The research methodology of this study is at least as important as the actual findings. For certain types of information seeking, directed conversations, or interviews, seem most desirable. Yet, although such conversations are easy to carry on with teachers, they are difficult to manage with 6-year-old children, especially when the interviewer is unfamiliar to the child. In this study, one of the interviewer's assistants wrote a detailed description of five minutes of the child's behavior while another assistant took Polaroid pictures of the child at the same time. In the afternoon, the interviewer took each child aside and asked him to describe what he was doing in the pictures. The children spoke freely and easily with the interviewer about the pictures and their own activity. Data collected in this manner and from other techniques were used to compare the Follow-Through classrooms of Teacher A (child-directed individualized learning) and Teacher B (teacher-directed group instruction). The children in Teacher A's class valued "other activities" (block play, water play, listening to records) more than "doing what the teacher likes" and "doing" traditional academic tasks, while Teacher B's students did not. Also, the language used by Teacher A's students was more differentiated and varied than that used by the other class. (MH)