The Ability of Teachers to Conform to Two Styles of Teaching
THAT THE TEACHER should use m e t h o d s of I instruction appropriate to his objectives is an axi om of teacher training (7). Although the results may be meager and inconclusive (6), the relation ships between teacher behavior and learning out comes have been the subject of educational re search. However, studies of the extent to which teachers can adapt their classroom behavior are practically non-existent. Withall (10), in determij ning the validity of his Climate Index, did have his teachers change from teacher-centered to learner centered behavior in the middle of a class period. A parallel problem involves the confirmation of the independent variable of teacher style in re search investigating the relationships between teacher behavior and learning outcomes (9). A fail ure to define operationally, for example, through systematic observation, the teaching procedures or methods used creates problems in the interpreta tion and evaluation of experimental results. Two styles of teaching which have a long history in the literature might be termed the ' Recitation' ' and the "socratic" Each might be appropriate to certain teaching aims. The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to determine if the same teachers could use two such styles, as we defined them; and, [ concurrently, 2) to determine whether the indepen dent variable of teaching style was established in an experimental investigation into "teaching high school students a critical approach to contemporary national issues" (5).