This pilot study investigates the socializing effect of school environments, specifically with respect to helping and sharing in children. Environmental conditions presumed to promote the development of helping and sharing in children are: (1) interdependent goals, (2) modeling, (3) reward of helping and sharing, (4) awareness of others' feelings, and (5) use of control or power. The Teacher Observation Scale was developed, based on 4 months' observation of 4th-grade classrooms and was tested for inter-observer reliability in 96 observation sessions. Two classrooms were selected and an extreme groups approach was used. Class A was designated as cognitively oriented; Class B, socially oriented (based on the principal's judgment of teacher behavior and classroom structure, and teachers' descriptions of their goals. Teacher A was expected to encourage helping behavior; Teacher B was expected to be less likely to do so. The Learning Environment Inventory for Young Children was administered to determine students' environmental perceptions. It was predicted that Class A students would show more altruistic behavior than Class B students. The Observation Scale, applied to both classes, varied in the predicted direction on teacher dimensions. Analyses of children's perceptions and behavior provided preliminary positive results. A discussion of the pros and cons of using a naturalistic/observational approach to study children's altruistic behavior is presented. (DP)