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1997 Dissertation Abstracts: Part 10
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ORDER NO: ABA98-00055
RELATIONSHIPS AMONG BILINGUALISM, CRITICAL THINKING ABILITY, AND CRITICAL THINKING DISPOSITION OF BACCALAUREATE NURSING STUDENTS Author: ALBERT, RAYMOND T. Degree: PH.D. Year: 1996 Corporate Source/Institution: UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA (0070) Chairman: LEE J. MULLALY Source: VOLUME 58/07-A OF DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. PAGE 2526. 120 PAGES Descriptors: EDUCATION, EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY; EDUCATION, HIGHER; EDUCATION, BILINGUAL AND MULTICULTURAL; HEALTH SCIENCES, EDUCATION Evidence exists supporting relationships between bilingualism and many cognitive factors. Evidence also exists supporting the importance of critical thinking ability and critical thinking disposition as essential characteristics of practicing professional nurses. Research, however, has heretofore not been conducted to specifically examine the relationships among bilingualism, critical thinking ability, and critical thinking disposition of baccalaureate nursing students. This cross-sectional study employed a pooled within bilingual correlational design to examine such relationships. Specific research questions posed were as follows: (1) Is there a statistically significant curvilinear relationship between bilingualism and critical thinking ability? (2) Is there a statistically significant curvilinear relationship between bilingualism and critical thinking disposition? (3) Is there a statistically significant relationship between critical thinking disposition and critical thinking ability? The sample consisted of 111 nursing students enrolled in four baccalaureate nursing programs serving populations characterized by varying degrees of bilingualism. Subjects were administered an investigator designed demographic data instrument, a French language C-Test, an English language C-Test, as well as the California Critical Thinking Skills Test, and the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory. Multiple regression analysis was employed to test the hypotheses corresponding to the existence of relationships among the three constructs. Findings failed to provide sufficient evidence to support the existence of a relationship between either bilingualism and critical thinking ability, or between critical thinking disposition and critical thinking ability. The findings did provide sufficient evidence to support the existence of a curvilinear relationship between bilingualism and critical thinking disposition which supports Cummins' threshold hypothesis. This study's findings suggest that a better understanding of the relationships among bilingualism, critical thinking ability, and critical thinking disposition leads to a better understanding of the learner. Through an improved understanding of the learner more effective instruction may be designed. The need was identified for further research to explore the nature of the relationships particularly across populations characterized by varying degrees of age, academic preparation, socio-cultural background, and bilingual proficiency in different language combinations. Further studies may explore how such relationships influence instructional effectiveness particularly of critical thinking instruction.
ORDER NO: ABA98-00032
Native Americans living on rural reservations have a significant need for increased access to the preventive dental care provided by dental hygienists. Native American enrollment in dental hygiene education programs, historically, has been the lowest of all minority groups. The retention rate for the small number of Native Americans who are recruited to enroll in these educational programs is less than 50 percent. Efforts to improve these statistics have failed. A careful review for the potential cause for this failure indicated that the reason may be related to cultural factors. A qualitative study was completed to more clearly identify the ability of the traditional dental hygiene curriculum to be culturally responsive to Native Americans on rural reservations. Three key questions were answered as supportive documentation for the study and to provide content elements for the interview questions. These questions are: (1) What is the traditional structure of dental hygiene education programs? (2) What does this structure require of enrolled students? (3) What does literature indicate is needed for Native American students to be successful in higher education? After providing documentation to support the investigation, a fourth question was answered: How are the primary outcomes of these three questions in conflict with each other? A triangulation of methodologies was used to validate the data collected through a series of interviews. Three critical groups were interviewed--(1) Native American tribal college administrators, (2) Native American women who desire to become dental hygienists, and (3) Native American women who actually enrolled in traditional dental hygiene education programs. An analysis of the findings produced a set of emerging themes. These themes were synthesized and compared to the information gathered through answering the original four questions. With the intent to impact change, which ultimately may increase the enrollment of rural Native American students in dental hygiene education programs, a set of recommendations has been developed for consideration by traditionally-structured dental hygiene programs. The major foci of these recommendations are the need for (1) culturally-based committees to provide input directed at reducing conflict between the culture and organizational policy, (2) increased faculty awareness and sensitivity, (3) faculty exposure to the learning styles of Native Americans and educational methodology which is congruent with these learning styles, and (4) redesign of dental hygiene curriculums to be culturally-responsive to the Native American student.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38913
The purpose of this study is to investigate what university students want and need from professors when the textbook is difficult and to find out if these needs are being met. The College Textbook Adaptation Evaluation Instrument is used to determine what educational strategies and adaptations students would prefer (preference criterion) their professors to use when the textbook is difficult. Also, it determines whether these educational practices are actually being used (use criterion) in the classroom. A statistical T-Test performed on the participant's preference and use criterion responses suggests college students are not receiving the assistance they need to learn from difficult text. The results also suggest that variables, such as, culture and academic standing, have no bearing on whether reading to learn strategies and adaptations should be used in the college classroom. The second part of the study looks at "model" instruction for university students in a class with diverse abilities. This section demonstrates that content area reading strategies and adaptations can be beneficial to students without jeopardizing the quality and quantity of the course objectives.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38826
As dissatisfaction with public education increased in the early 1980's, a call for educational reforms was sounded. There were fears that students in the United States were falling behind their peers in other countries. Scholastic Aptitude Test scores had been falling steadily for two decades. Economic conditions were yet another motivation for reform. Critics of educational practices noted that students were taking fewer academic courses. These factors combined to create what is perhaps the most significant and lasting outcome of this call for reform--widespread increases in course requirements, specifically in English, foreign languages, math, science, and social studies. This initiative represented a change for schools that had previously moved away from strict requirements, implemented policies allowing students to design their own academic program, and created a significant number of non-academic courses. Schools with curricula racking standards and substance were considered partially to blame for the condition of education documented in A Nation At Risk. Increased requirements were an attempt to increase student exposure to academic content and reduce course-taking disparities among students. By 1990, 45 states required students to take more academic courses in order to graduate. The purpose of this study is two-fold. The first objective is to examine course-taking at the secondary level. Although there seems to be some consensus that the recently developed regulations to increase requirements are good ones, there is little information about actual student course-taking behavior. The second objective is to analyze individual student course-taking in order to determine how student enrollments are altered as a result of increased graduation requirements. While there was some variation in response to policy changes, on average students in virtually every subpopulation completed more academic coursework in college -preparatory mathematics, science and English. It appears that students add the most academic coursework in science when faced with more demanding graduation requirements. The estimates generated in this analysis suggest that Hispanic students consistently benefit the most from policies intended to increase course-taking. Both of these results are significant, encouraging, and consistent with the intentions of those who developed graduation requirement policies.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38758
Initially, the primary goal of this study was to investigate the effects of writing to learn mathematics on the conceptual and procedural understanding of students in an introductory college calculus course. As the study began, an additional goal emerged: to develop a system for classifying students' errors in calculus that could be used to analyze the data in this study and future ones. To achieve these goals, the examinations of students in two sections of introductory calculus were studied. The instruction of the two groups was very similar: Both groups had the same instructor and were taught with a focus on the concepts of the course. However, in one group, students used writing activities; in the other, students used related activities that did not involve writing. The writing and nonwriting activities were similar in their focus and both groups of students discussed the activities in class. The only major difference between the two groups was that one group used writing to learn mathematics in their activities and the other group did not. Using the errors made by both groups on their examinations, a classification system for errors in calculus was developed, which had not previously been done. This classification system consisted of two procedural error categories and four conceptual error categories. Using this system, the errors of the students in the writing and comparison groups were categorized and the data were statistically analyzed for information about the students' conceptual and procedural understanding. No significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of their conceptual errors, nor for their procedural errors, which suggested that the writing activities did not have a different effect than the related nonwriting activities on students' conceptual and procedural understanding. If students who engage in nonwriting activities that focus on concepts and involve discussion can achieve the same level of conceptual and procedural understanding as students who use writing activities, then mathematics instructors have a viable alternative to using writing activities. This study indicated a need for further research into this matter.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38741
This dissertation argues that a coherent theory of discourse can be synthesized from sophistic Nomos and "The Cooperative Principle" developed by Paul Grice. Chapter One traces contemporary receptions of sophistic Nomos and defines the term as the system by which members of a community create knowledge for that community; Chapter Two outlines receptions of Grice's "Cooperative Principle" and describes cooperation as the ways in which members of communities interact with Nomoses to communicate; and Chapter Three use graphic illustrations to explicate the synthesized theory. The Conclusion provides writing assignments that exemplify the theory's application to instruction. Mid-twentieth century historians of rhetoric (e.g., Guthrie, Kerferd, and Untersteiner) have interpreted Nomos within the limited context of the Nomos-Physis controversy. To open the interpretation, Chapter One summarizes thirteen other definitions uncovered in philologist Martin Ostwald's study of primary writings from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE. Most useful in examining discourse is Susan Jarratt's definition of Nomos as a mediating term between Mythos and Logos, which she makes in the context of an emerging field, neo-sophism. An overview of neo-sophism is provided in which Susan Jarratt's, Sharon Crowley's, and Michael Leff's works are detailed. The final section adds neo-sophistic readings of Nomos from primary fragments of Heracleitus, Democritus, and Prodicus to established readings of Gorgias and Protagoras. Chapter Two explains Grice's "Cooperative Principle" and traces its reception across many fields, including linguistic philosophy, politeness theory, rhetoric and composition, classroom discourse analysis, literary theory, question processing, and gender studies. A new meta-perspective on how discourse is studied interdisciplinarily (as utterance, social interaction, and social context) is also provided. Distinct processes of ordinary discourse are theorized in Chapter Three: co-operation with Nomos, willful noncooperation, willful miscooperation, co/operation of Nomoses, and personal constructions of systems of Nomos. Grice's maxims of cooperative discourse and Peter Elbow's "Believing and Doubting Games" are used to further theorize utterance production and reception. Samples of crafted ordinary discourse are analyzed using the synthesized theory: Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First," a scene from Othello, and Syracuse University 's policy on sexual harassment.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38721
Since the 1980s, rapid political, social, economic, demographic, and technological changes have affected community colleges. Today, with decreasing public funding, community colleges struggle to provide innovative instruction to meet the needs of extremely diverse students; to train workers in new technologies for community economic development; and to be accountable for student learning outcomes. This qualitative case study examines how first-line "area" or "division" deans at a community college manage and lead to promote instructional innovation among faculty. By definition, innovation requires change, a complex process with interrelated steps. Throughout the process, first-line deans' management and leadership skills are essential to success. The research examines management and leadership of the instructional innovation cycle: (a) planning and initiating change, (b) monitoring, and (c) evaluating the change effort. The premise is that some management and leadership practices are more effective than others in facilitating instructional innovation at the department level. Three deans' management and leadership of instructional innovation were examined in three departments at one public, urban, community college . The instructional innovations focused on curriculum change, distance learning, and student success. Multiple data sources and subject groups provided triangulation. In each department studied, deans and faculty are interviewed about their perceptions of management and leadership practices. Classes also were observed. Findings suggest effective deans appropriately balance leadership and management strategies throughout the innovation cycle. As leaders, they anticipate new directions and plan continuously for instructional innovation and improvement. They encourage faculty to stay current in their disciplines and create opportunities for faculty to share ideas. They persuade upper management to provide resources for innovation projects and motivate faculty to initiate them. Effective deans manage the innovation process: they facilitate faculty cooperation, monitor the instructional change as it is implemented, and solve problems that arise. Finally, these effective deans ensure that the innovation is evaluated and that adjustments are made if the evaluation so indicates.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38101
The world market is more and more competitive. As a result, business educators and trainers need to integrate international business skills into the curriculum. Problems of this study were: (1) what international business concepts are emphasized by business educators in their courses, and (2) what are business educators' perceptions of factors influencing integration of international business concepts into the curriculum? Sixty-four business education teachers and administrators listed by the National Business Education Association in the 1995 Business Education Professional Leadership Roster participated in this study. The survey instrument incorporated 40 international business concepts and 20 factors identified in the literature. Participants were required to identify up to three courses they were teaching, and how frequently they addressed each international concept in the identified courses using a five-point Likert scale. Descriptive and inferential statistics including frequency distributions, means and standard deviations, and analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. Findings indicated that there was very little integration of international business concepts in business courses. Emphasis was on influential global organization, international finance, the international trade environment, and U.S. involvement in international trade concepts. The concepts were taught in marketing, introduction to business, business management, business law, economics, cooperative education, and international business classes at the high school, community college, and university levels. The two main factors that influenced the internationalization were international expertise of visiting faculty and faculty's experience. Respondents' gender, age, years of experience, level at which instruction was delivered, and education level did not significantly influence perceptions about internationalization. The region where the institution was located had a significant effect on the respondent's perception of the factors influencing internationalization. It was recommended that integration of international business concepts be done in more schools at the high school, community college, and university levels.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38100
The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the performance and attitudes of students using computer-mediated communication (CMC) as an instructional aid in higher education with students not using CMC, but relying exclusively on traditional face-to-face (FTF) instruction. The study was a rationalistic study, using a nonequivalent, pretest, posttest quasiexperimental design, making use of a natural (real-class) setting without random sampling. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to determine if there were statistically significant differences in the subjects' performances and attitudes. The subjects of this study were 25 undergraduate students who were enrolled in two sections of Advanced Software Applications, in the spring semester of 1996 at Concordia University Wisconsin. Results showed no statistically significant differences between the CMC group and the FTF group on either the pretest or the posttest. Different instructional treatments did not lead to statistically significant differences in posttest performances of the two groups. The study found that subjects in both groups achieved statistically significant gains from pretest to posttest. Results also showed no statistically significant differences between the CMC group and the FTF group in subjects' performances on comprehensive classroom measurements (i.e., exams, laboratory assignments, and the final project). Results showed no statistically significant differences between the CMC group and the FTF group in students' attitudes toward computers and E-mail in either pre-course or post-course attitudinal questionnaires. The researcher found, by means of observation and an anecdotal record of interactions with the students, that the CMC approach demanded more time from students and the instructor than did the FTF group when CMC was used as an instructional aid to supplement traditional FTF instruction.
ORDER NO: ABA97-37814
A comparison of the supply of goods and services on entrepreneurship and small business (ESB) to the demands of customers was the focus of this exploratory investigation. The three stages of the strategic management front end analysis included as the sources of the supply both scanning the services environment and identifying exemplary goods (books). The demands were based on publicly available published ESB literature and a needs assessment. The results identified: the services on ESB, business activities essential for creating a venture, and books on ESB. A CIPP goal free program evaluation investigated context and inputs of available educational services. The courses, consulting, or counseling services identified emphasized consulting, offered non-credit courses on startups, served a very small portion of the population, and generally were provided through government sponsored programs by unlicensed counselors-consultants. Identifying the very limited educational programs available, services they offered, and targeted audiences provided the basis for an alpha level needs assessment. A needs assessment focused on identifying the essential activities for creating a business venture. Three hundred eighteen key informants participated in the 28 focus groups held in four metropolitan and four rural counties. The three sample groups participating in sessions included: business owners, business professionals, or community leaders. Special sessions were held for exporting, agribusiness, and high-technology firms, and for investors, bankers, accountants, and lawyers. When participant groups identified, rated, and ranked business activities, all three sample groups rated 95 of the 99 activities as essential. Owners rated highest activities related to internal business operations, while professionals and leaders emphasized external business activities. Owners expressed dissatisfaction with available services, while professionals said services were sufficient. Owners may lack business literacy and professionals providing services were often untrained in entrepreneurship and small business. Individuals with their own resources at stake (owners, investors, and bankers) requested improved supports, education, training, and resources. The product evaluation of books on ESB described the publishing industry context, isolated a sample of exemplary print media inputs, and identified product evaluation attributes for books (electronic media or instructional episodes), e.g. assessment, outcomes, content, methods, sequence, example, practice, feedback, and message. The exemplary books located were introductory college textbooks authored by college professors, published by textbook publishers, and not available at community-based book stores or libraries. The three exploratory investigations produced a description of the mismatch of demands for goods and services to the supply of goods and services, benchmark of business activities for starting businesses, list of exemplary ESB books, and checklist of product evaluation attributes. The findings may serve as the basis for entrepreneurship-owner business-management-executive education, professional interventions or program policies, and financial decisions related to cash flow operating costs. The recommendations include a model for entrepreneurship, job description, curricula, and model for a cash flow-business plan analysis audit.
ORDER NO: ABA97-35768
The purpose of this research was to examine students' and faculty's perceptions of important characteristics of practical nursing clinical teachers. Differences in perceptions were compared. Infante (1985) noted that most nursing instruction takes place in the clinical setting. Nursing educators need to become aware of which clinical teaching characteristics are perceived by student to be helpful to them (1990). Herein lies the significance of this study. The instrument used in the study was the Nursing Clinical Teacher Effectiveness Inventory. The instrument consisted of 32 individual items, clustered into five subsets of teacher characteristics. Practical nursing students (N = 186) and faculty (N = 22) from five southern community and technical colleges participated in the study. The mean score on the individual items as perceived by the students ranged from 'Directs students to useful literature nursing' (mean = 3.70) to 'Does not criticize in front of others' (mean = 4.85). Faculty and students' perceptions were found to be significantly different in three of the five subsets on the NCTEI. The faculty rated the subset 'Nursing competence' significantly higher than did the students. The students rated the subset 'Evaluation' and 'Interpersonal relationships' significantly higher than the faculty. The differences in perceptions were compared according to gender. Differences were found in the subsets of 'Evaluation' and 'Nursing competence', with the female students rating both subsets significantly higher than the male students. The results of this research will be useful in faculty development programs, and orientation of new clinical teachers. It will also assist clinical instructors in choosing what behaviors are important to avoid when teaching in the clinical area.
ORDER NO: ABA97-35230
This study investigated faculty development activities (activities to improve instruction ) on 28 campuses in New England with baccalaureate degree nursing programs. A total of 268 (61%) of 438 questionnaires were returned from four survey groups: faculty development officers (26/28, 93%), chief nurse administrators (25/28, 89%), nursing faculty employed at the institution for more than three years (71), and nursing faculty employed for three years or less (146). Fifty-seven percent of the nursing faculty requested to participate returned surveys. Response frequencies and percentages were calculated to show the perceived availability and usefulness of each activity, the types and frequency of evaluation methods used, and the areas faculty felt needed emphasis to improve instruction. Additionally, the data were subjected to several statistical procedures to determine if significant differences existed between the groups. The findings indicate while all institutions surveyed have the majority of the faculty development activities available, only 30.8% have an organized faculty development office or faculty assigned to the task of faculty development. Institutions with a total undergraduate enrollment of 3000 or less offered a slightly greater number of activities, as did institutions with public sources of funding. Length of time employed at the institution did not make a significant difference in the number of activities identified as available by the nursing faculty. Sabbatical leaves and summer institutes had significant differences in the perception of usefulness among the four groups. The two faculty groups did show significant differences in the ranking of the usefulness of faculty development activities in improving instruction. A significant finding was that, although faculty development activities are available at all the surveyed campuses, there appears to be little accountability for them. Only a third of the activities was evaluated at least fifty percent of the time. Methods of evaluation that would directly measure student outcomes were very infrequently used. The most frequent use for the evaluations was to suggest new ideas while the least frequent was to eliminate ineffective sessions.
ORDER NO: ABA97-35226
The purpose of this study was to identify differences of respondents rating the seven factors of the Instructional Perspectives Inventory (IPI) (Henschke, 1989) held and practiced by nurse educators. The experimental group consisted of 18 nursing programs in the St. Louis Metropolitan region, totalling 242 nurse educators, with respondents numbering 205, or 85%. The IPI and a demographic sheet were distributed in person by the researcher at faculty gatherings. The IPI was used in this study to identify Instructional Perspectives on seven factors: (1) Teacher Empathy with Learners; (2) Teacher Trust of Learners; (3) Planning and Delivery of Instruction ; (4) Accommodating Learner Uniqueness; (5) Teacher Insensitivity Towards Learners; (6) Learner Centered Learning Processes; and (7) Teacher Centered Learning Processes. These factors were studied in respect to the following demographic variables: (1) age; (2) basic nursing education; (3) number of years teaching nursing; (4) gender; (5) highest degree earned; (6) ethnic identity; and (7) having a college credit course on instruction for adult educators. The means, averages, and percentages were computed and an Analysis of Variance was performed to compare group means on each variable. A significant difference was found on the following variables: Teacher Empathy with Learners, Teacher Trust of Learners, and Teacher Insensitivity Toward Learners with respect to number of years teaching nursing. This finding indicates that the number of years teaching nursing affects the beliefs, feelings, and behaviors described by these variables. A significant difference was also found on the following variables: Teacher Empathy with Learners, Teacher Trust of Learners, Learner Centered Learning Processes and Teacher Centered Learning Processes with respect to the highest degree earned. This finding indicates that the highest degree earned by a nurse educator affects the beliefs, feelings, and behaviors described by these variables.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38939
The dissertation confronts these dual questions: What theory of rhetoric would serve a multicultural democracy? How might such a theory be taught in a first-year composition program? I argue that democratic negotiations are rhetorical, as groups vie to control definitions of themselves, each other, and the "proper" relationships among people, and that rhetoric shapes what people consider to be "knowledge" and "truth." Because hidden ideologies influence the rhetoric people find convincing, people need methods for reflecting critically on their own locations. I argue that one method of developing this reflection is to seek to understand the positions of oppressed peoples, as those positions may reveal assumptions embedded in dominant rhetorical patterns. I also argue that a rhetoric for democracy must be committed to action, not just self-reflection and analysis. I call my theory "strong rhetoric." In the remainder of the dissertation I consider how to apply strong rhetoric in pedagogical contexts, and I perform the kind of self-reflection that strong rhetoric demands by noting how my own contexts have influenced my theory. In chapter two I contemplate the role of a teacher in a democratic classroom and offer "liberation morality"--the critique of inequitable distributions of power--as a strategy to convince students of the value of strong rhetoric. In chapter three I critique four curricula designed to teach civic rhetoric, and I argue that teachers must present ideology as more than partisan politics, advocate action as the goal of rhetoric, discuss the limits of democracy defined as a public forum, and treat students as knowledge-makers and citizens. In chapter four, I discuss my involvement in the the University of Arizona's curriculum revision and make explicit that research and revision are integral to strong rhetoric. I also argue that a pedagogy for strong rhetoric must confront the tensions of establishing the classroom as "community." In chapter five I show how teaching assistants at the University of Arizona translated complex rhetorical concepts into essay assignments. Recognizing that teachers need to simplify strong rhetoric to present it in a one-semester course, I model the analysis teachers might use to determine which elements of strong rhetoric to teach.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38788
As of January 1, 1994, tenured faculty in higher education were no longer exempt from the provisions of the 1986 Amendments to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) which eliminated mandatory retirement on the basis of age. The legislation changed the nature of the social contract between the faculty member and the institution because, prior to the passage of the Amendment, conferral of tenure had carried an understanding that tenure terminated with a predetermined retirement age. The "uncapping" of mandatory retirement gives tenured faculty the prerogative to select an age of retirement that is individually determined rather than institutionally mandated. The study investigated the influence of selected factors on individual faculty retirement intentions and decisions. The study focused on financial factors, and factors within the work context which tend to hold the faculty member in the workplace and delay retirement, and those which tend to push a faculty member out of the workplace and induce earlier retirement. Data from the 1992-1993 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF-93) were used to examine the relationships between the selected hold, push, and financial factors and faculty retirement intentions. The study was limited to full-time, instructional tenured faculty at four-year institutions who were 55 or older in 1993. The findings suggest that factors within the work context influence retirement intentions and ultimately the decision to retire. Faculty who remain actively engaged in research or other creative endeavors, who spend less time on teaching activities and thus have more time for research endeavors, and who continue to receive funding and publish intend to delay retirement. Job satisfaction also holds a faculty member in the workplace. Faculty who are rewarded for their contributions with higher salaries and higher academic rank also have expectations of postponed retirement. A heavy teaching workload component, characterized by more time devoted to teaching-related activities and more time spent in the classroom teaching large numbers of students, tends to push faculty toward earlier expected ages of retirement.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38779
This qualitative study investigates and describes the beliefs and affects that three developmental mathematics students have about mathematics and about themselves as do-ers of mathematics. This study also investigates and describes how these students' beliefs and affects influence their learning of mathematics and influence mathematics teaching . Participants in this study are community college students enrolled in an elementary algebra class. The participants were purposeful selected and signed informed consent forms before data collection began. Methods of data collection included personal interviews, task interviews, and classroom observations. The results are presented in three case stories. Primary affective responses discovered in this study were: (1) students believe that the mathematics they experience in the classroom has no connection to the real world, (2) students believe that mathematics instruction should actively involve them, and (3) students desire to know how mathematics is applied, by whom, and for what purposes. The mapping metaphor for the development of affective responses is also presented. The recommendations that emerged from this study are: (1) teachers should clearly illustrate how various skills, procedures, and concepts taught in class relate to a non-school environment; (2) researchers need to understand how affective responses are formed in students because affective responses impact students' understanding, motivation, and learning; and (3) teachers need to allow students to experience the full problem-solving process including the struggle and the feelings of doubt.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38415
The Taiwanese elementary school mathematics teachers preparation programs are in the need of a large scale revision. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the prospective elementary teachers' mathematical and pedagogical content knowledge in the domain of multiplicative structures. The study was conducted in two steps. Initially, 417 seniors at one teachers' college in Taiwan were given the written test. After completing the written tests, thirty seniors, selected from eight departments in three different major groups, were interviewed. The assessment problems were selected or adapted from assessment instruments used previously by researchers. The mathematical content knowledge of multiplicative structures consisted of four parts: multiplication and division, interpretations and relationships of rational numbers, quantitative conceptions, as well as proportionality and linearity. The pedagogical content knowledge consisted of five parts: teaching representations, students' strategies, misconceptions and difficulties, remediation teaching, as well as the school mathematics curriculum. These mathematics knowledge profiles indicated that the prospective teachers were not ready for teaching. Their level of pedagogical understanding was unacceptably low (35% correct). The mean score (80% correct) on the test of mathematical content knowledge was better but not completely satisfactory. The findings showed the prospective teachers' lack of diagnostic teaching and remediation. They didn't seem to be able to represent appropriately their teaching methods using a wide variety of models. They were not willing to prove their formula, and applied incorrect mathematical knowledge to solve problems. Their explanations relied on procedural approaches, rather than a pedagogically oriented understanding. There were significant differences in the mathematical content knowledge of multiplicative structures between the different major groups (F = 46.03, df (2, 409)). Similarly, for the pedagogical content knowledge (F = 21.74, df (2, 409)). As a whole, the mathematics majors performed the best among all of the three groups. The education majors did better than the art majors on all the tasks except for remediation teaching. The evaluation system conducted in this study will be used to assist in the reconstruction of the initial teachers' certification test and in the reformulation of the mathematics course content in the teacher preparation program.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38224
Reading Recovery is an early-intervention teaching program for at-risk first graders. The program was developed in New Zealand and introduced to schools in this country in 1984. Ohio State University is presently the National Training Center for the program. Because Reading Recovery provides individual lessons, the program has been questioned by some educators as being costly and not reaching enough students. However, test data on discontinued students indicates that when the lowest achieving students are served by Reading Recovery, more than 80% can read and write as well as students in the average band within a short period of time. The research questions for this study are as follows: (1) How does successful completion of a Reading Recovery Program affect the student's attitude toward his/her own reading? (2) How do parents of Reading Recovery students view this program? (3) How do administrators and other school personnel feel about the Reading Recovery Program in terms of student achievement and cost effectiveness? (4) How do Reading Recovery teachers feel about the program and the training that they received? (5) What similarities and differences in beliefs can be found among all those involved in the Reading Recovery Program? Interviews and questionnaires were used to obtain information. Analysis of the data indicated that discontinued Reading Recovery students expressed a positive attitude toward reading. Parents of these students were supportive of the program, felt that their child's reading had improved, and felt that the program should be continued. Principals and classroom teachers generally felt that students had improved, but felt that the program was too costly and too few students were served. Reading Recovery teachers, on the other hand, felt that the program was cost-effective and that the training had greatly influenced their teaching. When all adult responses were re-examined, the belief emerged that although Reading Recovery is an effective tutorial program, too few students receive services, and this is a pervasive problem with the program.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38110
Observational learning long has been accepted as an effective instructional strategy for teaching motor tasks, yet there has been relatively little research conducted in the area by the instructional systems field, especially in regard to specific instructional strategies that may be used to enhance the observational learning experience. This study investigated the strategies of the number of observations and the effects of contextual interference on the observational learning of a procedural motor task and on the subjects' underlying cognitive processes. The concept of contextual interference was first defined by Shea and Morgan (1979) in a study that tested the genealizeability of Battig's (1979) theory of intratask interference for verbal learning to motor learning. Battig defined intratask interference as increased learning difficulty that results from factors that engage or distract the learner and interfere with the learning process. This study employed non-examples as the means of contextual interference. Specifically, contextual interference was measured for its effect not only on acquisition of the motor task, but on the development of the learner's cognitive representation. The subjects in this experiment were 128 graduate and undergraduate students in Education and Instructional Technology classes at the University of West Florida who were taught to administer one-person adult cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The basic design of the study was a 2 x 2 factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA); statistical significance was set at the.05 level of significance. The study also examined the correlation between the level of development of the learners' cognitive representations and level of acquisition. These results of this study indicate that neither contextual interference, introduced into the instruction by the use of non-examples, nor an increased number of observations significantly improved development of the learner's cognitive representation. However, contextual interference did result in significantly higher skill acquisition than did no interference. Also, a direct positive correlation between the subject's cognitive representation and level of skill acquisition was demonstrated. While not conclusive at this level of analysis, this correlation indicates the possibility of a causal relationship between development of the learner's cognitive representation and his or her level of skill acquisition.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38034
This study investigated the student evaluation of instructors and courses at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Student evaluations were conducted through the use of Instructor and Course Evaluation (ICE) form administered by the Office of Instructional at the end of each semester. The study sample consisted of the entire undergraduate student body from 1980-81 through 1989-90 academic years with 480,845 forms. Among the records, 195,880 were entered by male and 136,610 were entered by female students. Variables used were college, class level, sex, required or nonrequired course, expected grade, GPA at this university, outside study hours per week, transfer or nontransfer student. The dependent variables were instructor evaluation, course evaluation, and instruction at this university in general. Nine research questions were tested to cross examine the relationship between male and female, transfer and nontransfer student, class level, expected grade and outside study hours per week in evaluating the overall instruction. Analysis of variance for the results of evaluation between students in required and nonrequired courses is also provided. Variance of student evaluation throughout the years were provided to depict some of the student characteristics throughout the decade. Results of the study showed that male students rated their instructor and course higher than did female students. Nontransfer students rated the overall instruction slightly higher than did transfer student. However, in the overall evaluation, there was a steady decrease during the decade in rating. This downward trend in rating should be an alarming sign to the administration. Overall, students were satisfied with their education at SIUC. The mean rating for instructors was 3.90 and the mean rating for courses was 4.01, and the higher the class level, the higher the ratings.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38029
This study was designed to benchmark the decision-making strategies--as used by outstanding four-year colleges and universities in the United States that offer at least some courses or programs via distance education--which determine whether a program or course should be offered by means of distance education. For this study, distance education was said to exist when the learner and the instructor are separated, a medium or media of communication are employed and an educational institution is involved. Using the rubric of benchmarking for best practices for the essential methodological structure, three institutions that met the definition of the population to be considered were selected. Those institutions were: the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, The Pennsylvania State University and the University of Kentucky. Data were collected primarily using the methods of reviewing the literature, site visitations, telephone interviews, the gathering and inspection of physical artifacts and personal interviews at each institution. The study was conducted between January and September of 1996. From the aggregate data, five primary issues emerged that suggested a "best practices" method for determining whether a program or course should be offered by means of distance education. Those primary issues were: the importance of a strong needs assessment, involvement of key personnel at the institution in the decision-making process, assurance of academic quality and instructional validity of the programs or courses offered at a distance including the availability of instructional designers to support the faculty, a focus on the educational product over the means of delivery, the certainty and quality of support mechanisms for the special needs of distance learners, and a commitment on the part of the institution to distance education.
ORDER NO: AAD97-38014
This study reports the results of research designed to explore the impact of industrial volunteer/school partnerships on elementary science teaching behaviors and students' attitudes about future science study. Since these partnerships involved teachers and students in hands-on or laboratory-type science experiences, the study will add an elementary school component to a series of other studies conducted through the Science Education Program at Temple University that have addressed how to improve the learning outcomes from these experiences. Three suburban elementary schools were randomly selected by a single school district's science supervisor to be involved in this study. Two of the buildings were designated as the experimental schools and teachers worked directly with the researcher as an industrial partner. The third school served as a control with no organized industrial partner. An additional school building in a second suburban school district was selected to serve as a comparison school and a second scientist participated as an industrial volunteer. Unlike the researcher, this scientist had no formal training in science education. Each phase of the study included instruments piloted and reviewed by experienced elementary teachers for appropriateness or by objective experts in the field of education. A student attitude survey and selected tasks from the Inventory of Piagetian Developmental Tasks were administered to all students involved in the study. Empirical data collected through videotaped analysis using the validated Modified-Revised Vickery Science Teacher Behavior Inventory led to the development of a pattern of the most frequently used behaviors during elementary science instruction. A profile of each participating teacher was developed through the use of a validated attitude survey, notes taken during classroom interactions and from information collected during ethnographic interviews. A major conclusion drawn from this study is that neither type of partnership influenced the types of teaching behaviors used by elementary teachers during science instruction. Especially significant is that neither questioning wait-time nor level of questions asked was affected by the partnership experience. Furthermore, the partnership did not lead to teachers exhibiting a more constructivist-oriented approach to science instruction. However, teacher members of both partnerships expressed a strong wish for the partnership activities to continue.
ORDER NO: ABA97-38010
This study is a profile of the laboratory component of instruction in secondary school level chemistry. As one of several companion studies, the purpose of the study is to investigate present practices related to instruction as a means of producing reform that improve cognitive and non-cognitive learning outcomes. Five hundred-forty students, from 18 chemistry classes taught by 12 teachers in ten high schools were involved in this study. Three schools included public and private schools, urban school, suburban schools, and rural schools. Three levels or types of chemistry courses were offered in these schools: school regular chemistry for college bound students, Chemistry in the Community or "ChemCom" for non-college bound students, and a second year of chemistry or advanced placement chemistry. Laboratory sessions in each of these three levels of courses were observed, videotaped, and later analyzed using the Modified Revised Science Teachers Behaviors Inventory (MR-STBI). The 12 chemistry teachers, eight science supervisors, and selected students were interviewed to determine their professional backgrounds and other factors that might influence how they teach, how they think, and how they learn. The following conclusions developed from the research are: (1) The three levels of chemistry courses are offered across high schools of varying sizes and locations. (2) Teachers perceive that students come to chemistry classes poorly prepared to effectively carry out laboratory experiences and/or investigations. (3) While students indicated that they are able to effectively use math skills in analyzing the results of chemistry laboratory experiments, teachers, in general, are not satisfied with the level at which students are prepared to use these skills, or to use writing skills. (4) Students working in pairs, is the typical approach. Group cooperation is sometimes used in carrying out the laboratory component of chemistry instruction in the ChemCom and AP chemistry courses. (5) Computers and other technology were not observed in use commonly in laboratory component of instruction in any levels of chemistry courses. (6) The results of MR-STBI (Modified Revised Science Teachers Behavior Inventory) indicates that the rank order of use of the teaching behaviors in laboratory based instruction among the three types of chemistry courses are similar. (7) A summary of recommended practices for use in teaching each of the three levels of high school chemistry courses is presented in Chapter 5.
ORDER NO: ABA97-37978
The purpose of this study was to develop a curriculum and assessment model for restructuring New Community Corporation's (NCC) Leadership Development Institute (LDI). NCC is a nonprofit Community Development Corporation which is located in Newark, New Jersey. NCC employs approximately 1400 people who are predominantly African American (about 80%) and residents of Newark (about 65%). This study employed an action research design which involved a two year partnership and planning effort between researchers from Temple University and practitioners from NCC. The curriculum design of the study was rooted in Tyler's predetermined objectives approach. The LDI consisted of eight sessions and a graduation ceremony. A rationale is provided for the subject matter and learning experiences selected for each session. The assessment model for this study used both formative and summative evaluation. The feedback from the members of the LDI planning board during the developmental stages of the curriculum design comprised the formative evaluation. This information was used to modify the initial drafts of the LDI curriculum; that is, to facilitate decision-making regarding program outcomes, local competencies, and the selection of subject matter content and learning experiences. The summative evaluation used both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. It included attendance data for the LDI sessions, participants' ratings of aspects of the curriculum, statistical analyses of these ratings, instances of program outcomes, and themes derived from information obtained through exit interviews. The attendance data suggested that the LDI curriculum did meet the participants' needs and interests. For example, 12 of the 19 NCC employees who enrolled in the LDI completed the program, 5 of them attended all of the sessions, and 4 others missed only one session. Furthermore, a convergence of extremely positive attitudes about the various aspects of the curriculum was found by using the two different research paradigms. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of two noteworthy features of the curriculum: its transportability to other community groups and nonprofit corporations; and its impact on career planning/staff development for the LDI participants. Recommendations are provided for further research.
ORDER NO: ABA97-37942
This study was designed to examine whether and how certification-granting teacher preparation programs in university dance departments are preparing students for entering teaching in an educational climate based on ten contemporary themes of reform in education. The study also addressed barriers impeding the redesigning of curricula and practices in dance teacher preparation. The study surveyed seniors, alumni, and program coordinators from selected dance teacher certification programs. Questionnaires focused on programmatic changes in each program in relation to implementing national reforms; programmatic changes included current and proposed curriculum adaptations and instructional approaches/strategies. Further data emerged from written documentation from these institutions. The study was further informed by professionals outside the institutions--the field-specific voices--including current literature in the field, state educational regulations and curricular frameworks, state-published articles, and conference presentations at the state, district and national levels. Reforms were found to be reflected in the dance certification programs; predictably, some reforms were more fully integrated than others. However, even if the faculty know what the reform measures call for, students generally do not. When students are aware of the reforms' titles, they are not being made aware of the ideas being propounded by the reform initiatives and, thus, may not apply the reforms in K-12 dance education upon graduation. The results of this study reveal information about issues such as inconsistent understanding of current reform, little interfacing between schools of education and dance departments, and the relationship between K-12 schools and university programs. The study identifies obstacles to implementing change in teacher preparation which must be confronted and resolved before dance can embrace and be embraced by the total education community. As a field, we need to apply the recommendations being made in general education reform to dance education and take appropriate steps to make them operational. Future researchers can draw from the results to help design and construct an expanded dance education curriculum that relates more concretely to the challenges of and issues in contemporary education.
ORDER NO: ABA97-37941
The purpose of this study was to compare the mathematics achievement and attitude towards mathematics of community college students who were taught precalculus with interactive computer software (the Treatment) with the mathematics achievement and attitude towards mathematics of students who were taught in a traditional classroom (the Control). The type of software used in the study was Mathwright version 1.0. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used in the study. The quantitative measures used were a mathematics achievement test (course final exam) and the Aiken-Dreger Mathematics Attitude Scale (MAS). The statistical analysis of these measures included the use of the Student t test of significance. For the qualitative investigation of student attitude towards mathematics, a student questionnaire, interviews with a random sample of six students, and observations of students were employed. The analysis of the results of the quantitative measures of student achievement showed that the Treatment students had significantly more growth in their achievement than the Control students; however, there was no statistically significant difference in the gain scores of the two groups. The analysis of the results of the quantitative measures of student attitude towards mathematics showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the MAS scores of the Treatment group versus the Control group. However, the analysis of the results of the qualitative measures of student attitude towards mathematics showed that the Treatment students had significantly more positive attitudes towards mathematics than the Control students. The conclusions drawn from this study were: (i) The use of interactive computer software does increase the mathematics achievement of students. (ii) The use of interactive computer software does not change the MAS - measured mathematics attitude of students. (iii) The use of interactive computer software does change students' attitude towards mathematics in a positive fashion. Recommendations include replicating the study using alternative types of software and other mathematics courses, such as calculus or algebra. In summary, subject to the limitations of the study, mathematics achievement and qualitative attitude towards mathematics can be improved with the use of interactive computer software.
ORDER NO: ABA97-37937
This investigation is a qualitative case study of three entry-level occupational therapy master's degree programs. A preliminary literature review identified a trend toward the establishment of new graduate programs in the field, along with the need for refinement of existing master's programs. The review also examined reports of past and present educational strategies used in the occupational therapy classroom. In the literature review, the investigator found no studies which sought to comprehensively identify the strategies in occupational therapy education which are the most effective. Therefore, the main purpose of the study herein was to identify and describe occupational therapy educational approaches which work the best. Descriptive qualitative case studies are presented for each of the three occupational therapy graduate school programs examined. Data sources included interviews with faculty and students, document reviews of course catalogs and program brochures, and naturalistic observation of actual occupational therapy classroom sessions. The results of the study showed great preference for occupational therapy educational techniques which are experiential in nature. Active learning and "hands-on" experiences were particularly valued. Classroom discussion and exercises which emphasized actual real-life patient cases were also greatly favored. Such case discussions emanated from both instructor experiences and student fieldwork encounters. A model for occupational therapy education was developed by the investigator, as an outcome of this study. It is referred to as the Pyramid of Occupational Therapy Learning. It emphasizes the importance of student-teacher trust, commitment, and respect, as a foundation for learning. Other critical components in this hierarchy of the occupational therapy educational process include building student abilities in three critical areas. These are: knowledge of scientific and medical information pertaining to human health and disease, awareness of holistic occupational therapy theories of human performance, and competence in applying such occupational therapy theories to actual patient cases. It is suggested that the Pyramid of Occupational Therapy Learning can be used as a framework for curriculum and course development in occupational therapy graduate education.
ORDER NO: ABA97-37846
Follow-up studies continue to document a low rate of successful transition for adolescents with learning disabilities. Current career counseling programs may, therefore, be ineffective for adolescents with learning disabilities. Self-efficacy beliefs, an individual's perceived performance capabilities, have been found to be an important explanatory construct in the development of career interest independent of abilities and aptitudes. The majority of career self-efficacy research thus far has been conducted with samples of older college students and adults. Furthermore, investigations have not focused specifically on persons with disabilities. The current study assessed aptitudes, interests, self-efficacy beliefs, sources of efficacy information, and outcome expectations pertaining to relevant careers among a sample of 96 secondary students with learning disabilities. Person input variables other than aptitude (i.e., gender, race, grade, socioeconomic status, and IQ level) also were included in the study design. Zero order correlations and hierarchical multiple regressions were utilized to investigate hypothesized relationships. Findings indicated that self-efficacy beliefs were a consistent and substantial predictor of interest in corresponding career areas. Ratings of hypothesized sources of efficacy information, in turn, were found be significant predictors of self-efficacy beliefs in corresponding career areas, with the exception of emotional arousal as a source of information. Ratings of sources of efficacy information also were related to career interest scores. However, as hypothesized, findings indicated that ratings of self-efficacy beliefs mediated these associations. Person input variables, most notably measures of aptitude, were not found to be related to career self-efficacy beliefs or interests in corresponding career areas. Ratings of outcome expectations belonging to the self-evaluative class (i.e., sense of accomplishment, security, and prestige) exhibited a significant positive relationship with interest scores for corresponding career areas. The findings of the present study suggest that earlier results focusing on the career development of adult populations without disabilities may now be reconsidered for generalization to adolescents with learning disabilities. The importance of considering the influence of subjective factors (i.e., interests and self-efficacy beliefs) rather than only objective skills (i.e., aptitudes and abilities) on the career development of adolescents with learning disabilities is suggested through interventions and strategies.
ORDER NO: ABA97-37803
This study's purpose was to determine the effectiveness of pattern noting in improving learner performance on essay examinations in a college introductory philosophy ethics course. Pattern noting is defined as a spatial word association learning strategy whereby verbal information is visually organized on paper by the learner. Using any topic, learners construct a conceptual diagram of concepts and relationships between concepts. Pattern noting's strength lies in its ability to engage students in learning beyond the commonly utilized and frequently short-lived rote memorization. Students in two introductory philosophy ethics classes served as study participants, in a non-equivalent control group research design. Taught by the same professor, using identical instructional materials, in the same room one after the other, one class received pattern noting training and practice while the other class studied normally. Two graders scored essay examinations independently. Data analyses included a test of interrater reliability, paired t tests, ANOVAs, correlations between pattern notes and exam responses, attitude surveys, surveys of normal study habits, class observations, and random interviews. Results indicated that despite the intervention of the pattern noting learning strategy, little or no effect was observed in treatment group examination performances. There is evidence that the pattern notes were heterarchical, and of low to average quality. Differences in pattern noting may have been influenced by subjects' note-taking ability, textbook structure, and attitude. Pattern notes appeared to have conflicted with subjects' preferred learning strategies. There is strong evidence that subjects gained better understanding of the subject matter content through other more conventional learning strategies. Also, it is apparent that subjects' attitudes toward pattern noting could have severely limited its potential success. Future research in pattern noting as a note-taking strategy might include a dual focus: (1) an analysis of pattern noting in a variety of learning situations, and (2) a reformation of the theory that provides the basis for pattern noting.
ORDER NO: ABA97-37724
Technology is one of the most dominant factors impinging on our lives. Of critical importance is that some citizens have specific knowledge of how to solve selected problems and make intelligent and informed decisions about technology. The purpose of this study was to determine if university students' perspectives of their technological problem-solving skills improve as they progress through their degree programs. The study was designed to look at selected student criteria to determine the results. A Perceived Technological Problem Solving Ability Instrument (PTPSAI) was developed to address the following research questions: (1) Is there a significant difference in the perceptions of technological problem-solving ability between technologically-oriented and nontechnologically-oriented university students? (2) Is there a significant difference in technological problem-solving ability between freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors measured by mean scores on the PTPSAI? (3) Is there a significant difference in technological problem-solving ability between students with different work experiences measured by mean PTPSAI scores? (4) Is there a significant difference in mean PTPSAI scores for different amounts of prior work experience? (5) Is there a significant difference in mean PTPSAI scores for different levels of GPA? The PTPSAI was constructed by initially developing 49 questions as face valid indicators extracted from a pool of questions posed to a panel of experts. The items were randomly arranged and given to a group of 23 students as a pilot study. Following a factor analysis on the responses, 36 items were retained. Ten demographic questions were added to address participants' individual characteristics. The survey was then distributed to humanities and technology students at three universities, with a total of 430 usable instruments collected. Statistical analyses performed include factor analysis, reliability, t-tests of means, and one-way analysis of variance. Results showed a moderately high reliability of 0.81 of the PTPSAI items. Findings revealed a significant difference in the PTPSAI scores of humanities and technology students. There was a significant difference in PTPSAI scores among students with different years of work experience and for different levels of GPA. Students with higher GPAs were better problem solvers. The applicability and implementation of technological problem solving in the university setting needs to be investigated further. Future studies were recommended to include other disciplines to see if students in those areas might require a different level of insight for technological problem solving. More detailed studies should be conducted to explore the differences in perceptions of students in various disciplines. Additional research is also needed to identify the most effective method of teaching the concept of technological problem solving for educational settings. Exploratory and qualitative research methods are recommended since technological problem solving is still new in education. | ||||||||||||
