This study was designed to investigate how well teachers comprehend their students' levels of understanding during classroom instruction. Factors analyzed included : 1) the phases of the instruction, 2) student characteristics, 3) methods for comprehending student understanding, 4) cues for comprehending student understanding and 5) teacher decisions. Subjects were 3 junior high school mathematics teachers and six of their classes. The main results were : 1. During all phases of the instruction, the teachers relied primarily upon watching the students, calling upon students and individual guidance as means for comprehending how well the students were understanding the topic. 2. During many of the phases of instruction, the teachers showed a tendency to receive many of their cues from the slower and/or the more restless students. 3. Cues transmitted by the students are primarily vocal, body actions, notes in their notebooks, and blackboard assignments. 4. It appears that these junior high school teachers, for first year students, were more interested in the slower students but, for second year students, were more interested in the more restless students.
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