Four standardized teaching tasks (masks, balloons, homes and families, games) plus snack-time observation, designed to elicit stylistic variation¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article describes a set of teaching tasks developed to elicit variation in teaching behavior along the scales of control, approach and value. Thirty tasks were developed by six experienced observers; the four selected for the pilot were masks (a fantasy task with a distribution problem, only six masks per class), balloons (a play-oriented task with possible scientific applications), games (dodge-ball with competition), and homes and families (discussion with elaboration and interaction), plus non-filmed snack-time observation of each class. Tasks ranged from completely open-ended activities to highly structured sequences, and each came with materials lists, instructions to teachers, rationale, and guiding questions about how the teacher handles control, frustration, aggression, and competition.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Materials and activities familiar to children but not commonly used on a daily basis
• Tasks deliberately varied in structure, from open-ended ("do anything you want with these materials") to highly structured sequences

Constraints¶

• Content was assumed theoretically trivial to the study's purpose, though some tasks were more provocative by design to elicit characteristic style in a short time

Target Learners¶

• preschool (Head Start) children

Target Learning Goals¶

• eliciting and comparing teaching styles across curricular dimensions such as fantasy, play, competition and discussion

Affordances¶

• Teaching Style Intervening Variable Framework

Claims¶

Related Elements¶

• Eight-scale instrument for classifying teaching style (control, approach, value, warmth, humor, flexibility, direction, differentiation)

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Garfunkel, Frank. (1967). Teaching Style: The Development of Teaching Tasks. Boston University. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED022557