The verbal behaviors classification system was used to examine teacher-student interaction. Observations were made during classroom instruction. Verbal interaction was found to be asymmetrically contingent, while substance level interaction appeared to be reciprocally contingent. Results are extended and related to the theory of instruction and…

A cost effective intervention method was designed to demonstrate the practical implementation of classroom social skills training. Subjects were identified as withdrawn by the teacher. Social skills intervention was begun after a pretest observation. Behavioral change indicative of improved targeted social skills was noted at posttest…

A study was conducted of ten open education schools to discover what happens in open classrooms and to learn about the theory behind the practice of open education. (MM)

This research inquires whether an ethnographic (descriptive anthropology) approach to the study of teaching could yield new insights into the teaching-learning process. (MM)

New trends in language teaching have resulted in a move towards research in the language classroom. A brief overview of classroom research reveals three distinct but inter-related research paradigms: classroom-centered research, classroom process research, and qualitative research, respectively.

Researchers followed 2 language minority children through their first 2 years of school, examining the influence of their parents and of school practices. Two cohorts of minority language students were followed from the beginning of kindergarten to the end of first grade. Students were observed once a week in their classrooms. Researchers kept…

The importance of examining classroom processes was highlighted in a 1992 British report on primary education, which emphasized the role of classroom management. Before that, several studies determined that misbehavior was small-scale and not widespread. For example, the 1989 Elton Report was a national policy document that described the extent of…

This paper describes how researchers at SRI International's Center for Technology and Learning designed and used an observation tool as part of its evaluation of a local Technology Innovation Challenge Grant program called Challenge 2000: Multimedia Project. The paper aims to present both the process and the tool that researchers, program…

The lessons learned by this book's authors, who observed literacy events in third- and fourth-grade classrooms, altered their vision of teaching and learning. The book shares their observations of how students engage in literacy events and construct meaning within these events, focusing on three factors that significantly influence the…

Noting the connection between the systematic observation of children's behavior and effective teaching, this book details experiences of early childhood practitioners to illustrate how observation helps teachers and caregivers become more effective in the child care center, preschool, family child care home, or elementary school classroom. The…

This book offers a plan for improved classroom practice through the supervisory process. It includes hands-on practices for developing a personalized supervision strategy, research-based and empirically tested strategies, field-tested tools and techniques for qualitative and quantitative observation, a comprehensive resource of traditional and…

Teacher-child interaction in an open classroom was observed and teacher behavior and its resultant effectiveness was rated by means of a coding system developed early in the observation process. (JB)

Reports research attempting to move beyond the discussion of the cultural gap hypothesis based on secondary data analysis and subject it to a scrutiny based on direct observation of classroom interaction within an urban black school. (Author/JM)