States that the combination of group rewards (based on group members' individual learning) and peer interaction on learning tasks is necessary to produce learning gains characteristic of effective cooperative learning methods. Discusses research on group contingencies and cooperative learning in the elementary school classroom.(NH)

Reports several field experimental research studies which tested the effects of group and individual incentive structures and tasks on individual academic achievement. The positive effects of cooperative learning methods result from the use of cooperative incentives, not cooperative tasks, apparently due to change in peer norms. (CB)

Defines self-directed learning and explores its importance for elementary education. Focuses on ways in which classroom practices and conditions can encourage or discourage capabilities and dispositions to engage in self-directed learning. Describes the ideal classroom environment with respect to demands, supports, opportunity, and goal structure.…

Argues that classroom learning inevitably requires adaptive responses by students, and that teachers should deliberately promote the development of students' adaptive learning within a supportive classroom environment by emphasizing the constructive benefits of functional failure and the limited benefits of uninformative success. (SKC)

Hypothesizes that organizational conditions in classrooms affect aspects of student motivation, i.e., students' academic self-concepts, their perceptions of their peers, and their perceptions of school. Research findings in studies of elementary students confirmed the hypothesis that classrooms that narrowly define academic ability increase the…

Discusses theoretical perspectives for improving teachers' understandings of task assignment in classrooms, and presents evidence from two British studies that highlight both the extent of the task assignment problem and possible causes. (SKC)

Reviews representative instructional studies of inference training, reciprocal teaching, and process training. Discusses both the concept of explicit comprehension instruction and potential difficulties in classroom implementation. Raises two important curricular concerns. (NH)

Recognizing the importance of collegiality in professional growth, this descriptive study examines one aspect of interaction among teachers--the information that teachers exchange about classroom teaching. Suggestions are offered for the development of collegiality and interview guide questions are presented in the appendix. (JS)

Many teachers have negative attitudes towards mainstreaming handicapped students. This study examines an intervention teaching method and teachers' attitudes. Results indicate that regardless of treatment, student teachers' attitudes will change in the direction of their classroom teachers' attitude. (JS)

This review presents evidence that student nonverbal behavior may be an important component in the formation of teachers' impressions, attitudes, beliefs, and reciprocal behavioral expressions. Results of the studies are considered within the research on impression formation, communication theory, and classroom activity and participation…

Describes "acting," a process of group resistance to teachers among low-income Hawaiian children that occurs at the beginning of the school year. Relates this process to the children's peer group norms and discusses ways in which classrooms can be adapted to the peer culture of Hawaiian children. (SKC)

Describes the self-worth theory of achievement motivation, the research generated under this model, and the implications of this research for classroom teaching. Discusses developmental changes in ability perceptions and the conflict between strategies employed by students to maintain a sense of worthiness in the face of failure and the prevailing…

Examines variation in the methods used to assign students to classrooms and teachers in a small but highly diversified sample of elementary schools. Gives explicit attention to parental influence on pupil assignments as well as to effects of having an unusually incompetent or excellent teacher at a particular grade level. (NH)

Examines evidence on error rate in classroom tasks. Claims the usual interpretation of a negative relationship between error rate (especially in oral reading errors) and reading achievement as meaning that low error rates lead to reading growth may be mistaken. Suggests oral errors cause tension, which increases attention and instigates deeper…

Describes the Principal-Teacher Interaction Study that focused on the interventions made by nine elementary school principals and their staff and on their involvement together in the implementation of new curricula. Examines what principals and others did in the process of facilitating change and what effects their interventions had on the…