5, and 6 children in a community controlled school was investigated. The Children's Internal Vs. External Scale which measures general life situations, and the Intellectual Achievement…

In April 1971 the Ontario Educational Communications Authority evaluated its simulation game "Operation Moonvigil", an action and reflection process for students in grades five through nine, designed to allow them to discover how and why institutions come into being and interact with individuals. Questionnaires were distributed, student…

The Differentiated Child Behavior (DCB) Observational System has a two-fold purpose: first, it provides a description and analysis of patterns of classroom interactions in educational programs and program impact on children's functioning; and second, it provides feedback to supervisory staff so that analysis of programs contributes to…

In Part One of this study of both racial attitudes in and the influence of race on social interaction between preschool children, "The Acquisition of Racial Attitudes," there is a discussion of mechanisms of racial attitude transmission, and a review of other studies. Part Two, "Sociological Correlates of Racial Attitude…

The purpose of this study was to find teacher behaviors which correlate significantly with a criterion measure of teacher ability to relate to students. Videotapes of 50 teacher interns were shown to 100 high school students of three different ethnic backgrounds--white, black and oriental. Teachers were rated on ability to relate to students.…

To understand the developmental bases of moral-rational behavior in children, the effectiveness of four training paradigms in modifying social behavior was compared. The specific behavior studied was that of taking-turns in situations where mutual assistance was necessary in order for either of two children to receive prizes. The four training…

This paper discusses findings from a study of the speech patterns of 10 mothers interacting with their own younger child, their own older child, and with an adult. Results are discussed in terms of the temporal-acoustic pattern and content of the mothers' speech. Two claims are made about the kinds of speech a child hears: (1) The flow of speech…

This collection of essays aims to draw attention to important areas of interaction between technology and values, to offer some ideas of where and how control of social problems may be attempted in ways which are compatible with the dominant values of the persons affected, and to map out a framework of categories within which one can describe and…