This paper describes a collaborative action research project conducted by a university researcher and a group of elementary school teachers. It examines the role the researcher plays when educational change is initiated by practitioners and the nature of the relationship that develops between researcher and practitioners throughout the change…

This paper argues that collaborative learning is possible within graduate education and examines the process whereby a classroom can develop into a unified learning community of shared experiences. Using excerpts of student writings and dialogue, three aspects surrounding the creation of a learning community are explored: (1) the risk of trust,…

The evaluation of the effectiveness of the classes for persons convicted of driving while intoxicated was based largely on analyses of verbal behaviors of participants and instructors, using the psychosocial theories of Erik Erikson. The established goals of the course emphasize that the information must be dealt with in a group situation where…

Both teacher and student materials are included in this guide for a postsecondary course intended to provide training in the psychological aspects of confrontation, disturbance, or disorder. One of a number of military-developed curriculum packages selected for adaptation to vocational instruction and curriculum development in a civilian setting,…

This curriculum guide for fifth-grade teachers contains values-based classroom lessons on the topic of group action. The lessons are intended to assist students in the development of a positive self-concept and inter- and intrapersonal skills necessary for individual and group effectiveness. Teaching techniques include use of transparencies and…

The book is intended for college seniors and graduate students seeking an understanding of adult education and for practitioners who are conducting some aspect of an adult program. Its focus is on education for home and family life, one of the important objectives of adult education. Part One introduces the nature of adult education, giving…

A taxonomy of educational objectives which conceptualizes interpersonal skills in terms of measurable behavior is described. The categories represent six aspects of leadership capability--one of them cognitive (conceptualization), one of them cognitive-affective (evaluation), and four of them cognitive-affective-behavioral (leading, following,…

Differential item functioning (DIF) methodology for revealing sources of item difficulty and performance characteristics of different groups was explored. A total of 150 Scholastic Aptitude Test items and 132 Graduate Record Examination general test items were analyzed. DIF was evaluated for males and females and Blacks and Whites. (SLD)

Reports on an action research study on improving equality of opportunity for students in a socially and racially mixed classroom. Finds that students were empowered by their involvement setting up and drawing conclusions from the study. Questions the extent to which research should focus on race, social class, or gender. (CFR)

This research describes an observation study of 100 children, ages 9-13 years, on the island of 'Ua Pou, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia. The children were in a French government boarding school in the main valley of the island. Complex, sophisticated group processes among the Marquesan children were observed. The role structures of the group…

This essay looks at three kinds of changes in American society over the period from the late 1960s to the mid-1990s. First, data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) are used to measure trends in college freshmen's political identification, materialism, concern for law and order, and concern for helping others. In all these…

This anecdotal ethnography describes the student culture at Columbia Academy, an international school in Kobe, Japan. The paper begins by contrasting the affluence of Columbia Academy and its students with the relative austerity of a nearby Japanese middle school. The paper follows a typical day at Columbia, and describes the nationalities of the…

AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION HAS LONG ASSUMED THAT IF FARMERS ARE GIVEN INFORMATION, SOME WILL USE IT, AND THAT IDEAS WILL DIFFUSE FROM INNOVATORS TO OTHER FARMERS. HOWEVER, RESEARCH FINDINGS INDICATE THAT ABOUT 16 PERCENT OF FARMING POPULATIONS USE THE INFORMATION PROVIDED AND THAT WIDESPREAD DIFFUSION MAY TAKE UP TO 10 YEARS. DIFFERING VALUES AND…

Lortie has described teacher sentiments that meld into a structure called the autonomy/equality norm. This norm helps preserve the separation of teaching from organizational and collegial purviews. As part of a larger study which looks for conditions that affect and are influenced by variations in task interdependence among teachers, an effort was…

A self-report inventory was compared with a situational test as a predictor of the verbal behavior of individual members of small interpersonal skills training groups. As hypothesized, the situational test was a better predictor than was the self-report inventory. A powerful social conformity effect may have operated in both the situational test…