An observational study described and compared verbal interaction in specific language and learning disability (SLD), educable mentally retarded (EMR), and trainable mentally retarded (TMR) secondary level classrooms. Trained observers used Flanders Interaction Analysis system to obtain data in 46 classes. Most teachers used a direct style with…

Adolescents are extremely interested in their cultural sex roles, relationships, changing bodies, changing relationships with parents and with members of the opposite sex, value patterns, and careers. Their reading interests are closely related to their emotional interests. Teachers need to be aware of the complexities of adolescent life and…

Strategy analysis systems (SAS) used to describe classroom instruction are characterized by three components: (1) observing classroom behavior; (2) coding behavior into categories; and (3) data reduction with translation into meaningful feedback. Unique learning environments (laboratories and inquiry teaching) have necessitated developing SAS…

Active literacy is the ability to inject one's own thoughts and intentions into messages received and sent, the ability to transform and to act upon aspects of the world via the written word. Five things are not working for literacy in Australia; formularistic exercise texts and kits, the media, experts with solutions, habits, and national…

Ethnographic methods were used to study interactions between a college instructor and his class. The data collection methods included classroom observations, videotape recordings, interviews, and questionnaires. The focus of the study was on co-occurring behavior patterns in student-teacher interactions during a "subject matter loop" (when the…

A study examined the personality characteristics and self-concepts of 110 teachers-in-training to see how these variables related to the subjects' humanistic versus authoritarian orientations toward pupil control. It was found that the humanistically oriented educators tended to be emotionally stable, realistic, expedient, happy-go-lucky,…

Four books are incorporated into a volume for secondary and postsecondary teachers who wish to become familiar with experiential learning techniques. An overview on experience-based learning and the facilitative role of the teacher is presented in Book One. Book Two deals with planning with students, Book Three concerns the monitoring of student…

A study was conducted to determine whether graduate teaching assistants in speech communication were aware of the affective components of their classroom behavior and of the student responses to them, and whether the instructors' awareness of the affective dimensions of instruction related to the student evaluative responses. Subjects were 640…

A study was conducted to further understanding of students' perceptions of the teacher's role during guided oral reading. Observations were made of 36 first through sixth grade students reading orally in groups composed of one good reader, one poor reader, and one good or poor reader playing the "teacher." The observations were followed…

This study, sixth in a series of seven, was written by one third grade and one fourth grade teacher from different open plan schools. The instructional environments of each neighborhood, school, and classroom as well as the characteristics of the teachers and their pupils are described. The types of distractions encountered by the teachers are…

The cognitive preferences of 250 seventh grade students in social studies classes were examined, using the Cognitive Preference Profile (CPP). Each item in the CPP contains a stem statement and restatements of the stem that reflect memory, application, and questioning options. Pre- and post-test scores for the CPP were used as covariates with the…

The relationship between student reported achievements (SRA) and student ratings of their corresponding course and teacher was investigated, from responses to the Instructor and Course Evaluation Questionnaire. The SRA consisted of 10 commonly accepted concepts of cognitive and individual development; their average was used as a measure of…

The report investigates current practices and attitudes toward social education in twenty schools in Australia. Three different aspects of the curriculum--the ideal, the planned, and the operative--are reflected from viewpoints of the teacher, the student, and the outside observer. Particular attention is paid to the implications of the curriculum…

THE TEACHING OF THE NATIVE LANGUAGE CAN BE DIVIDED INTO THREE MAJOR MODES--THE PRESCRIPTIVE, THE DESCRIPTIVE, AND THE PRODUCTIVE. PRESCRIPTIVE TEACHING PROCEEDS FROM TWO (SUSPECT) ASSUMPTIONS--(1) THAT THERE ARE ABSOLUTE STANDARDS UNANIMOUSLY KNOWN AND SHARED BY EDUCATED ADULTS, TO WHICH A STUDENT'S LANGUAGE SHOULD ATTAIN, AND (2) THAT…

As a result of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS), instructional content and style were studied in six teachers teaching the concept of photosynthesis. The same BSCS curriculum program was used by all six teachers; all six had some previous BSCS training. The students in the six classes had been selected on the basis of high ability…