This paper addresses the measurement of classroom environment and proposes an alternative approach to assessing classroom environment that allows subjects greater spontaneity and provides greater descriptive flexibility. A study asked 31 college professors at Midwestern State University of Wichita Falls, Texas, to generate lists of adjectives…

This study of gender differences in mathematics learning examined two 4-year-olds who attended a Melbourne, Australia preschool. The study traces the experiences of the students, one female and one male, during their first formal exposure to mathematics in kindergarten. Of particular concern was how the preschoolers interacted with their teacher,…

Earlier content analyses showed that the match between content covered by textbooks and tests varied as a function of the particular textbook and test a teacher was asked to use. This study tried to determine if the congruity in textbook-test content varied as a function of different styles of textbook use. Using year-long case studies of seven…

Approaches to improve the teaching of nursing students of diverse backgrounds are described in 16 papers as part of the Southern Regional Education Board's Faculty Development in Nursing Education Project. Among the papers and authors are the following: "Background on the Faculty Development in Nursing Education Project" (Audrey F.…

The purpose of college teaching is to promote book learning--a type of learning which is repressive of people's natural curiosity. It is the duty of teachers to help students be what they do not want to be; therefore, they need to proceed with charity, affection, and selflessness. In teaching, communication proceeds on three levels: (1) formal…

If one assumes that the purpose of education is to change student behavior as a result of some definite course of instruction, then an objective of educational research should be to determine what procedures or techniques best produce the desired behavioral changes. If a course has been effective, then there could be a large number of components…

The qualities and characteristics of excellent faculty at Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) are described in this paper. First, an underlying set of assumptions is presented, stressing that the qualities identified as representative of faculty excellence apply equally to classroom teachers, librarians, counselors, and other non-teaching faculty,…

A study examined the effects of different teacher styles on one variable related to classroom learning production. Subjects, 34 first grade middle- and lower-middle income students in a Catholic school matched by ability and randomly assigned to either an authoritarian, systematic, ordered, and controlling teacher or to a "laissez faire"…

A study was conducted to observe four elementary school teachers in an effort to determine the influence that their teaching styles and teaching approaches had on their students' ability to think more critically. After the teachers completed a questionnaire about their classroom situation and had a brief interview with the observer, each teacher…

A 25-item survey focusing on teacher effectiveness was completed by a volunteer sample of 86 special education teachers. Respondents ranked survey items which had been developed from a review of the research literature identifying characteristics of teacher effectiveness. Five survey items were presented in each of the following categories: (1)…

This report focuses on current attempts by researchers to examine teacher effectiveness through the "task hypothesis," which asserts that effective teachers accomplish a large and diverse set of tasks--or discrete, goal-oriented units of work--in their classroom. After an introductory critique of past efforts to assess teacher "traits" or…

Cognitive style is a psychological construct concerning the manner in which individuals differ from one another in intellectual functioning. Researchers in the area have amassed evidence suggesting that cognitive style affects the way students learn, the way teachers teach, and the way students and teachers interact. Focusing on cognitive style…

The Effective Classroom Management and Discipline Strategies Graduate Program for Educators is organized around a series of core modules designed for use in inservice teacher education. The basic skills learned in these series of modules are communication (feedback, nonverbal, listening, self disclosure, problem solving, and conflict resolution),…

Attention is drawn to aspects of the transfer of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) expertise to both developing and developed nonnative English-speaking countries. It is maintained that: (1) several facts that have nearly the strength of canonical truths in the West reveal an ignorance of, and perhaps an indifference to, the socio-cultural,…

C. Roland Christensen's 13 sessions on "Teaching and the Case Method" are discussed. This collection of cases and readings on teaching with the case method in graduate professional programs and in the liberal arts is a statement of the rationale, methods, and recurring problems of the case method. It has much to say, also, about teaching and…