A study examined the kinds of skills that minority students felt prepared them for college and helped them to succeed. All 80 minority students enrolled at Illinois' Millikin University (enrollment, 1,800 students) were interviewed for 20 to 30 minutes each. Results indicated that: (1) students reported that English composition/writing classes,…

A study examined classroom discourse in three literature class discussions among 15 high school juniors and their teacher as they tried to make sense of "Hamlet" and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." Participants' moves (what the students and teacher were trying to do with their language during the discussion);…

This study sought to determine Australian attitudes toward men working in the early childhood profession. Subjects were 100 first-year and 100 third-year female early childhood undergraduates and 22 practicing early childhood teachers and caregivers. Survey respondents were asked to describe how three imaginary early childhood teachers named Mary,…

Examples are drawn from an ongoing research program conducted in Australia and the United States to help explain how metaphors and images are associated with salient teaching roles and belief sets. This document is partitioned into five sections: (1) method; (2) metaphors and images; (3) teacher change; (4) what we learned from these studies; and…

This paper describes the role of analogy in science instruction and presents new research on the Teaching-With-Analogies model. After an introductory section, the paper discuses learning science meaningfully, including constructing relations, strategies for learning conceptual relations, the definition of analogy, effectiveness of analogies, and…

As part of a larger examination of teaching and learning within the social context of high school biology classrooms, a case study examined the enactment of literacy events as social processes in two high school biology classrooms. Two veteran high school biology teachers in an urban high school used identical first-year biology textbooks and…

A case study of teachers' activity design processes presents early findings from an ongoing study that intends to contribute to a practical theory of activity design that captures and reduces the complexity of integrated activities. The study also points to the kind of support teachers need to reflect a more constructivist perspective in their…

Research by Darkenwald and by James and Day supports the contention that instructor behavior is a critical factor in shaping the kind of classroom environment desired by adult learners. Darkenwald developed the Actual and Ideal Adult Classroom Environmental Scale (ACES), which measures seven dimensions: involvement, affiliation, teacher support,…

A description is given of the Classroom Organization and Management Program, designed to help teachers in grades 1-9 and staff developers improve their overall instructional and behavioral management skills through planning, implementing, and maintaining effective classroom practices. It also seeks to improve student task engagement and reduction…

The concept of knowledge utilization and the nature of practical decisions are analyzed to investigate how research knowledge and effective teaching practice are related. It is argued that the personal commitments of teachers, common sense, and normative requirements can also be valid bases for action. The author points out that an over-reliance…

A conceptual framework is developed to consider two dimensions of evaluation systems likely to lead performers to internalize the evaluation process. The theory of evaluation and authority developed by Dornbusch and Scott provides the basis for a review of six studies in support of two propositions: (1) the more frequently performers are…

Fourteen papers are presented from a conference on severe behavior disorders of children and youth. The following titles are included: "Beyond the Classroom: The Teacher of Behaviorally Disordered Pupils in a Social System" (C. Nelson); "Correctional Education and Special Education--An Emerging Partnership; or 'Born to Lose'" (B. Wolford);…

The mental attitudes of professors engaged in teaching courses in teacher education were studied, based on a 3-year longitudinal survey (1976-1978). A mental health Self-Rating Scale was administered to 31,857 professors at 656 colleges and universities. The professors appeared to be stable in their judgments for each of the 3 years studied. Based…

This paper analyzes both Flanders' and the Foreign Language Interaction (FLint) methods of classroom observation and concludes that both systems are deficient in accuracy, reliability and practicality. Observing, recording and decision-making difficulties are inherent, and system complexities and teacher biases add to the problems. (CHK)

The classroom behaviors of male and female elementary school teachers were observed over a 3 month period and related to the classroom behaviors and school attitudes of their male and female students. (GO)