Evaluated the Early Coping Inventory (ECI) as a measure of coping skills in low-risk nursery school children. Findings pointed to significant associations between observers' ratings and teachers' ratings on the Evaluation of Adaptive Behavior in Nursery School. Findings suggest that the ECI may be valuable in early identification of children with…

Examined the long-term consequences of mother-child mutually responsive orientation for the development of conscience at early school age. Found that mutually responsive orientation at toddler and preschool ages predicted children's conscience, even after controlling for developmental continuity of conscience. Toddler mutually responsive…

Applies the evaluative methodology of F. Le Poultier to an observational, longitudinal study of children who lived in a residential community because of their multiproblem families. Confirms the correlation of the children's displayed behavior and educational practices, showing that the children's behavior determined the intensity of practices…

A study evaluated the use of a situational assessment for identifying work task preferences among three individuals with multiple severe disabilities. The assessment involved systematically observing indices of happiness and unhappiness while participants worked on different tasks. Work engagement was most frequent when workers worked on their…

Explores children's play as social behavior in relation to cognitive style and identifies the social factors underlying both young children's play and cognitive style. Indicates that field-dependent children participated more in social play activities, while field-independent children engaged in more nonsocial play activities. Discusses the…

Compares bullying and victimization in the playground and in the classroom through naturalistic observations. Results indicate that there were more opportunities to observe aggression and receive and initiate aggression in the playground than in the classroom. Nonaggressive children were more likely to bully in the playground, whereas aggressive…

Presents an activity combining music and art in which students create a picture expressing a particular style of music. Develops skills in painting and drawing from observation. The paintings include a realistic drawing of one or more instruments and convey the feelings of the instrument's musical style. (CMK)

This article offers suggestions for videotaping classroom instruction in order to allow teachers to conduct self-evaluation through self-observation and to develop hypotheses regarding the functional relationship of their behavior to that of their students. Methods of defining, scoring, and graphically displaying behaviors are explained, and…

Reports on a study that focused on Australian students' cognitive and social skills in group decision-making activities conducted in the classroom. Finds that students were motivated to participate in group decision-making and that students' decision-making strategies are destructive when students assert their own ideas at the expense of others.…

Identifies and describes children's in-action mental model of their own learning, which was inferred from the observation of children's behaviors when learning a song. Explains that the mental model is made up of musical organizations and learning strategies, each on two levels, large-scale and detailed. (CMK)

Used focus group discussion and classroom observations to compare whether early childhood teachers' reported use of timeout as a discipline method was congruent with classroom behavior. Found that the verbal responses of the five teachers observed were very congruent with what they carried out while teaching. (Author/KB)

Considers the use of observation in the classroom as a means of student assessment. Focuses on developing an observation instrument, the scoring criteria, and using progress-based rankings rather than static rankings. Provides an example teacher observation form. (CMK)

Presents an evaluation of the use of videoconferencing in learning and teaching in an undergraduate degree program for student teachers in the United Kingdom. Students observed naturalistic teaching practices in a primary school and results of interviews with students and teachers were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the videoconferencing…

Presents an activity with fifth-grade students called "crazy hat portraits" that is the end product of a sequence of lessons. Describes the beginning lessons and lists what the students learn and the time and materials needed for the assignment. (CMK)

Coaching behaviors can be modified to improve the coach-athlete relationship. Systematic observation can provide positive feedback to athletes/physical education students. Seven steps in the process of systematic observation include deciding what behaviors to observe, defining those behaviors, selecting appropriate coding techniques, determining…