Changes in Attitudes and Self-Confidence in the Women's and Gender Studies Classroom: The Role of Teacher Alliance and Student Cohesion

Previous research provides evidence that women's and gender studies (WGS) classes are successful in helping students to develop more egalitarian gender role attitudes, appreciation and acceptance of diversity, awareness of sexism and other social inequities, and agentic self-confidence in both women and men. The mechanisms by which these changes take place were the focus of this study. WGS students (n = 328) from 23 classes on four college campuses participated. Results indicated that (a) student readiness (positive WGS class expectations and capacity for positive interpersonal relationships) predicted the development of alliances with teachers and cohesion with classmates, (b) alliance and cohesion were associated with changes toward more egalitarian attitudes, (c) cohesion was associated with increases in confidence, and (d) links between student readiness and change were mediated by alliance and cohesion developed within the WGS classroom.     

Investigating Links from Teacher Knowledge,to Classroom Practice,to Student Learning in the Instructional System of the Middle-School Mathematics Classroom

Using data collected in 125 seventh-grade and 56 eighth-grade Texas classrooms in the context of the “Scaling Up SimCalc” research project in 2005–07, we examined relationships between teachers’ mathematics knowledge, teachers’ classroom decision making, and student achievement outcomes on topics of rate, proportionality, and linear function—three important and cognitively demanding prealgebra topics. We found that teachers’ mathematical knowledge was correlated with student achievement in only one study out of three. We also found a lack of correlations between teachers’ mathematical knowledge and critical aspects of instructional decision making. Curriculum and other learning resources (e.g., technology, student–student interactions) are clearly important factors for student learning in addition to, and in interaction with, teachers’ mathematical knowledge. Our results suggest that mathematics knowledge for teaching may have a nonlinear relationship with student learning, that those effects may be heavily mediated by other instructional factors, and that short-term content knowledge gains in teacher workshops may not persist in classroom instruction. We discuss a need in the field for richer models of how “mathematical knowledge for teaching” works in the context of complete instructional systems.     

Influence of Gender Roles on Perceptions of Teacher/Adolescent Student Sexual Relations

In this study we explored the effects of respondent gender and the specific gender combination (i.e., cross- and same-gender dyads) on perceptions of a sexual encounter between a teacher and an adolescent student. Respondents (120 male and 120 female undergraduates) read a brief scenario and answered questions about their perceptions of the encounter. Significant interactions emerged between teacher gender and student gender. For example, the male teacher/male student dyad was viewed as the least normative, and the female teacher/male student dyad was perceived as the most normative. Significant interactions also were found between teacher gender and respondent gender. Results generally were consistent with gender role stereotypes.     

Teacher Beliefs,Classroom Interaction and Personal Causation1

The study reports relationships between teachers' belief systems (Harvey), a teacher-pupil interaction measure of classroom influence, pupils' perception of the dimate of the dassroom, and pupils' academic achievement. Results demonstrate that more complex teachers encourage more pupil influence, and are perceived as having a more origin climate. In classrooms of high pupil influence and perceived origin climate, the pupils have higher academic achievement. These results are discussed in terms of the theory of personal causation and are cited as evidence for the value of the study of action sequences as related to verbal-utterances of the actors.     

Linking Teacher Instruction and Student Achievement in Mathematics: The Role of Teacher Language

Although high-quality early educational environments are thought to be related to the growth of children’s skills in mathematics, relatively little is known about specific aspects of classroom instruction that may promote these abilities. Data from a longitudinal investigation were used to investigate associations between teachers’ language while teaching mathematics and their students’ growth in mathematical skill during the 2nd grade. Specifically, the extent to which mathematics lessons included cognitive-processing language (CPL)—instruction that is rich in references to cognitive processes, metacognition, and requests for remembering—was related to changes in students’ math achievement. Demonstrating the role of the language of instruction, the findings indicated that children whose 2nd-grade teachers included greater amounts of CPL during instruction evidenced greater growth in math fluency and calculation than did their peers whose teachers employed lower levels of CPL.     

The Student Guided Functional Assessment Interview: An Analysis of Student and Teacher Agreement

Functional assessment strategies are used to guide the treatment of problem behavior with individuals who have severe disabilities. Also, researchers have extended functional assessment applications to individuals with emotional and behavioral disabilities. One such extension is the use of students as informants in the functional assessment process. The present study assessed an interview tool designed to elicit information directly from students regarding their problem behaviors. We examined agreement between students and their teachers. Results showed high agreement on the causes and functions of problem behavior with mixed agreement on support plan recommendations.     

Division of Labor in Student Households: Gender Inequality,Perceived Justice,and Satisfaction

Two studies of households of students sharing flats (Study 1) and cohabitating student couples (Study 2) examined gender inequalities in the division of household labor and related differences in perceived justice of and satisfaction with the division. Results showed that women spent more time and made larger contributions to the majority of tasks in both types of households although male and female students did not differ in time availability and resources contributed to the household. Perceived justice was equally high with both sexes, but women were somewhat less satisfied than men. Both sexes regarded the division of household tasks more just the less it departed from an equal division. Gender role orientation moderated this correlation with men but not with women. Satisfaction ratings were positively correlated with perceived justice and negatively correlated with the relative size of participants' contributions to the household tasks.     

Preschool Children's Collaborative Problem-Solving Interactions: The Role of Gender,Pair Type,and Task

The purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills in preschool children. Children between 4 and 5 years of age completed 3 problem-solving tasks with either a same-sex or a different-sex peer. Children's verbal and nonverbal interactions were analyzed. Girls used mitigation more often than did boys. Mixed-sex dyads engaged in controlling verbal interactions more often than same-sex dyads. There were relationships between verbal and nonverbal behaviors and task success; these relationships also differed across pair types. The results of the study demonstrate that the gender differences in types of verbal interactions previously observed in preschool children's free play are also present in their problem-solving interactions and that children are able to alter the types of behaviors they use depending upon both partner gender and the type of task involved.     

Reading Intervention in Middle and High Schools: Implementation Fidelity,Teacher Efficacy,and Student Achievement

This study investigated teachers’ efficacy and implementation in the context of a supplemental intervention for struggling adolescent readers. It examined teachers’ efficacy at the start of their intervention training and investigated relationships among teachers’ efficacy, implementation, and students’ reading progress. The efficacy and implementation of 9 sixth-grade teachers and 11 ninth-grade teachers were compared, and student achievement gains were explored. Sixth-grade teachers had higher levels of efficacy, while ninth-grade teachers had higher levels of implementation. Findings indicated teacher efficacy was positively related to students’ reading comprehension and overall reading achievement. Implementation was positively related to students’ growth in vocabulary.     

Lesson Plans and the Contingency of Classroom Interactions

In their examination of elementary science classrooms, Amerine and Bilmes (1988) found that following instructions requires students to understand the relationship between the projected outcome and the corresponding course of actions. One of the most important resources for instructions is the lesson plan, which prescribes the sequence of teaching. However, there is often a gap between what is planned and what actually happens in the classroom. This raises the question of how teachers come to terms with contingent variants and unexpected outcomes that real-time interactions occasion and how lesson plans are configured into these processes. This study examines a teacher education program that uses lesson plans as a central resource for teaching mathematics. The results suggest that classroom teachers use lesson plans as communicative resources to identify problems, specify assumptions about their teaching and act on the evolving contingency of classroom interaction. The interactional contingency is the locus of teaching practices, not an obstacle to the application of procedures in lesson plans.     

Effects of the Teacher Versus Students Game on Teacher Praise and Student Behavior

The Teacher versus Students Game is a variation of the Good Behavior Game (Barrish et al. in J Appl Behav Anal 2:119–124, 1969.  https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1969.2-119) in which students compete against the teacher to earn points and win the game. Students earn points when they follow rules, whereas the teacher earns points when they do not. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the game decreased students’ off-task behaviors while increasing teachers’ use of behavior-specific praise. Participants were five teachers and fifteen students (some with disabilities and some without) across five fourth and fifth grade elementary school general education classrooms, who were identified by their teachers as engaging in frequent off-task behavior. Results indicated that the game decreased off-task behavior for all students. The game also increased teachers’ use of behavior-specific praise statements, minimally increased general praise statements, and decreased corrective statements for all but one of the teachers.     

Classroom Teacher and Teacher-in-Training Susceptibility to Stereotypical Bias

Two groups of classroom teachers and two groups of teacher trainees completed behavior checklists, first for a hypothetical child labeled either normal or emotionally disturbed and then for a videotaped child, labeled normal or emotionally disturbed. From an ANOVA of their responses, it was concluded that teachers and trainees hold quantitatively similar stereotypes for normal and disturbed children but differ in their susceptibility to label-induced bias. Teachers tended to be more realistic in their evaluations of “normal,” nonbiased behavior, but were influenced by the biasing label to a greater extent than the trainees. The authors discuss limitations of the study and its implications for training programs.     

Teaching the Devout Student: Faith and Scholarship in the Classroom

Increasing numbers of college students enrolling in religion courses in recent years are looking to develop their religious faith or spirituality, while professors of religion want students to use and appreciate scholarly tools to study religion from an academic perspective. Some scholars argue that it is not possible to satisfy both goals in the classroom, while authors in this journal have given suggestions on how to bridge the gap between faith and scholarship. I argue that such authors are correct and that, in my experience, historical‐critical methods can help devout students understand the original texts in their own religion better, comprehend why changes in interpretation have occurred over time, and appreciate the values in religions other than their own. Not all devout students are comfortable with an academic study of religion, but many can attain a more mature faith by such an approach.     

The Influence of Efficacy Beliefs on Teacher Performance and Student Success: Implications for Student Support Services

The influence of teachers’ efficacy beliefs on student achievement is well documented in educational literature. Efficacy beliefs are derived from sources of information teachers obtain from professional experiences. This article provides student support services personnel with an overview of efficacy beliefs and their impact on teachers’ thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. A cognitive behavioral framework, rational emotive behavior therapy, is used to conceptualize ways efficacy beliefs may hinder teacher performance and student success. Implications for student support services and research are provided.