Relationships Between Teacher Behaviors and Pupil Achievement in Three Experimental Elementary Science Lessons

Despite considerable growth in the number of observational studies of teaching in the last five years, there have been relatively few investigations of the relationships between what teachers do in the classroom and pupil achievement (Nuthall, 1968; Meux, 1967). As Gage has noted (Gage, 1966), observational data-gathering in classrooms has an obvious attraction to educational researchers, but there is little if any empirical evidence which makes it clear just what aspects of teacher behavior are most relevant to the major concerns of schools.