Learning teams provide a tool to help students understand new material, enjoy the learning process, and benefit from the organizational structure of the learning environment. These teams are long term peer groupings of inservice teachers participating in a college class. The teams are developed through a six-point process: (1) students choose…

This ERIC digest examines the growth and nature of juvenile gangs and the growing problem they present in the nation's public schools. It explores the characteristics of gangs, the impact gangs are having on public schools, why gangs develop and why students join them, what the schools' responses have been to gangs, and effective interactions for…

This book deals with the crises and emergencies that a teacher may have to deal with in the classroom, as well as problems in interpersonal relationships with students, interns, parent and peers. Each chapter deals with different facets of problems that may arise in the classroom, illustrated by case studies that typify the situation under…

A study examined the effects of peer evaluation on writing performance and attitudes of ninth-grade students. Data were collected from 11 teachers in eight different schools. Each teacher taught two ninth grade English classes, one according to traditional methods and one with the experimental condition in which students taught each other by…

The paper describes a critical peer review developed at Napier Polytechnic (NP) of Edinburgh, Scotland for the evaluation and monitoring of its courses. Illustrations of the system are based on the accounting courses offered by the Department of Accounting and Law. The paper first describes the creation of NP from an amalgamation of two colleges…

Arguing that the use of peer groups in a writing classroom theoretically supports the goals of the paradigm shift from emphasis on written product to writing process that has occurred in recent years, this paper examines the complexities confronting teachers who attempt to use groups for instructional purposes. Following a brief introduction, the…

This paper reports the results of a comparative study carried out with populations from two distinct cultural environments: kibbutz and city raised children in Israel. The study examined how perceptions and responses to television differ across social environments and how children's perceptions of, and reactions to, television may affect…

The effects of the presence of others on 120 young children's performance of balancing skills were tested. The boys and girls, aged four, six, and eight, were tested under three different conditions: while acting "alone," in coaction (pairs), and alone before an audience. The tests were divided into simple and complex balance tasks, consisting of…

This paper introduces anthropologists to simultaneous equation models and to a powerful technique for estimating such models. Characteristically a simultaneous equations model consists of more than one equation and allows for interaction and joint determinancies between some of the variables. Basically these models apply to situations in which one…

In an effort to understand the dynamics of the status attainment process, the effects of significant-other influence on aspirations were considered. Data were derived from group administered questionnaires of a proportionate, stratified, random cluster sample of Louisiana high school seniors. Utilizing data on 1,241 white males, residence controls…

The purpose of the inquiry described was to examine the ways in which characteristics of the educational environment of the home, the school, and the peer group accounted for change in performance at school over the period of a year, in which the sample of children selected for investigation progressed from primary school to high school. The…

This paper reports a study of conformity reactions of white and black children to the unanimous and incorrect judgment of children from either their own or other ethnic groups. Experimental groups comprised four subjects of the same sex and grade level. Groups representing all Negro were used; all variables were completely crossed. The subjects…

This wide-ranging discussion begins by briefly reviewing the background of the current small-group movement: what started out as individual therapy eventually led to group therapy. The term "therapy" is now being dropped and small groups are becoming a new, here-to-stay, soial institution. The need for an open, safe vehicle for self-expression is…

An effort was made to assess the relative effectiveness of different reinforcement systems versus traditional teaching with maladjusted boys. The subjects were 60 boys in grades 6 and 7 who participated during language arts classes, but total data were gathered on 26 boys. The boys had histories of aggressive behavior and language problems.…

The purpose of this study is to assess the relative impact on Mennonite high school students of various orientation sources toward the issues of war and peace. Sixteen sources of orientation such as family, religion, and media are coordinated with variables such as school attended, grade level, and sex differences on a 10 page survey containing…