Seventeen selected research studies relating student learning with teacher characteristics and personality in grades 7-12 science classrooms are reviewed. Methodology, objectives, and major findings of the 1960 "Teacher Characteristics Study" and short summaries of nine additional studies are considered in the first section dealing with…

Techniques for observing the classroom behavior of teachers and students are examined. These techniques provide a framework for analyzing and understanding classroom interaction, for making decisions about what should be happening, and for changing instructional behavior when it is necessary. The observation methods allow collection, analysis, and…

English and mathematics teachers in junior high schools were observed for an average of 20 one-hour periods throughout the school year. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between the affective behavior of the teacher and the students' academic achievement and attitudes. Anecdotal information based on the classroom…

The fourth in a series reporting evaluation findings on the impact of Project Developmental Continuity (PDC), this volume reports treatment-related and other findings concerning teachers and classrooms up to the time the evaluation study's cohort of children had completed grade 1. Begun at 15 sites in 1974 with the purpose of ensuring that…

The final volume in a series of six evaluation reports, this document provides a summary of the results of the evaluation of Project Developmental Continuity (PDC), conducted when the evaluation study's cohort of children had completed grade 1. Begun at 15 sites in 1974 with the purpose of ensuring that disadvantaged children receive continuous…

The 99 observation systems described in this anthology describe measurable categories of behavior, rather than global concepts. These systems function as a meta-language--a language for describing communication. Each represents one or more of seven major categories: affective, cognitive, nonverbal, activity, content, sociological structure, and…

The rationale of the Observation Schedule and Record (OScAR) is described, and research is reported to show the extent to which the form fulfills its purposes. In order to provide objective, reliable, and valid information about the teaching process, this classroom observation schedule is used to record the frequency of occurrence of 42 teacher…

Instructors of courses in mass society, culture, and communication start out facing three types of difficulties: the historical orientation of learning, the parochialism of various disciplines, and negative intellectually elitist attitudes toward mass culture/media. Added to these problems is the fact that many instructors have little or no…

This discussion of the development of children's competency in nonverbal communication is divided into three major sections; (1) review of literature, (2) methodological concerns, (3) implications for teachers. The review of literature focuses on post-1970 studies using non-institutionalized children. Findings are organized according to…

The effects of student socioeconomic status (SES) and four teacher behaviors--teacher structure, teacher affect, cognitive level of questions, and group size--on student reading achievement were analyzed. Subjects were 36 fifth and sixth grade classroom teachers and their 820 students. Data were collected with the Reading Comprehension Subtest…

In a summer institute, secondary school writing teachers improved their teaching and writing skills through teaching writing by the direct method and through participating in weekly writing tutorials. Too often, writing is taught through such indirect methods as work with grammars, rhetorics, and heuristics, which seem more attractive to teachers…

This is an intensive observational study of teacher behavior in six kindergartens in three schools. The schools were picked to be typical examples of a white middle class suburban school, an integrated lower class urban school, and a black lower class urban school. In all three schools teachers used the greatest proportion of class time (from 33…

An attempt to adapt the U.S.-based IDEA (Instructional Development by Evaluation and Assessment) system to Great Britain is described. This widely-used method of faculty evaluation based on student ratings was pioneered by Kansas State University. Among the features of IDEA are the following: it relates student perceptions of teacher behavior to…

Nonverbal teacher behavior is recognized as an important factor in establishing a positive social climate in the classroom. A feedback and analysis instrument is presented focusing on specific nonverbal teacher behaviors. These behaviors--facial expressions, gestures, body movements, and idiosyncratic characteristics--are categorized as either…

The major theses of this paper state that the concept of educational change is different from the concept of educational innovation and the effectiveness and broad scale applicability of educational change is limited by influences often overlooked by planners and implementors of change. The minor theses state that (1) the fate of most educational…