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This study examines the interactions between 12 mothers and their children in a problem‐solving situation. Each child tries to assemble a construction toy, and his mother attempts to help him in such a way that he will eventually be able to do it alone. The paper introduces a system for describing the course of these interactions and it tests and confirms hypotheses relating to the underlying determinants of effective instruction. Those mothers who systematically changed their instructions on the basis of the child's response to earlier interventions (and the system of analysis enables such changes to be identified and related) were most likely to see their child perform effectively after instruction. They were also the most likely to determine and concentrate upon the child's ‘region of sensitivity to instruction’ — a hypothetical measure of the child's current task ability and his ‘readiness’ for different types of instruction. The study shows that effective instructing is a dynamic, interactive process somewhat akin to problem‐solving. It elaborates the view that the process of intellectual development must be viewed as a social, interactive one.

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