Abstract
Aptitude-treatment interactions (ATI) are relatively unexamined in research on teacher effectiveness but may be important in describing the teaching-learning process. In an experiment on teacher effectiveness, 399 sixth-grade students were taught ecology for nine lessons. Trained teachers used one of eight factorially defined teaching treatments which varied teacher behaviors of structuring, soliciting, and reacting. Generalized regression analyses on dependent variables of multiple choice, attitude, and perception of teaching showed aptitudes to be major predictors relative to teacher, treatment, and ATI effects. ATI effects were more frequent and stronger predictors than treatment effects in almost all cases, though ATI terms usually absorbed only one to two percent of variation in the criterion variables. The methodology and findings of this study suggest changes for research on teacher effectiveness.
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