Reports an experimental study of six Child Psychology classes that compared the effects of two types of leadership, Initiation Structure (teacher centered) and Consideration Leadership (personalized), on the educational growth of students in six areas (e.g. subject matter, attitudes toward children). Concludes that a combination of the two…

The study reported here demonstrates the differing requirements critical to teaching at the elementary, secondary, and college level. In college teaching professional factors (e.g. knowledge of subject matter and class presentation) were found to have greatest significance in overall effectiveness of teaching-learning performance as opposed to…

On the premise that the more formal algebraic presentation of statistics must be placed in a concrete context to facilitate student understanding, the author presents a pedagogical device involving the construction of miniature numerical examples that illustrate how the statistical model imposes structure on empirical data. (JT)

A Professor Emeritus of New York University reviews the practice of awarding recognition for superior college teaching (great teacher awards) concluding that they do not increase great teaching or the number of great teachers. He suggests that prospective students should seriously ask colleges what they do to insure good teaching. (JT)

The use of undergraduate liaison students in a lecture/laboratory course and in a lecture course is described. Facilitating laboratory procedures, helping students with academic material, and advocating student needs were among the activities of the liaison students who served as links between the class and instructor and/or subject matter. (JMD)

An annotated list of 12 books is intended for the new psychology teacher who may need immediate guidance, but some of the recommendations may be of help to all teachers. Six of the books are on teaching in general and six are on the teaching of psychology in particular. (J MD)

In this author's experience, role playing, when thoughtfully and openly used, stimulates discussion, aids his philosophy students in realizing that complex issues are involved in life situations, and enables him to attain his goal of opening one new area of interest for each student, so that the student will continue to pursue that interest. (JMD)

Six characteristics, including structure, rapport, the ability to be stimulating, and objective evaluation, are suggested as important for effective teaching. A program for personal development, designed to make the challenge of improving teaching a practical and rewarding experience, is proposed. (JMD)

A behavioral study guide in the teaching of American literature at Henderson State University is presented that can help an instructor counter the trend of large class size and breadth of material covered. Focus is on developing analytic skills, clear thinking, and effective writing. (LBH)

Two questions are addressed: (1) What set of courses, in terms of theme and content, should a student be exposed to in order to achieve his general education? (2) By whom should general education courses be taught? Measures for maintaining the quality of the general education staff and its teaching effectiveness are discussed. (LBH)

Efforts at Richmond College, City University of New York, to make economics instruction more interesting, relevant, and attuned to present-day students and more attractive to those majoring in fields other than economics are reported. Focus is also on ways of restructuring economic education on the undergraduate level. (LBH)

Recent studies show that universities generally are credited with doing a good job in training graduate students in research, but not in preparing them to teach. Implications and examples of training programs are discussed. (LBH)

Research on the validity of student rating scales of teacher performance is inconsistent, and the issue of why the scales are used needs examination. Until their criterion validity is raised to correlations of .7 to .8 or construct validity can be established, results should not be used in making tenure decisions. (MSE)

Suggestions for improving the design and use of student evaluation forms include tailoring the forms to the class needs and format, wording statements carefully, training students to evaluate performance, allowing ample time for completion, handling the evaluation procedure without involvement of the professor, and eliminating student anonymity.…

Higher education should serve the long-term intellectual needs of the student. The only way to measure real learning is by what it does to the individual student's intellectual growth. A three-step approach to internalize, integrate, and subjectify knowledge is discussed. (MLW)