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1997 Dissertation Abstracts: Part 13
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ORDER NO: ABANN-18902
INTERSUBJECTIVE DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES: EXPLORING THE SUBTEXT OF PEDAGOGICAL INTERACTIONS (CLASSROOM, INSTRUCTION) Author: MCKENNA, KATHRYN ANNE (KATE) Degree: PH.D. Year: 1996 Corporate Source/Institution: UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO (CANADA) (0779) Adviser: KARI DEHLI Source: VOLUME 58/06-A OF DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. PAGE 2153. 341 PAGES Descriptors: EDUCATION, SOCIOLOGY OF; EDUCATION, CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION ISBN: 0-612-18902-3 This thesis focuses on the emotional, unconscious and social subtexts of classroom interactions, arguing that these are significant sources of knowledge and learning that need to be worked with and through, as opposed to more usual practices of ignoring or trying to move beyond them. My interest is in how a psychoanalytic understanding of (counter)transference, as it has been reconceptualized as an intersubjective process, might be used to develop communicative capacities and relationships which would allow teachers and students to explicate the socio-political dimensions of "psychological" phenomena and thus to work with and learn from these moments differently. Understanding that the power of what is being argued for is diminished if the implications of such are not manifested in the ways in which the argument is performed, and because this work does not exist outside of the dynamics I am writing about, I demonstrate how as a teacher/researcher I use an intersubjective understanding of (counter)transference to work with and through emotional, unconscious and social subtexts that are part of this research. In this thesis "data" and "interpretation" are not treated as distinct from each other. The "data" is read as interpretation, and "interpretation" as data, whether it comes in the shape of dreams; as responses from the university teachers and students I interviewed formally; in my readings of the literature or other texts; as responses from the people who have read this writing as it has been given shape; as material I seem to come across "by chance;" or as responses to interviews, transcripts, or committee meetings in which my work is discussed. The thesis raises significant issues for people interested in pedagogy as social form(ation) and as a site of social change. It points to the existence of unconscious conceptual grammars which teachers and students enact and are subject to, and demonstrates how these are played out in the ways we think, teach, learn, and put forth knowledge claims. It argues that understanding "selves" as fundamentally intersubjectively constituted necessitates rethinking responsibility and ethical obligations, in classrooms and other pedagogic sites. From this perspective, the subjects of pedagogy include not only students, or even just teachers and students, but also the interface of teacher-student relationships. Finally, the thesis suggests that the process of discovering oneself within the constructs and constrictions of (counter)transferential configurations and the struggle to find other ways to engage--through efforts to observe and understand these configurations as social form(ations)--institutes ways to work with and think about difference differently.
ORDER NO: ABANN-18081
The curriculum of college programs in Office Technology has traditionally focused on the task analysis of skills and competencies required by secretaries in the workplace. Arising largely from the management philosophies of Frederick Winslow Taylor, this production model for curriculum reflected the demands of, and to some extent shaped, the twentieth century patriarchal office place. However, as management philosophies and the business world have changed, so must the Office Technology curriculum. The recent democratizing tendencies that have produced management teams and project work require that the office worker possess a new body of skills and competencies. Perhaps no other office position has altered as much in recent years as that of the secretary. Therefore, the question of whether the curriculum adequately prepares the secretarial student for the contemporary office place is especially germaine. This dissertation takes a case study approach to examining the Office Technology curriculum in place at a community college in western Canada. Using a combination of document analysis, observation and interview, the study explores and compares the perceptions of students, instructors, employers and working secretaries regarding the role of the secretary. The root assumptions and tacit learnings revealed in these perceptions provide the basis for suggestions for curriculum development in Office Technology Programs. The framework used to analyze the Office Technology curriculum is the model developed by Dodds (1983) and modified by Hopper (1993). This framework takes into account different levels of curriculum as well as the influence of instructor--and student--produced individual agendas that affected the Office Technology curriculum. Since the Office Technology curriculum is influenced by the expectations of the business world, the business agenda was added to this model. The current study contends that the tensions amongst the instructor, student and business agendas is realized as the mechanistic curriculum-as-planned and the experiential curriculum-as-lived. Even though the curriculum-as-planned acknowledged the technical skills the Office Technology students needed to acquire, a parallel curriculum of equal importance was seen to be operating in the curriculum-as-lived. It was through this parallel curriculum that the Office Technology curriculum was updated so it was humanized and current with the requirements of the business world of the 90s. This study recommends that the Office Technology curriculum-as-planned must be altered to reflect the demands of the modern workplace. It must emphasize cognitive skills such as analysing, evaluating, and decision-making; interpersonal skills such as conflict resolution, cooperation, and coordination; personal management skills such as self-confidence, integrity, accountability, and adaptability. The study also recommends that the Office Technology curriculum be strengthened by extending both its length and options that are open to its students. These two changes would recognize that the Office Technology program can and should be articulated with Office Management and Business Administration programs. The study further recommends that ties to the business community be augmented through implementation of cooperative education programs and professional development opportunities for college staff.
ORDER NO: ABANN-18079
Between 1984 and 1995 Project Decide, an ongoing curriculum development project in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta, explored alternative methods for the preparation of school principals, particularly methods involving experiential learning, simulations, and reflection-in-action. Four approaches to simulations were designed: a random access videotape simulation of an elementary school principalship with a file box of background materials; an interactive videodisc version; a paper version; and a full multimedia simulation of a junior high school principalship (which has not yet been completed). This study chronicled developments during the life of the project and examined the issues related to student learning arising from the use of the interactive videodisc version of the simulation to provide an experiential learning situation for graduate students in educational administration. Data were gathered during three course sessions between 1990 and 1992. A combination of qualitative research methods, including observations, interviews, and document analysis was undertaken to explore student learning about the principalship and the effectiveness of the simulation design and the learning system in which it was embedded. The findings support the use of experiential simulations for this type of learning and noted a strong positive influence on student motivation, useful learning in areas not addressed through conventional instruction, and an integration of scholarly writing with practice in ways students reported to be very useful. In addition, suggestions for improvement of the simulation design emerged from the study.
ORDER NO: ABA97-29560
With the creation of new measures of perfectionism, research on this topic has expanded rapidly in recent years. The present study used Hewitt and Flett's (1989) Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) to examine the relationships among perfectionism, state anxiety, negative affect, and task performance. The MPS contains measures of self-oriented, other-oriented, socially-prescribed, and total perfectionism. One hundred twenty community college students completed the MPS, a measure of negative affect, a measure of state anxiety, and performed a proofreading task. Participants were randomly assigned to hear one of three sets of instructions prior to completing the measures and performing the task. The instructions were designed to either (a) not arouse perfectionistic motivation, (b) arouse self-oriented perfectionistic motivation, or (c) arouse socially-prescribed perfectionistic motivation. A positive relationship between total perfectionism and state anxiety and negative affect, and a negative relationship between total perfectionism and task performance, across all conditions, was predicted. It was also hypothesized that the relationships between the measures of self-oriented and socially-prescribed perfectionism and the dependent variables state anxiety, negative affect, and task performance would be strongest in the treatment conditions designed to arouse those forms of perfectionistic motivation, respectively. None of the hypotheses were confirmed. The findings of the present study point to the important influence of situational factors on the relationship of perfectionism to other variables. Suggestions for further research, including modifications of the perfectionism scale, are offered.
ORDER NO: ABA97-24036
Bryan Memorial Hospital School of Nursing (BMHSON) is a private, hospital-based three year diploma program in nursing. The revolution in health care delivery requires nursing programs to reevaluate the type of education provided to adequately prepare practitioners for the 21st century. The purpose of this major applied research project was to position BMHSON for a changing health care market by developing a baccalaureate nursing curriculum. Seven research questions addressing nursing competencies, baccalaureate nursing curricula, accreditation requirements, values and strengths of diploma education, faculty beliefs about baccalaureate nursing education, and development of implementation and evaluation plans were answered using a development research methodology. Procedures used to complete this development study included literature review, purposive sample of accredited baccalaureate nursing programs, faculty questionnaire, nominal group technique, modified Delphi technique, and formative and summative evaluation. The result was development of a baccalaureate nursing curriculum including philosophy, nursing curriculum overview, conceptual framework, curriculum and level objectives, course of study, distribution of hours, course descriptions, and professional behaviors demonstrating school values; a plan for implementation of the curriculum and attainment of required state, regional, and national approval and accreditation; and a plan for formative and summative evaluation of the curriculum. The developed product incorporated health care and education trends, faculty beliefs, the history and commitment of the school to quality practice-based education, and was validated as a quality product consistent with the standards of nursing education and practice. It was concluded that this development study was timely, current, and complete for the school to move forward with its vision to develop a college of nursing. Recommendations for further action addressed issues related to implementation and evaluation, assessment of market area for interest in distance delivery of this program, dissemination of program information to stakeholders, and continuation of focus discussions with health care representatives regarding desired nurse competencies every four years.
ORDER NO: ABA97-31175
Statement of the problem. The purpose of this study was to gather data about the influences, problems encountered, and the differences between noncertificated vocational technical teachers (NCVT) and certificated teachers in the postsecondary vocational technical schools of Georgia. Methods. Full-time teachers (N = 755) presently teaching under the FY 97 contract in Georgia's 30 postsecondary vocational technical schools governed by the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education were asked to respond to The Teacher Demographic Form and Questionnaire. Respondents completed the demographic section and the section containing lists of job perceptions, career goals, and physical/emotional problems experienced while teaching and believe to be job related. Descriptive statistics were computed using SPSS for Windows ver. 7.0 on the data gathered to provide an indication of the sample characteristics. A yes/no format coupled with a 5 point Likert scale was used to determine if a significant difference exists between noncertificated and certificated teachers and factors which influence career change, teacher effectiveness and success, and stress-related physical/emotional problems. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the independent variables, and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to determine if a statistically significant difference exists between noncertificated and certificated teachers for the dependent variables. Results. No statistically significant differences were found between certificated and noncertificated teachers in the postsecondary vocational technical schools of Georgia for the dependent variables tested. Conclusions. NCVT teachers and certificated teachers show no statistically significant differences in: (a) factors important when first deciding to teach in a technical institute, (b) factors important at present career stage, (c) problems encountered that influence teaching effectiveness, (d) factors influencing teaching effectiveness, (e) possible reasons for leaving technical institutes, and (f) physical/emotional problems due to present job.
ORDER NO: ABA97-31112
This study focused on assessment of international students' college satisfaction and the relationships between college satisfaction and language ability, and academic performance. Two hundred questionnaires were sent to Asian students. One hundred and five students returned the questionnaires for a rate of 52 percent. It was found that: (1) There was a significant relationship between communicative language ability (CLA) and satisfaction with the college 's contribution to academic and/or personal growth, quality of instruction, services, campus climate, and GPA at the level of.05. (2) There was a significant relationship between GPA and satisfaction with campus climate at the level of.05. (3) There was no significant relationship between GPA and satisfaction with the college 's contribution to academic and/or personal growth, quality of instruction, and services. (4) There was no significant relationship between CLA and English studied in school system in home country, intensive English studied before coming to WSU, and intensive English studied at WSU. In conclusion, CLA contributed to both college satisfaction and GPA. GPA was positively related to satisfaction with campus climate social life, but not academic aspects of the college.
ORDER NO: ABA97-30802
Science had a variety of uses at Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, a private, missionary school supported by northern whites and Virginia's black land grant school from 1872 to 1920. Samuel Chapman Armstrong, principal for the first twenty-five years (1868-1893), advocated not classical but scientific studies, primarily as applied science to improve lives and "civilize" blacks and Indians. Agriculture and mechanics were practiced in Hampton's industries, where students worked their way through school. They were organized for production rather than instruction, though Armstrong claimed that labor had a moral value and that practical experience was valuable learning. In contrast to works by James D. Anderson and Donald Spivey, this study stresses the pragmatic, business purposes of Hampton's industries rather than any ideological agenda. Problems with providing specialized facilities, apparatus, and teachers made it difficult for Hampton to provide rigorous, graded science instruction. Students learned of practical applications of science in agricultural lectures and in such classes as physiology. However, the curriculum was designed for teacher training, using broad, elementary science for general knowledge, to train minds, and to make adult remedial language lessons more effective. Not surprisingly, very few graduates pursued careers which required more than general science studies. Besides the utilitarian and disciplinary purposes, Hampton used science to discourage superstitious ideas in religion. Armstrong also argued for racially distinctive education for blacks and Indians on the basis of scientific ideas about cultural evolution and inheritance of the experience of past generations. In practice, however, Hampton teachers adapted mainstream tools and methods of instruction. Not all teachers shared Armstrong's racial views, and several demonstrated concern for students, confidence in their ability, and professional interest in advancing them as individuals rather than as races. This study offers new perspectives on Hampton through new approaches to its history. Going beyond the identification of Hampton with its work system, it documents formal instruction, and especially science. More importantly, it defines Hampton in terms of the experience of teachers and students, and thus provides some balance to existing interpretations which center around Armstrong's life and ideas.
ORDER NO: ABA97-30653
This study investigated the effect of sex role, specifically androgynous and masculine orientations on the career decision-making of 303 students within advanced placement English or mathematics classes and 349 students within vocational/technical programs. In addition, the study investigated the roles of self-esteem and self-efficacy in the relationship between sex role and career decision-making. Results showed that within each program more girls than boys were classified as androgynous and feminine while more boys than girls were classified as undifferentiated and masculine. For the girls within the college preparatory program, the androgynous and feminine groups were lower in career indecision than were the undifferentiated girls. There were no significant differences between the androgynous and feminine groups. In turn, no significant differences were found for the boys in either program or for the girls in the vocational program. However, the lack of a direct relationship between sex roles and career indecision did not mean that sex roles were irrelevant to career indecision. Among both the boys and the girls and across programs, the androgynous group had higher career self-efficacy and self-esteem than did the undifferentiated group. The present study suggests that career self-efficacy and self-esteem act as mediating variables in the relationship between sex roles and career indecision. The study also points to a complex interrelationship between race, gender, and curricular track, college preparatory versus vocational education, and their effects on self-esteem and career self-efficacy. The present study indicates that further research is needed on sex roles that include both boys and girls, and the importance of sex roles on self-esteem, career self-efficacy, and career indecision. This research needs to incorporate the differential effect of gender and race as well as considerations for type of educational preparation, college preparatory or vocational.
ORDER NO: ABA97-30645
In response to the perceived deficiencies in science education today, and to the expressed need for research into the culture of schools (due primarily to the failure of many science reforms in the past), this study used a broad based approach to study the gap between science education research and science education practice. This study identified 47 factors that may encourage or inhibit science curriculum reform. A survey was conducted to determine which factors were perceived to be important by local and national K-12 classroom teachers, science supervisors/coordinators, and college /university professors. Continual staff development (scheduled as part of teachers' work day/week/month), funding (for long-term staff development, teacher training and support, science laboratory facilities and materials), teacher motivation and "ownership" of the reform, the need for collaborative opportunities for classroom teachers, teachers' college preparation, textbook reform, community support, and reform initiatives that are "in tune" with assessment, are major factors identified as having a substantial affect on the successful adoption, implementation, and institutionalization of science reforms.
ORDER NO: ABA97-30584
We know the history of composition practice and instruction primarily through the principles and practices found in conspicuous textbooks and associated with influential colleges or educational philosophies. In particular, these histories impress us with the influence of Harvard and its utilitarian philosophy of education. While taxonomies of textbooks and institutions help to organize our sense of the past, they leave us with an overly static and therefore inaccurate representation of what it meant to be a writing student or instructor in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The social and cultural values of students and teachers, and the ways that these values might have influenced composing practices, are lost to us. This dissertation takes up the challenge to recover writing teachers, students and administrators as significant participants in the history of composition. In order to show how these people shaped composing practices, this study foregrounds their personalities, career histories, ambitions, writing experience, education, training and social class. At the same time, this dissertation seeks to determine whether Harvard-trained compositionists actively disseminated current-traditional pedagogies to the colleges where they went to work, as has been so often assumed. The distinguishing feature of this study is its limited focus on writing instruction at Bryn Mawr college from 1885-1916, the years during which college -President M. Carey Thomas called herself chair of both the English and Essay departments until 1915 when she recruited Howard Savage from Harvard to take over the Essay department. The limited focus allows for close readings of student essays, teacher comments, teacher-training materials, and letters between department administrators. This study challenges the notion that we can fully understand composition's history through textbooks: chapter one outlines the historiographical approach undertaken in this dissertation; chapter two provides an overview of Havard's writing program and questions its exclusive association with a utilitarian philosophy of education; chapters three and four argue that the social and cultural values of the women who taught and administered writing courses at Bryn Mawr most greatly influenced the voice of the Bryn Mawr woman.
ORDER NO: ABA97-30564
Using quantitative and qualitative methods, this study investigated variables that influence interdisciplinary practices among faculty members working in institutions of higher education. Subjects were a nonrandom volunteer sample of faculty members from thirteen different disciplines (n = 116). Quantitative methods were used to examine the influence of personal beliefs (i.e., general, social, and specific self-efficacy, and valuation of interdisciplinary collaboration), individual characteristics (i.e., discipline, years of experience after earning a graduate degree, duration of involvement, and initial involvement in interdisciplinary collaboration), and environmental variables (i.e., primary work setting, opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, support from the university and primary work setting, and colleague receptivity to interdisciplinary collaboration) on reported levels of interdisciplinary practices. Level of interdisciplinary collaboration was defined by the amount of time faculty report spending in six different activities (i.e., preservice teaching, inservice teaching, research, consultation, curriculum development, and administration) with faculty from disciplines different from their own. The Survey of General Expectations for New Situations (Sherer et al., 1982) was used to measure general and social self-efficacy. The remaining independent variables were assessed using novel self-report measures designed for this study. An ANOVA revealed that faculty whose primary work setting is a UAP had a significantly higher reported level of interdisciplinary collaboration than faculty whose primary work setting is a traditional university setting $(p=.001).$ The independent variables that contributed the most to the variance in reported level of interdisciplinary collaboration were specific self-efficacy, duration of involvement in interdisciplinary practices, type of primary work setting, and opportunities in the primary work setting. An analysis of covariance model using chunkwise testing methods revealed that environmental variables accounted for the most variance in reported level of interdisciplinary collaboration, followed by individual characteristic variables and personal belief variables. Qualitative methods were used to examine factors identified by faculty that facilitate or hinder interdisciplinary practices. A content analysis of the barriers and facilitators revealed that the most frequently reported hindrance to interdisciplinary collaboration was environmental variables, specifically a lack of resources. The most frequently reported facilitator of interdisciplinary practices was valuation of interdisciplinary collaboration.
ORDER NO: ABA97-30510
Focusing on the lived experiences of three teacher-interns of middle school social studies, this project documents the teacher-interns' changes in thinking about content in the last year of their teacher education program. Theoretically grounded in the work of Vygotsky and Wertsch, the investigation is a sociocultural analysis of the development of pedagogical social studies knowledge, and addresses these questions: How does thinking about social studies as a middle school teacher-intern differ from thinking about social studies as a university student? What mediational means--activities, tools/artifacts, and ways of thinking--mediated understanding of a particular social studies topic? As a requirement of their teaching internship, teacher-interns develop a unit plan on one topic before teaching, then they teach the unit plan, and reflect on it. The unit plan assignment provided an opportunity to compare the interns' thinking through time and experiences. This project focuses sharply on documenting each interns' changes in thinking in context about his or her topic. The topics included the Civil War, World War II, and Northern Europe. Changes in thinking were documented through interviews, interns' drawings, choreographic drawings of the intern's movement in class, lesson plans and unit plans, observation notes, and interviews with cooperating teachers. A case study on each teacher-intern traces his or her thinking about the unit plan topic before, during, and after teaching it. Three mediational means are identified as significant across the teacher-interns' experiences--the teacher-interns' "longing to be real" to students, the state curriculum standards, and the teacher-interns' orientations toward their disciplines (often expressed through a "telegraphic message" or metaphor). The case studies evoke the lived experience of learning to teach and the complex interplay among the mediational means and the individual teacher-interns. The experiences of these three teacher-interns call into question the construct of pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman 1985), reveal some of the effects of curriculum standards on teacher-thinking and teaching, and give us an opportunity to view the relationship between individuals and culture.
ORDER NO: ABA97-30448
Scope and method of study. The purpose of this study was to investigate students' and faculty members' perceptions of instructor teaching effectiveness, research activity, and availability to students within Research II universities, specifically within the Colleges/Schools of Human Sciences and Engineering. The following research questions were developed for this study: Do students have shared perceptions of faculty teaching effectiveness, faculty research activity, and faculty availability by college /school affiliation; Do faculty have shared perceptions of faculty teaching effectiveness, faculty research activity, and faculty availability by college /school affiliation; Do faculty and students have shared perceptions of faculty teaching effectiveness, faculty research activity, and faculty availability within each college /school affiliation; Do faculty and students have shared perceptions of faculty teaching effectiveness, faculty research activity, and faculty availability due to faculty academic rank; and, Do faculty and students have shared perceptions of faculty teaching effectiveness, faculty research activity, and faculty availability due to faculty years in academic position? Findings and conclusions. Student data analyzed for teaching effectiveness items found Engineering students perceived their instructors to be significantly more personable, dynamic and energetic than Human Sciences while Human Sciences students rated their instructors significantly higher for their instructors conscientiousness about instructional responsibilities. Students' responses to faculty research/scholarly activities items were compared by discipline. Human Sciences students rated their instructors significantly higher for seven of twelve items. Both groups of students rated their faculty high on most availability items. When Human Sciences and Engineering faculty responses were compared, only seven out of seventy-seven items were found to be significantly different. Data analyzed for Human Sciences faculty and students found responses varied significantly for twice as many items (25) compared with Engineering faculty and students (12). Findings show that perceptions of assistant professors and those employed 4 to 7 years differed little from their students' perceptions regarding faculty teaching effectiveness, research/scholarly activities, and availability to students. The picture for full professors and those employed over 14 years was quite different with students reporting faculty were not doing a good job of evaluation, feedback, and reinforcement. All three groups of faculty (assistant, associate and full professors) indicated they were available for academic course information and at other times besides office hours.
ORDER NO: ABA97-30444
Scope and method of study. For this study, I set out to determine whether technical writing textbook pedagogy has undergone or is undergoing a pedagogical paradigm shift. I conducted two extensive historical reviews. First, I reviewed the scholarly literature on the process orientation and the product orientation for teaching writing in composition and rhetoric, business writing, and technical writing. Second, I reviewed college -level technical writing textbooks from their origin in the early 1900s to the present. I then analyzed the textbooks and labeled each as either process or product oriented. Findings and conclusions. The literature review of the writing process demonstrates: (1) that composition and rhetoric pedagogy has shifted from the product orientation to the process orientation and that some business writing scholars find merit in the process orientation for teaching business writing; (2) that technical writing pedagogy has shifted away from a product-dominated orientation and that no one has determined whether technical writing has undergone or is undergoing a pedagogical paradigm shift and why it shifted; (3) that the process orientation, combined with elements and samples of technical writing genres, is, in some scholars' opinions, a viable orientation for teaching writing. The technical writing textbook review: (1) reveals that some technical writing textbooks, whether they are product-oriented or process-oriented, present elements and samples of technical writing genres, such as proposals, manuals, and reports; (2) demonstrates that technical writing textbook pedagogy shifted from a product-dominated orientation towards a process-dominated orientation but that it did not completely shift to a process-dominated orientation; (3) corrects the a misperception about technical writing textbook pedagogy by demonstrating that it has not completely shifted to a process-dominated orientation. The fact that these process-oriented textbooks include elements and samples of technical writing genres indicates that the authors of these process-oriented technical writing textbooks realize that some aspects of the product-oriented pedagogy, particularly elements and samples of technical writing genres, are effective pedagogical methods, especially when combined with the process orientation.
ORDER NO: ABA97-30356
The purpose of this two-year study was to investigate why two female elementary teachers became exemplary science teachers, despite conditions which do not promote such achievement. Each teachers' progress was examined using life history methodology. The study's theoretical grounding included females' academic and attitudinal success in science education. Purposeful sampling of peers, administrators, and college professors produced two research participants. Both teachers participated in interviews, observations, and member checks lasting over one year. Data were analyzed inductively, resulting in two life histories. Comparing the life stories using confluence theory (Feldman, 1986) indicated four major categories for consideration: risk-taking; life-long learning; gender equity; and mentors. Risk-taking is necessary for female elementary teachers because of their often poor educational background. Few female role models support efforts for achievement. Life-long learning, including extensive reading and graduate-level classes, supports female teachers' personal and professional growth. Exposure to new ideas and teacher practices encourages curricular change and refinement in science education. Gender inequity and the male-packaging of science is an issue to be resolved by female elementary teachers. Mentors can provide interaction and feedback to refine science instructional practices. Professors, peers, and mentor teachers support instructional and content knowledge efforts. Recommendations for science education in classroom practices, preservice teacher education and continuing professional development include female-friendly approaches to science instruction. Decreased competitive practices through cooperative learning and gender inclusive language encourages female participation and achievement in classrooms. Hands-on, inquiry-based instruction and verbalization encourages female students' achievement in science education. Preservice teachers must receive adequate conceptual understanding in college science courses. Addressing knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and gender issues inherent in prior science education assists students to be reflective. Practicing teachers should be encouraged to work collaboratively, be reflective, and be aware of gender inequity issues. In-depth professional development efforts are need to support these changes. Administrators must be supportive of the process. Further research can add to and expand this body of knowledge through additional research into male elementary science teachers' life experiences. Research with preservice teachers may reveal similar findings even though their historical time period differs from the two participants in this study.
ORDER NO: ABA97-30341
Where school governance should be located has been debated for over a century. As increasing numbers of public schools decentralize cooperative decision making (CDM), greater numbers of parents, teachers and community members participate in making decisions in their local schools along side their administrators. This study examined those who participate in CDM? What motivates participants to take part in CDM? How do participants view their decision making authority? How do participants perceive accountability for CDM decisions? What impact has CDM participation had on roles and relationships among stakeholders? The study drew upon a survey instrument, interviews with twenty key informants (administrators, teachers, parents/community members) and CDM meeting observations in elementary and secondary schools in a large suburban school district. CDM participants were found to be primarily women in their forties with some college study who belong to religious groups. Stakeholders held differing political affiliations and expectations of the CDM experience. School improvement, community building and information access motivated CDM participation. Teachers and parents sought political influence, while administrators sought to balance stakeholder interests. Significant discrepancies between actual and ideal decision involvement were found across participant groups on ten decision topics--selecting new teacher hires and new administrator hires; determining grading policies; determining what skills are taught; setting homework guidelines; setting promotion and retention policies; evaluating teachers' performance, assigning student to teachers' classrooms; determining classroom purchases; setting homework guidelines; evaluating support staff, teacher and administrator job performances. The study found that participants agreed most about teacher decision authority. Participants thought principals should make more instructional decisions; teachers should make more personnel, budget and student scheduling decisions; and parents should be involved in personnel and instructional decisions. Principals should have less authority in personnel hires and student assessment; teachers should have slightly less authority in deciding homework and skills to be taught. Principals were perceived as accountable for CDM decisions with two exceptions--decisions about school improvement and the CDM process. Elementary and high school participants leaned toward participants being more responsible for their decisions than did their middle school counterparts. Participants described their relationships in terms of team effectiveness and dysfunction.
ORDER NO: ABA97-30333
This multi method study explored the orientation of social work faculty to the philosophy of experiential education in the classroom. This philosophy grows out of the work of John Dewey and Kurt Hahn and has informed numerous approaches including experiential learning, adult learning, and empowerment-based education. No previous research has looked at the orientation toward this philosophy, though research had considered the orientation to the approaches informed by the philosophy. The current Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accreditation evaluative guidelines call for approaches in the classroom that appear to reflect the philosophy of experiential education. Unless social work faculty are oriented in a direction congruent with this philosophy it is unlikely they will adopt approaches consistent with it. A random sample of 816 members of the CSWE were mailed surveys which included 10 open-ended questions, a 36-item instrument designed for the study, and 9 demographic questions. A total of 242 usable responses were obtained. The sample was deemed to be representative of the sample frame and population through chi-square analysis of known perimeters. The qualitative data were analyzed using techniques reflective of the constant comparison method and consistent with a grounded theory approach. Results included the development of a quadrant model which explains the relationship between the delivery of content axis (the domains of content and process) and relationship axis (the domains of task and affect). The instrument development process is presented for the Experiential Education Orientation Scale (EEOS) and its six subscales (goals, relationships, place of content, roles of the teacher, roles of the student, and learning environment). Results for reliability and validity work on the instrument are presented including internal consistency reliability, factor, and Rasch analysis. ANOVA, bivariate, and multiple regression analyses were used to test hypotheses and explore the relationship between demographic variables and scores on the EEOS and subscales. Gender, age, years of practice prior to teaching, teaching to bachelor level students, and teaching micro and macro level courses were found to be significant predictors on several subscales. Implications and future research are considered.
ORDER NO: ABA97-30008
This dissertation begins with the premise that modern students have an aversion to collaborative writing relating to the historic reason/imagination antithesis. The study traces this split as part of our intellectual tradition from classical times, beginning with Aristotle. After discussing Enlightenment views denigrating the imagination, it treats two American figures, Jonathan Edwards and Henry Adams, who struggled to overcome this cultural dichotomy. It then describes modern problems stemming from our individualistic ethic, suggesting that teaching the imagination will help resolve our malaise. After briefly outlining the history of American composition teaching , it describes the traditional paradigm, which usually excludes the imagination and emotions and emphasizes facts, as evident in current composition pedagogy. It suggests bridging the gap by using the pedagogical strategies of collaborative and ethnographic writing. The second section, a semester-long ethnographic study of a class of college students, illustrates these problems in writing practice. An initial questionnaire reveals prevalent romantic views emphasizing solitary writing and reliance on inspiration for ideas. Participant observation of the writing groups reveals how students' problems with power relations, leadership, and gender influence the invention process. Findings on the effects of collaborative methods on efficiency, focus, and development of writing are mixed. The work then relates groups' positive interactions to current literature on creativity, recommending engagement in a cooperative social environment and direct instruction in creativity to enhance invention. A continuum finds possible correlations between students' sense of authority as writers and their beliefs in the possibility of imaginative research. The study then argues for a new model of research writing engaging the imagination through interaction privileging personal knowledge. Findings show that using personal experience in research contributes to invention of topics and ideas, dividing writing tasks, supporting personal authority, enhancing critical thinking, and changing others' opinions. Finally, it reviews evidence of gender stereotyping and causes of intimidation in the classroom, suggesting strategies to avoid such problems by maximizing diversity, dialogism, and personal involvement in writing projects.
ORDER NO: ABA97-30003
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of learning to teach science in a Professional Development School (PDS) program on university elementary education preservice teachers' (1) attitudes toward science, (2) science process skills achievement, and (3) sense of science teaching efficacy. Data were collected and analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were collected using the Science Attitude Inventory (North Carolina Math and Science Education Network (1994), the Test of Integrated Process Skills, TIPS, (Dillashaw & Okey, 1980), and the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument, STEBI, form B (Enochs & Riggs, 1990). A pretest posttest research design was used for the attitude and process skills constructs. These results were analyzed using paired t test procedures. A pre-experimental group comparison group research design was used for the efficacy construct. Results from this comparison were analyzed using unpaired t test procedures. Qualitative data were collected through students' responses to open-ended questionnaires, narrative interviews, journal entries, small messages, and unsolicited conversations. These data were analyzed via pattern analysis. Posttest scores were significantly higher than pretests scores on both the Science Attitude Inventory and the TIPS. This indicated that students had improved attitudes toward science and science teaching and higher process skills achievement after three semesters in the science-focused PDS program. Scores on the STEBI were significantly higher for students in the pre-experimental group when compared to students in the comparison group. This indicates that students in the science-focused PDS program possessed more efficacious beliefs about science teaching than did the comparison group. Quantitative data were supported by analysis of qualitative data. Implications from this study point to the effectiveness of learning to teach science in a science-focused PDS program with respect to attitudes toward science, science process skills achievement, and sense of science teaching efficacy. In addition, qualitative data indicated that the most effective components of the science-focused PDS program rests largely on the fact that students learned to teach in a collaborative cohort team and that students spent extended periods of time in clinical internships and student teaching.
ORDER NO: ABA97-29998
This study examines how four privileged White preservice teachers attending a mid-sized university in the Southeastern United States develop "multicultural consciousness" by: (1) (re)interpreting a discourse shared by many Black teachers and (2) (re)presenting this discourse using multimedia as a tool for knowledge reconstruction. In a preservice elementary social studies methods class, narrative research methodology is used to explore what is called the "discourse of solidarity." A social reconstructivist philosophy of teacher education is followed and a transformative approach to multicultural education is emphasized. In this year-long study, self-reflection, face-to-face research, and multimedia utilization enables four privileged White preservice teachers to (re)interpret and (re)present their understanding of: (1) how one Black woman principal "deals with solidarity" in a predominantly Black urban Chapter One school and (2) how they themselves practice this discourse as student teachers. Analysis of the texts reveal that: (1) Three participants developed multicultural consciousness, a "changed heart," concerning the urban Chapter One school and its surrounding community (i.e., their prior, privileged notions about such schools changed), One participant revealed minimal growth in multicultural consciousness and (2) One participant transferred her understanding of the solidarity discourse to practice in her student teaching classroom; Three participants practiced parts of the solidarity discourse in their student teaching classrooms. These findings are attributed to certain aspects of each participant's cultural heritage, attention to face-to-face research in PDS school communities, development of "self as teacher," and relationship with the cooperating teacher. Suggestions for preservice teacher education include the addition of extensive face-to-face encounters with school communities and educators who practice varying discourses of teaching and the inclusion of multimedia as an enhancement to knowledge (re)construction.
ORDER NO: ABA97-29988
This case study examines the impact of the development of the use of technology-enhanced learning on the faculty and students in the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program at Davidson County Community College (DCCC). In this study technology-enhanced learning refers to the required use of computer-assisted instruction, computerized testing, multimedia, interactive video, and computerized record keeping within the ADN program at DCCC. Case study methodology based on the work of Stake (1978, 1985, 1994, 1995) and the philosophy of qualitative research (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) was chosen to collect and interpret data. The case for this study was the faculty and second year students in the ADN program at DCCC during the spring quarter of the 1995-1996 school year. Participants included six full time faculty members, thirty-three second year nursing students, and the Dean of Instruction as key informants and the researcher as an observer. The strategies of surveying, interviewing, and observing were used to gather data. With permission, audio tapes of interviews and other data collected were analyzed to determine specific themes and patterns. The written report followed the design outlined by Stake (1985) and provided a description of the case to encourage readers to make connections with research and personal experience. The conclusions reported in the study addressed the research questions and had meaning for the researcher. The study found that the Health Technologies division chair played an important role in the development of the technology-enhanced learning initiative. The use of technology-enhanced learning also shifted the roles of student and faculty with regard to the teaching and learning process. Recommendations of the study emphasized the need for a project manager and the provision of up-front equipment and training as well as on-going technical support as key factors in the success of the initiative.
ORDER NO: ABA97-29963
This research addressed the question of whether there were differences in achievement between students that followed an integrated approach to calculus that integrated mathematics and physics, compared to students that followed a non-integrated approach. The subjects in the study were the 151 students that completed Calculus II (second semester calculus intended mainly for engineering students) at Montana State University -Bozeman during the fall of 1996. There were a total of five sections with five different instructors. All the sections used the Harvard Calculus book and took common exams. Three sections were assigned to the experimental group, which followed the integrated method, while two sections acted as the control group. Both groups covered the main topics of chapters 6-10 of the Harvard Calculus book. The instructors in the experimental group stressed problems about applications to physics, as well as the conceptual and computational aspects of calculus. In addition, students in this group received enrichment notes that supplemented the textbook. The instructors in the control group also stressed the conceptual and computational aspects of calculus as well as applications to physics. However, the control group did not delve as deeply into these applications and did not have the support of the enrichment notes. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), with Calculus I scores and SAT-math scores acting as covariates, was the technique of choice to compare methods with regard to Calculus II and Physics I scores. Physics I is the first semester calculus-based physics course. ANCOVAS were also used with gender as a factor, and when students take Physics I as a factor (not yet, concurrently with Calculus II, or before Calculus II). For interaction analyses, two-way analyses of variance were employed once students were categorized into three groups according to their scores in Calculus I, SAT-math, and Calculus II. Students in the integrated group did significantly better in Calculus II. Interaction was found when Physics I scores were analyzed, with method and SAT-math groups as factors. Students with high mathematical aptitude in the integrated group scored significantly better than students with high mathematical aptitude in the non-integrated group, when Physics I scores were analyzed. No other interactions were detected. Furthermore, there were no differences in Calculus II achievement according to when students took Physics I. No differences in achievement according to gender were found either. On the basis of the findings of this study, an integrated approach to the teaching of second semester calculus is recommended.
ORDER NO: ABA97-29961
This research investigated whether Montana State University 's population of developmental writers, when provided access to word processors and accompanying skilled instruction, would achieve deep revision in their writing. The problem of the study was to discover, using holistic readers/graders and Basic Writing 001 students' writing samples, whether deep revision improved on drafts produced by hand as measured against drafts produced using the word processor. The population of this study included MSU's developmental writers, defined as US citizens or permanent residents working on a first bachelor's degree; first generation bachelor's degree, i.e., neither of the student's parents nor guardians had a bachelor's degree; low income; and/or persons with disabilities, including hidden and/or learning disabilities. The students were also often low-skilled, speakers of a native tongue other than English which they may use in their homes, and/or possessors of strong negative attitudes toward writing. The procedures in the study included the appropriate identification of a population, a systematic method for measuring independent variables (three one-way ANOVAs), and a systematic method for obtaining information concerning whether there exists a significant difference with regard to deep revision skills in final scores between drafts produced by hand and drafts produced using the word processor. The data indicated, first, that students who handwrote their work scored significantly lower than students who word processed their work; the use of a word processor positively affected the quality of deep revision. Second, students younger than 25 years of age performed significantly better on their word processed work than did students 25 years of age and older. Third, it appeared to make no significant difference whether a writer was male or female insofar as that individual's final mean scores on either handwritten or word processed work; gender played no role in successful revision. And finally, it made no significant difference whether a writer was Caucasian or non-Caucasian insofar as that individual's final mean scores on either handwritten or word processed work; race played no part in whether or not a developmental writer can compose well or poorly, regardless of the tool.
ORDER NO: ABA97-29638
The purpose of this study was to gather information about the various curricular approaches used by baccalaureate nursing programs for teaching ethics. Specific information sought included: faculty preparation in ethics; use of an ethical framework; goals and objectives for ethics; ethics content and learning experiences included; sequencing of content and learning experiences; placement of ethics into a separate course, integrated into the curriculum, or both; identification, integration, and linkage of ethics content across the curriculum; hours of ethics content; learning resources used; who teaches ethics; and faculty experience with ethics. Beauchamp's curriculum process (1981) was used as a theoretical framework. This study was a descriptive mail survey. The survey population was all the National League for Nursing accredited baccalaureate nursing programs in the United States. A researcher-developed semi-structured questionnaire was used, and Dillman's Total Design Method (1978) for survey research was followed. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and the chi square test was used to identify associations between variables. The return rate of usable questionnaires was 65%. The descriptive findings reveal that although teaching ethics is valued in principle, the actual structuring and implementation of the curriculum related to ethics does not reflect as deep a commitment to teaching ethics. Attempts are being made to provide ethics education, but the lack of systematic plans for integrating ethics across the curriculum indicate that these attempts are not fully realized. A cluster of significantly associated variables formed two distinctly different profiles of more and less structured curricular approaches to teaching ethics in baccalaureate nursing programs. The variables which formed the cluster were: recent faculty development programs, use of an ethical framework, terminal objectives related to ethics, a separate ethics course and integrating ethics versus no separate course, a systematic plan for integrating ethics content, total hours of ethics content, and learning resources used. Using these results, it is possible to identify and classify distinctly different curricular approaches to teaching nursing ethics, and to design research studies which compare the effectiveness of the different approaches.
ORDER NO: ABA97-29635
The marked increase in organizational complexity of schools in New Brunswick places demands on principals to be both efficient managers and effective instructional leaders. These often conflicting demands force principals to adopt more flexibility in their leadership styles. Reddin (1970) argued that this kind of change was dependent upon the principals' personal characteristics and situational factors associated with their schools. This correlational study surveyed 259 New Brunswick principals to determine if a relationship existed between patterns of leadership style flexibility and either selected characteristics of the principal as a person or the situational complexity of the school. A factor analysis of 55 situational items produced eight variables that depicted school situational complexity. Decision making was chosen as a parameter to represent style and Rowe's (1987) Decision Style Inventory provided the data for style flexibility patterns. Partial correlations were examined between personal characteristics, situational variables, and decision making style flexibility patterns. This study found that more university education increased analytical and decreased behavioral decision making style preferences. While three of the four decision making styles (analytical, behavioral, conceptual, directive) correlated with school situational factors, no style preference correlated with perceived situational complexity. Flexibility in decision making decreased with the number of siblings in the principal's family. Males showed greater flexibility in decision making than females. Decision making style flexibility decreased when principals perceived an increase in external pressures and it increased when principals perceived that staff cooperation was greater. The relationship between education and decision making style suggested that universities should reevaluate the scope of principal training curriculum. The results pertaining to gender indicated that the criteria for principal selection for females may be different from that for males. The tendency toward greater style flexibility among principals from smaller families ran counter to the belief that broader background experience would lead to greater style flexibility. The tendency for principals to be less flexible when under greater external pressure threatened the chance of success for externally imposed change. The positive correlation between principal style flexibility and perceived staff cooperation reinforced the need for a more collegial leadership approach as school complexity increases.
ORDER NO: ABA97-29618
In addition to classroom instruction common to all college students, nursing students' programs include clinical experiences in health care agencies. The transition to engaging in this multifaceted learning can be challenging, and occasionally threatening. Nursing student development was explored using Bandura's (1977) theory of self-efficacy (i.e., the belief in one's ability to initiate and persist in behaviors), and Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) transactional model of coping. Coping strategies are either problem-focused (actions to deal directly with problems) or emotion focused (attempts to deal with emotions related to problems). Research indicates high self-efficacy is related to using problem-focused coping and low self-efficacy is associated with emotion-focused coping. Six groups of nursing students in varying stages of their nursing education were sampled twice at a nine-month interval. Two groups were followed over the nine-month interval. Regression analyses were used to investigate relationships between academic self-efficacy and coping strategies and between clinical nursing self-efficacy and coping strategies. Differences and changes in self-efficacy and coping strategies were examined using t-tests and one way analysis of variance. Finally, the impact of support and GPA on self-efficacy and on coping was explored using path analyses. Results revealed no changes or differences in academic self-efficacy, but a linear increase in clinical nursing self-efficacy. Clinical nursing self-efficacy surpassed academic self-efficacy when students became seniors. In contrast to prior research, students in this study consistently chose problem-focused coping strategies. There was one significant relationship between academic self-efficacy and problem-focused coping strategies, and no significant relationships between clinical nursing self-efficacy and problem-focused coping. Students low in academic and clinical nursing self-efficacy tended to use emotion-focused coping strategies. Path analyses revealed the critical influences of support and GPA on self-efficacy and coping strategies. Findings from the study, as well as speculations regarding the absence of relationships between clinical nursing self-efficacy and coping strategies among first and second semester juniors and first semester seniors, are discussed. Recommendations for future research, and implications for practice are offered.
ORDER NO: ABA97-29606
This study investigated inmate higher education programs (IHEP) in New York State prisons from the perspective of various participants in order to: (a) explore the mission and accomplishments of higher education in the rehabilitation of inmates; (b) identify the economic, informational, philosophical, political, and social factors that resulted in the loss of government funding which lead to the demise of the programs; and (c) examine possible alternatives to on-site faculty instruction. Several quantitative studies had reported reduced recidivism as a result of inmate participation in college prison programs. No published history or qualitative research on the inmate programs had been conducted in New York State from the initiation of the programs in the early 1970s to its virtual demise in 1995. Data collection for this study included: a survey, interviews, field study, and document examination. Refusal of the New York State Department of Correctional Services to grant permission for research to be conducted is acknowledged as a limitation and as an indication of the political context and implications of this study. This research resulted in several major findings. Environmental turbulence and the influence of innovation advocates in the State Education Department, in prisons, and in colleges at a time when funding became available to minority groups in the early 1970s resulted in the initiation of IHEP. Twenty-five colleges ultimately became involved, and most reaped substantial monetary rewards through their participation. Program directors, participating faculty, and observers reported the "success" of student/inmates; however, no "hard data" were collected, and a code of silence was maintained by the colleges during the tenure of the programs for fear of reprisals from legislators and citizens, particularly in the form of denial of funding. Hence, student/inmates remained "invisible." According to informants to this research, the loss of federal funding in 1994 and New York State grants in 1995 was principally due to a change in the political climate as a result of economic constraints and emotional reactions not informed by data about the effectiveness of the programs in stemming recidivism. While distance learning and student/inmate direct payment are being utilized in a least one state, Utah, informants indicated that the return of IHEP in New York is not likely in the foreseeable future.
ORDER NO: ABA97-29446
This study examines the usefulness of an adjunct course (Precourse) that was taught by a language teacher who accompanied her students to an undergraduate history course at the university level. Qualitative methods and quantitative measurements were employed to: (a) to assess the effectiveness of the Precourse on improving the participants' proficiency level, and (b) to examine the effect of such a course on improving the students' academic competence and performance. Special attention was paid to the influence of the first social and academic culture of the participants on their process of learning English as a second language.
ORDER NO: ABA97-29434
As mixed-economy organizations, public universities provide an excellent opportunity for examining the impact of a changing funding base upon institutional priorities, as measured by resource allocation among activities. Two theoretical perspectives were drawn upon in modeling resource allocation in public universities, resource dependency theory and economic theory. By analyzing resource allocation both from the standpoint of real per-student expenditures and expenditure shares, several consistently-significant, positive relationships were found to exist: that between governmental appropriations and instruction ; that between gifts, grants, and contracts and research; that between tuition and fees and student services; that between governmental appropriations and plant maintenance and operation; and that between tuition and fees, and gifts, grants, and contracts and scholarships and fellowships. Furthermore, these same positive relationships were found to persist when an explicit analysis of change was undertaken. While the study focused primarily on changes in resource dependencies as the primary predictor of changes in resource allocation patterns, alternative explanations could not be ruled out.
ORDER NO: ABA97-29431
In the past five to ten years, state financial support for public colleges and universities has been reduced in relative terms. As direct state funding has declined, colleges and universities have sought alternate forms of support to replace the lost funds, mostly through an increased emphasis on securing contracts and grants. This increased grant seeking behavior has been accomplished through individual departments, the main economic and administrative units within higher education. Administrators at all levels actively encourage faculty members to seek out external sources of funding that will support research directly and sustain departmental administrative functions indirectly through overhead charges. Pfeffer & Salancik's (1978) resource dependency theory is the conceptual framework used to examine whether changes in departmental revenue support patterns affect undergraduate education at major public research universities. Specifically, whether faculty undergraduate productivity is reduced in proportion to the amount of external research financing acquired by academic departments. Resource dependency might explain the behavior of faculty in this regard, revealing that external agents of resource supply and rewards have a significant impact on undergraduate instructional production. To test the theory that resource dependency can explain variation in departmental undergraduate instructional productivity, data from the 1994 survey results of the National Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity (NSICP) is examined. This sample data contain information on 27 Research I and II institutions, 93 departments, and 955 data points. Traditional statistical procedures explore the interrelationships between research spending and student credit hours/class sections taught on a per faculty member basis. The primary finding is that the resource dependency framework linking separately budgeted research expenditures (a proxy for external resource provider influence) and faculty undergraduate instructional productivity (a proxy for internal organizational behavior) is not supported. Other factors not evaluated by this study, such as faculty training, faculty and departmental culture within higher education, departmental power and influence, and internal reward structures of departments may hold greater weight in determining faculty undergraduate instructional productivity. | ||||||||||||
