Initially, the author began her teacher inquiry project by focusing on the superhero play she had been observing in her classroom and on her concerns about how it might be impacting the classroom community. Through an ongoing process of self-reflection and reading research, she was able to open herself up to interacting and engaging with the…

Studies of primary education within the UK have shown that small groups can feature within classrooms; however, equivalent research within secondary education remains scarce. Research has established effective group work approaches, yet secondary teachers may encounter difficulties employing approaches tied to parameters embedded within primary…

This overview describes a system for measuring instructional and management parameters of teaching through a method of classroom observation in which live observers and video tapes record teacher and learner behavior (both verbal and nonverbal) and the social-political-physical characteristics of the setting. Presentation is in 3 sections: (1) the…

A multi-aged primary classroom environment was observed to determine (1) the degree to which teacher behaviors specified by developers of an adaptive learning environment (ALE) are actually exhibited by the teachers, (2) the nature of classroom processes and interactions between teachers and students in an ALE, and (3) the extent to which…

Friendship choices were found to be distributed more evenly in classrooms where greater student interaction is permitted. (JD)

This document describes an instructional packet designed to help teachers develop effective techniques for monitoring classroom behavior. Monitoring student classroom behavior requires the possession of a meaningful set of categories with which to describe student behavior, the ability to identify examples of those behaviors in the context of…

Relationships among peer social interaction rate, classroom activity, and teaching style were investigated to determine whether teaching style could be defined in terms of differential student interaction rates across various classroom activities. Peer interaction rates were determined in three primary level classrooms representing various…

Research on gender differences in classroom interaction patterns is reviewed. The analysis of 24 Year 8 science lessons in Brisbane, Australia, indicates that the interaction patterns of girls are not significantly different from those of boys. Suggestions for future classroom interaction research based on more complex perspectives are proposed.…

The history and utility of category observation instruments are briefly traced; category observation instruments are defined and their essential properties stated; and a sequential strategy for their construction is discussed. (MM)

A study was conducted to analyze the role that nonverbal communication plays in classroom climate. A 40-item classroom communication climate questionnaire was developed, and administered to 76 students and 8 teachers to determine its reliability and validity. After several changes and deletions, the final version of the questionnaire was…

Descriptive data were collected over a two-month period on two middle elementary classrooms to which student teachers had been assigned. From this data typical patterns of teaching/learning behavior were identified for each classroom. The student teachers were then interchanged, and the data collection continued for another two months. Comparison…

The goal of this book is to help teachers create a positive social climate in the elementary school classroom. Six group processes areas are identified as combining to create the social climate of the classroom: (1) attraction; (2) leadership; (3) communication; (4) student norms of conduct; (5) individual expectations; and (6) group cohesion. The…

The verbal behavior of teachers and students in elementary stenography classes is described. Observational data, consisting of the verbal behavior of teachers and students in 30 elementary stenography classes, were categorized and analyzed. From this initial analysis, a basic model of teacher-student behavior was defined. Deviations from the basic…

Locus of control and classroom behavior data were gathered from 223 randomly selected junior/senior high school students. Results showed moderate positive correlation between internality and both considerate and task-oriented behavior. The strongest relationship observed was between perceptions about the teacher's control over negative outcomes…