The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of teachers' abilities to identify problem children. Ninety-five third grade children served as subjects. Teachers designated each child as a conduct problem, withdrawal problem, or normal, resulting in 16, 14, and 65 children being assigned to the three groups. Behavioral observations, peer…

Qualitative and quantitative methodology in classroom observation were combined in this study that examined nine second grade reading classes. Each classroom was observed by an ethnographer and a classroom coder ten times throughout the year, and each observation lasted 90 minutes. For each classroom, four of the ten observations were also…

This study investigated social interactions and the development of social concepts in preschool children in terms of two conceptual domains, the moral and the societal. The former has to do with concepts of justice and fairness, the latter with social conventions, rules and social organization. Subjects were children 3 to 5 years of age enrolled…

Data is reported on observations made in high and low socioeconomic status (SES) classrooms of second- and third-grade teachers' feedback to students on their replies to questions posed by the teacher. Teachers in the study were chosen due to consistent effectiveness in producing student achievement gains. Interactions (teacher's question, pupil's…

An understanding of how children interact with reading material in educational settings is crucial to the understanding of successes and failures in teaching children to become skilled readers. This report describes the development of a plan for observing, describing, and coding reading activities in a representative sample of classrooms. The…

Three recent large-scale experimental studies have built on a data base established through several correlational studies of teaching effectiveness in elementary school. These three studies have in common a treatment that addresses several routine teaching tasks and suggests some principles and techniques for effectively fulfilling those tasks.…

To test the validity of a previous study conducted under simulated teaching conditions (which found that openminded teachers use indirect influence more than closedminded teachers), it was hypothesized that the need to maintain classroom control influences the behavior of teachers under actual teaching conditions. Thirty-four high and low scorers…

A new method for investigating the movement patterns of children has been developed. It uses a computer analysis and display procedure for reducing Cartesian coordinate position data to numerical and graphical statements about movement patterns. A time-lapse photographic system is used to obtain the position data for children during play. This…

Because of the need to describe and analyze nonverbal as well as verbal classroom interaction, an attempt has been made to develop an observational system of complete behavioral analysis using the Flanders system as a base. Each of the 10 Flanders verbal categories (based on direct and indirect teacher influence) is combined with relevant…

Investigated was the effect of a training program on teacher behavior. Videotaped classroom observations for selected teachers were taken prior to and after short term training on the Taxonomy of Image Provoking Behavior. Each videotape was analyzed and reliability established on each of four major observational instruments. No significant…

Developed by the Special Education Supervisor Training (SEST) Project at the University of Texas at Austin, the document examines two instruments and basic procedures for observing and analyzing individualized instruction. Guidelines are provided for self training and training others in the use of the Individualization of Instruction Inventory…

The changes in preschool children's effective play, affective involvement, and social interaction across a 6-month period of nursery school attendance were examined. Videotaping of the children's activities was done in January/February (pretesting) and May/June (posttesting). The result was a total of approximately 40 hours of tape covering many…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences in perceptions of a black and a white female observer relative to verbal and nonverbal behaviors exhibited by black and white (male and female) teachers toward black and white (male and female) students. A study conducted by Crump (1974) provided the baseline data for comparison.…

This paper is a critique of Eisner's "The Perceptive Eye: Toward the Reformation of Educational Evaluation," abstracted in ED 103 327. Criticisms are that Eisner (1) distorts the analogy between the arts and education by choosing the instructional process as a potential object of connoisseurship and criticism; (2) discusses critics and…

Evaluated is the validity of the behavioral categories held in common among three classroom observation systems. The validity model employed was that reported by Campbell and Fiske (1959) which requires that both convergent and discriminant validity be demonstrated. These procedures were applied to data obtained from the videotapes of 62 teacher…