A study was made to compare the effectiveness (determined by individual behavior change) of three sensitivity training conditions--spaced, massed, and combined--compared with each other and with a control group (no training); and to determine the relationship between 25 personal characteristics and the behavior change under the various conditions…

This study tests the hypothesis that disadvantaged children learn more from interaction with advantaged children in Head Start classrooms than when grouped solely with other disadvantaged children. Subjects were 32 disadvantaged children who were assigned to two experimental groups of eight each and a control group of 16. Eight advantaged children…

Eight Head Start centers which used the Responsive Model program during the 1968-69 school year were assessed to determine cognitive development of children, teacher performance in the classroom, adequacy of physical facilities, administrative support and the interrelationship between these variables. Teachers were observed at the beginning and…

This publication is intended to help teachers of young children in the informal preschool setting, particularly infant school teachers in England. Details of what 48 selected nursery and infant school teachers did and said during classroom "free time" periods were recorded by trained observers. This data is included in this book to…

Observational research was conducted in homes with a wide socioeconomic range to identify the major factors of experience that affect the development of a child's abilities. Thirty children, aged 12 to 36 months, were observed in three aspects of their environment: Human (family and peers), Static Physical (home and neighborhood), and Range of…

To develop a system for making systematic observations of classroom communicative interaction, to provide guidelines for its utilization, and to suggest applications of this system to problems in the development of communication skills, 94 deaf children were directly observed in class interaction. An evaluation instrument was developed from the…

The purpose of this study was to determine the applicability of sociobehavioral principles and techniques for influencing or changing the behavior of adults in a learning group. The behavior on which this study focused was off-task behavior, defined as that behavior inconsistent or incongruent with the lesson plan for that particular day, or with…

This paper reviews two major advances in preschool evaluation strategy that developed as a result of trying to evaluate Head Start, and proposes another evaluation approach. The first advance in evaluation procedure was to conceive educational objectives in terms of processes rather than products; that is, there was a shift from achievement tests…

The various behavioral phases through which a child passes before he becomes adjusted to school are examined in this report on East Indian children. A program of observation was devised to answer three questions: (1) Do patterns of behavior change as children continue to attend school? (2) Are there different patterns of behavior during the…

In this study, preferences for activities with people vs. objects were examined in preschool children and related to two kinds of intellectual abilities. Children with high object orientation were expected to be relatively advanced in organizing and classifying physical objects. In contrast, children with high people orientation were expected to…

The purpose of this study is to develop from naturalistic field observation data a set of concepts and hypotheses related to the teaching of thinking. The study conceptualizes and relates thought processes and instructional strategies by analyzing data collected from classrooms in which the Washington University Elementary Social Science…

This paper describes a model that uses interaction analysis as a tool to provide feedback to a teacher in a microteaching situation. The author explains how interaction analysis can be used for teacher improvement, describes the category system used in the model, the data collection methods used, and the feedback techniques found in the model. (JF)

The major objective of this series of studies was to clarify the concept of mastery motivation and to develop measures of this concept applicable to 1-year-old children. Three studies were made with 44 infants, aged 12 to 13 months. The first study, "Aspects of Mastery Motivation and Cognitive Functioning," utilized structured situations…

This unit of the Flexible Learning System (FLS) is concerned with the importance of play to early child development and with classroom conditions that promote productive play activity. Emphasis is put on developing skills in observing and analyzing play and understanding specific types of adult intervention in the play process. Activities and an…

This report describes several facets of students' experiences at Cypress College as viewed through the eyes of students. The methodology used in this case study was participant-observation, with observations made over a period of months, in as many parts of the campus as possible, and at random times during the day. The aim of this approach was to…