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1994-1995 Dissertation Abstracts: Part 1
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ORDER NO: ABA96-39904
THE EFFECTS OF COMPUTER-ASSISTED INSTRUCTION AND OTHER SELECTED VARIABLES ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF ADULT STUDENTS IN MATHEMATICS AND READING (CAI) Author: BURTON, BEATRICE SPENCER Degree: ED.D. Year: 1995 Corporate Source/Institution: GRAMBLING STATE UNIVERSITY (1195) Major Professor: PRENTISS LOVE Source: VOLUME 57/07-A OF DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. PAGE 2798. 146 PAGES Descriptors: EDUCATION, ADULT AND CONTINUING ; EDUCATION, HIGHER ; EDUCATION, READING ; EDUCATION, MATHEMATICS ; EDUCATION, TECHNOLOGY ; EDUCATION, ADMINISTRATION The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) versus traditional instruction on the academic performance of adult students on the mathematics and reading sections of the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE). Additionally, this study investigated the independent influence of the variables age, gender, income, marital status, educational level, ethnicity, and employment status on the academic performance of adult students on the total section of the TABE. A combination of a Nonequivalent Control Group Design and a Causal Comparative Design was employed in this investigation. Two-hundred (200) adults from the Vocational Technical Adult Basic Education Center in Southeast Mississippi were selected to participate in this empirical study. The "Test of Adult Basic Education" was used to collect the data. The instrument was judged to have good content validity. Internal consistency reliability coefficients ranging from.88 to.91 and.87 to.92 were computed on both the math and reading sections of the TABE D and M, or Forms 5 and 6, respectively. Moreover, the data were treated through the application of the One-Way Analysis of Covariance, One-Way Analysis of Variance, and the Scheffe' follow-up test. Among the conclusions of this study were: (1) The type of instruction had an influence on the academic performance of adult students on the math and reading sections of the TABE. (2) Adult students' age had no effect on their total scores on the TABE. (3) Male and female adult students had similar scores on the total section of the TABE. (4) Ethnicity had some influence on the academic performance of adult students on the total section on the TABE. (5) The more formal education adult students had obtained, the higher their scores were on the total section of the TABE.
ORDER NO: ABA96-36538
Most research into metacognition has used populations of children. Therefore, the purpose of this was to extend general knowledge about metacognition based on child data to adult populations. Previous research into adult metacognitive abilities has focused on academically stable college populations. For this reason, an adult population of academically at-risk college students was chosen to examine the effects of reading instruction on one aspect of metacognition, calibration. Calibration is a self-monitoring aspect of metacognition and is defined as the ability to predict performance on an academic task. A better understanding of metacognition in an adult at-risk population is important since metacognition plays a significant role in reading comprehension and successful learning in general. Subjects included all academically at-risk students in two ability levels of college reading classes. Reading ability of each subject was determined using the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (NDRT) as a pre- and post-test. Subjects were asked to predict performance on both vocabulary subtests of the NDRT as a measure of calibration skills. Change in reading ability and calibration ability as a result of one semester of reading instruction was calculated. Other variables investigated within the two class levels were age, gender, and confidence judgements. Correlation matrixes representing a sampling over time were run for all variables. Results indicate that reading instruction, or more specifically, exposure to print, does not increase calibration skills significantly without direct instructional intervention. Further research into calibration ability in adult at-risk populations is warranted, especially research designed to determine what type of instruction increases calibration ability.
ORDER NO: ABA96-25279
The current study sampled a private, Ph.D.-granting research university and used the Student Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ) instrument to investigate whether sabbaticals correlated with improved post-sabbatical instructional performance. The study also examined the impact of college, faculty member rank, length of treatment (the sabbatical) and time. SEEQ data were collected for 147 faculty members from three colleges and one division who took sabbaticals between 1982 and 1988. A dependent group two-tailed t test was used to examine pre- and post-sabbatical class-average mean scores on the nine instructional dimensions measured by the SEEQ. The experiment used a 95% confidence interval and found systematic patterns of statistically significant post-sabbatical declinations in the first and second semester following sabbaticals but that by the third semester declinations had ceased and in some instances even found statistically significant gains. Findings suggest the previously-hypothesized benefits of sabbaticals require significant further study.
ORDER NO: ABA96-23663
Notebook computers are becoming an increasingly prevalent, and sometimes mandatory, accessory in college education. They and other new computer-assisted educational tools can increase dramatically the efficiency of traditional methods of instructional delivery and can provide the technological basis for new innovations in teaching strategy. However, as with any paradigm shift, the changeover in teaching and learning methods is difficult, expensive, and a disruption to the "status quo." The object of this study was a four year polytechnic institution that recently implemented a mandatory notebook computer program for all students. The purpose of this study was to discover the perceptions of students and faculty directly involved in this program in order to learn what has to be done for the process to be successful, and to use those perceptions to design a model for the implementation of a technology-based system of instructional delivery elsewhere. The significant findings of this study fall into three categories: (1) The notebook computers enhanced teaching and learning at the case study university to a certain extent. Students and faculty perceived that the computers provided useful career skills, increased personal efficiency, and that the academic reputation of the college and the participants was improved. The computers were also a good tool for both receiving and transmitting information, in the areas of communication, note-taking, editing, and making electronic presentations. The program has not had sufficient time to mature to the point where the full benefits of the notebook computers may be explored in terms of instructional delivery and the construct of knowledge. (2) The potential of the notebook computers and their unique contributions to classroom instruction were not fully realized due to problems associated with infrastructure, support and usage issues, and limitation with the computers themselves. (3) Secondary factors unrelated to direct classroom usage affected the attitude of the participants. The notebook computer initiative was implemented from a centralized organizational structure, which resulted in a less than optional adoption of this innovation on the part of the faculty. Problems emerged over the lack of input in the decision-making process, the cost of the computer and related hardware, and uneven quality of assistance at the Help Desk. The training and the degree of self-efficacy of both students and faculty proved to be important. Computer-assisted technological advances in the delivery and construct of knowledge will become part of the basic foundations of education. The true integration of technology into teaching and learning is justified, in part, because the need to prepare students for the twenty-first century is a societal responsibility. Educators must continue to search for new ways in which technology can be used to enhance the teaching and learning process and not allow it to become just another expensive gadget.
ORDER NO: ABA96-23176
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of multimedia-based instruction on undergraduate students' academic performance in economics and attitude towards economics. The sample population included students who enrolled in two Introduction to Economics classes in the Spring 1994 semester. The study made a comparison between students who receive instruction using a multimedia-based format and one that receives a traditional lecture format. The research instruments used are in four parts. The first part consisted of questions that related to the personal background of the students and one that tested students' prior knowledge of economics. The second part included questions that are used to identify the level of motivation of the students using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the attitude of students towards economics prior to the treatment. The MSLQ was developed by Pintrich, Smith, Garcia and McKeachie in 1991. The attitudinal questionnaire was developed by Schau, Dauphinee and Veechio in 1993. The last part was the posttest that was developed by the instructor. Students also completed a post treatment attitudinal questionnaire. The study attempted to answer three questions: (1) Is there a significant difference between treatments over and above the student ability, math comfort, student attitude, expected grades, student learning and motivation strategies, and student's prior economic knowledge when predicting student academic achievement in economics? (2) Is there a significant difference between treatments over and above student prior liking toward economics, gender, expected grades, self-efficacy, test anxiety, self-regulation, and the post-frustration of students toward economics in predicting student's post-liking toward economics? (3) Is there a significant difference between treatments over and above student prior frustration toward economics, gender, expected grades, self-efficacy, test anxiety, self-regulation and the post-liking of students toward economics in predicting student's post-frustration toward economics? The researcher used a nonequivalent control group design (Campbell & Stanley, 1963). The model allowed for a pretest and posttest and allowed the investigator to compare the experimental and control groups after applying different treatments to each group. A statistical model that used multiple linear regression was used to examine the changes from the pretest to the posttest states. The level of significance was at the.05 level. Significant effects were found in the academic performance of students and students liking towards economics. However, students did not demonstrate any difference in their frustration or insecurity towards economics.
ORDER NO: ABA96-22688
This study examined how students responded to and learned from case-based instruction by exploring similarities and differences among nine students' experiences. Students' responses were defined in terms of their perceived interest, relevance, and confidence for learning from this method. Students' approaches to learning were defined by the goals, self-regulation strategies, and evaluation criteria they used to focus and facilitate their learning. After classifying 58 first-year veterinary students according to their pre-course performances on two self-regulated learning inventories, I assumed a phenomenological perspective to gather interview data from 9 students who represented both high and low self-regulators. These students were enrolled in a biochemistry laboratory course which utilized case-based instruction as the primary instructional method. Data from multiple sources were interpreted using constant comparative analysis methods and revealed three overall findings and several supporting categories and properties. These findings highlight the essential commonalities, as well as critical differences, in these students' experiences with case-based learning. Specifically, these three findings focus on the value that students assigned to the case method of teaching, the types of goals and evaluation criteria they used to focus their learning efforts, and the manner in which they utilized reflective self-regulation strategies to facilitate their learning. In general, students who reported feeling challenged by the case method were those who assigned high value to the case method of teaching, who set goals and evaluation criteria which focused on the learning process, and who utilized reflective self-regulatory strategies to monitor their learning progress. Students who reported feeling frustrated by the case approach tended to be those who assigned little, or fluctuating, value to case-based instruction, who focused on learning products, and/or who utilized habitual and less thoughtful strategies when confronted by difficult case studies. The findings of this study support other research addressing the role of perceived value, learning orientation, and strategic monitoring in students' learning and extend those findings to include important considerations for learning in a case-based course. Implications for both the development and use of case-based instruction are presented as well as suggestions for future research.
ORDER NO: ABA96-18691
The purpose of this study was to examine whether computer-assisted instruction integrated with lecture/discussion would improve student performance in developmental English when compared to a traditional lecture/discussion instructional method. A total of 180 community college students were enrolled in one of six sections of developmental English. Two full-time instructors each conducted one traditional lecture/discussion section and each facilitated one section of the computer-assisted program using the INVEST software and one section of the computer-assisted program using the PLATO software. The research questions addressed were as follows: (1) Is there a difference in achievement among students who are taught developmental English using either INVEST or PLATO software as compared to students who receive instruction through the traditional lecture/discussion method? (2) Is there a difference in achievement among students in Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degree programs who are taught developmental English using either INVEST or PLATO software as compared to students who receive instruction through the traditional lecture/discussion method? The Multiple Assessment Programs and Services (MAPS) language arts pretest and posttest scores were used to measure writing achievement for all groups. A one-way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to analyze the relative effectiveness of the different instructional methods and to determine if differences existed between writing scores of Associate of Arts degree-seeking students and Associate of Science degree-seeking students by the different instructional methods. Analysis of the data indicated that the computer-assisted groups, INVEST and PLATO, integrated with traditional lecture/discussion, were the most effective instructional method for teaching developmental English. When degree type (Associate of Arts or Associate of Science) was considered in conjunction with the instructional method, no statistically significant difference was found. Improvement was evidenced in both groups. The results of this study support the research on the effectiveness of the computer-assisted instructional method for developmental English students.
ORDER NO: ABA96-17432
The purposes of this dissertation were to develop a model for critical thinking in the liberal arts, and to evaluate a sample of courses on the associate degree level within three liberal arts domains for evidence of critical thinking instruction. Through a review of the literature, a model for critical thinking in the liberal arts was established. Thereafter, Bloom's (1956) taxonomy was applied to evaluate course objectives and test items in 18 courses across 100 and 200 levels, spanning the three liberal arts domains of humanities, social sciences, and the natural/physical sciences. A Liberal Arts/Critical Thinking Survey was administered to 12 instructors to ascertain the extent to which their understanding of liberal arts and teaching for critical thinking impacted on critical thinking instruction. Median tests were conducted to determine if significant differences existed among the 18 courses on the variables of course objectives and test items. Results indicated no significant difference among disciplines for course objectives at the.05 level (x$\sp2$ = 12.00, df = 8, p $<$.15). A significant difference was found among disciplines for test items (x$\sp2$ = 16.00, df = 8, p $<$.04). Kruskal-Wallis Analyses of Variance were then performed to determine if significant differences existed among the three liberal arts domains, and across 100 and 200 levels. The analysis of domains for test items revealed no significant difference at the.05 level. However, a significant difference across domains was discovered for course objectives. Follow-up Mann Whitney U Tests indicated that the significant difference existed between the humanities domain and the natural/physical science domain. The analysis of 100 and 200 levels indicated no significant difference on either variable. Spearman correlations of the variables indicated high rank-differences across all courses (.58), and for 100 level courses (.80). Other correlations produced mixed results. The analysis of the Liberal Arts/Critical Thinking Survey, indicated little congruence between instructor aims and methodologies and the levels of critical thinking found in course objectives and test items. However, instructors spending more time lecturing generally demonstrated lower median scores on both variables. Validation of statistical results were conducted through randomly selected classroom observations. The results of these observations validated statistical findings.
ORDER NO: ABA96-14923
This dissertation investigates the characteristics of developmental reading programs in Illinois institutions of higher learning. The survey addresses four basic questions: which institutions in the state offer developmental reading classes; what is the program design; what are the curriculum and instructional practices; and what kind of program evaluation, if any, is conducted? Curriculum and instructional practices are the main focus of concern. Forty-two respondents were grouped according to institutional type: state community college; state university; and private institution (4-year colleges and universities, including 2-year institutions). Sizeable variations among institutional types are reported. The majority of respondents were state community colleges. Program design was examined on the basis of a classification system (Heron, 1989), which categorizes programs as Lower Level, Advanced, or Bridge Programs. Lower level programs address students' needs, often through diagnostic/prescriptive practices, while advanced programs emphasize college reading goals and higher order reading/thinking skills. Bridge programs address both students' needs and college reading goals by offering more than one level of classes. More state community college programs appeared to fit the category of lower level programs. No attempt was made to categorize each participating program, but exemplary programs from each category were chosen for discussion. The following characteristics typify the majority of the participating institutions: (a) offer reading classes of six or more students and tutoring as part of a support system; (b) use reading skills textbooks and include vocabulary study and reading comprehension in the curriculum; (c) employ lecture as an instructional practice and teach strategies for inferencing, summarization, prereading, and questioning; and (d) practice some type of program evaluation, with pre- and post-testing as the most reported measure.
ORDER NO: ABA96-14032
This study examined whether "underprepared" non-native speakers of English, university-level native Spanish-speaking freshmen, would benefit from explicit, content-based instruction in summary writing in adjunct courses. Pre- and post-intervention summaries written by "underprepared" native Spanish-speaking freshmen in an Experimental Group and subjects in two Control Groups--one consisting of "underprepared" freshmen and the other consisting of "able" readers--were analyzed for (1) holistic performance, (2) the number of main ideas included in the summaries, and (3) the strategies used to reproduce and to combine the main ideas in the source text. An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that the summaries produced by the subjects in the Experimental Group achieved significantly higher holistic scores than those produced by the "underprepared" subjects in Control Group 1 and than the "able" subjects in Control Group 2. A second ANCOVA test showed that the summaries produced by the subjects in the Experimental Group included a significantly higher number of main ideas than those written by the "underprepared" subjects in Control Group 1. Following instruction, the Experimental subjects did not gain in the production of abstraction operations that would help them to understand the global meaning of the text; instead, the Experimental subjects read at the paragraph level. The Experimental subjects, however, paraphrased more often and copied and nearly copied less frequently than the "underprepared" subjects in Control Group 1 and the "able" subjects in Control Group 2. The overall results of this investigation indicate that "underprepared" students from a Spanish-speaking background can benefit from explicit summarization instruction grounded in the content areas.
ORDER NO: ABA96-13536
The purpose of this dissertation is to determine if there is a relationship between two internal cognitive processes, rhetorical sensitivity and cognitive complexity, which have been found to correlate with certain communication competency skills, and teaching effectiveness. Respondents were fifty graduate assistants and lecturers teaching at Wayne State University and Eastern Michigan University. They completed the Role Category Questionnaire and Rhetsen 2. Teaching effectiveness was measured by respondents' end of the semester course evaluations. Based on the results of this dissertation, high rhetorical sensitivity scores did correlate with high course evaluation scores. There was no correlation between cognitive complexity and course evaluation scores. When answering the second research question, whether there were main effects of the independent variables, rhetorical sensitivity and cognitive complexity on the dependent variable, course evaluation, there was a main effect of rhetorical sensitivity, no effect from cognitive complexity nor an interaction effect between the independent variables on the dependent variable.
ORDER NO: ABA96-12785
This study examined the views held by TAs from the United States (U.S. TAs), international TAs (ITAs), international undergraduate students, and those from the United States about instructional communicative behaviors that are effective in the classroom. A total of 192 participants comprised these four groups. Participants' views were explored in relation to six research questions and corresponding non-directional hypotheses: (1) Do U.S. TAs and ITAs share common views of effective instruction?, (2) Do U.S. and international undergraduate students share common views of effective instruction?, (3) Do U.S. TAs and U.S. undergraduate students share common views of effective instruction?, (4) Do ITAs and international undergraduate students share common views of effective instruction?, (5) Do U.S. TAs and international undergraduate students share common views of effective instruction?, and (6) Do ITAs and U.S. undergraduate students share common views of effective instruction? A three-part questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were used to obtain data for this study. Data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Results revealed differences in the views held by participants in all four groups. These differences may have implications for TAs, undergraduate students, and instructors and administrators involved in preparing TAs for their instructional responsibilities and evaluating undergraduate education. However, results must be considered in light of several limitations affecting the interpretation of findings.
ORDER NO: ABA96-12733
This study investigated the instructional effectiveness of embedding mentoring tactics in a module of computer-based instruction. A quantitative study method was employed, which principally measured student achievement in response to instructional treatments. Subjects consisted of 133 college students drawn from 3 statistics courses, who were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups. These students were administered two pretests; one assessing locus of control orientation and the other measuring prior knowledge of the instructional content. Approximately one week after the pretest, students received their respective instructional treatments in a computer lab which contained 17 Macintosh 7100 PowerPCs. The instructional treatments were programmed in HyperCard 2.1 and varied on the level of embedded mentoring tactics. The HyperCard program recorded several types of student information, including time on task, word counts of student responses, time spent viewing graphics and number of graphics viewed. A sixty-item pencil and paper posttest was administered to all students following their completion of the instructional treatment. All instruction was self-paced. After analysis of data collected from pretests, posttest, and during treatment measures, the researcher has concluded that embedded mentoring tactics perform an important role in student time on task, which in turn was found to play an important role in student acquisition of information as measured by achievement tests. Embedded mentoring tactics did not have a significant impact on student achievement. Locus of control orientation did not play a significant role in student adoption of mentoring tactics as measured in this study, nor did subjects' achievement differ on the basis of locus of control orientation. Student prior knowledge did affect student achievement as well as influence adoption of certain mentoring tactics. The findings suggest further research on different populations, incorporating a delayed posttest as well as an attitudinal instrument.
ORDER NO: ABA96-12117
The purpose of this study was to investigate which of two different instructional formats of a geometric construction activity was best suited to enhance student task performance. The subjects $(N=50)$ were selected from community college students enrolled in introductory college mathematics courses and randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups. The groups differed in that group A received a different format of the procedural steps to reconstruct a given angle than that of group B. Form A consisted of adjoining text and diagrams where a diagram for each of the five steps of the task was pictured. Form B consisted of only two diagrams for the five-step process where it was necessary for subjects to determine which of the two diagrams was being referred to while proceeding through the steps. Both formats are representative of instructional materials currently in use in classrooms from the middle school level to the post-secondary level. During a personal interview session, each subject received one of two sets of directions describing the procedure of reproducing a given angle using a compass and straightedge. Each subject was asked to study the assigned set of directions with materials provided to practice the task. With the directions removed, each subject was then asked to reconstruct another, slightly different angle. Students given Form B, the reduced diagram format, significantly outperformed those students given Form A, $\chi\sp2$ (1, $N=50)=5.19,$ with no significant differences in the two groups with respect to the time spent studying the directions, $t(48)=0.04,$ or completing the testing phase, $t(48)=1.58.$ Other than use of the assigned form, mathematics ability was a significant factor in the subjects' ability to successfully complete the construction task, $F\sb(1,46)=7.79,$ $p<.01.$ Verbal ability was not a significant factor, $F\sb(1,46)=1.81,$ $p=.19,$ in the subjects' ability to successfully complete the construction task. Gender alone was not a significant factor, $F\sb(1,46) =0.31,$ $p = .58;$ however, when examined in combination with mathematics ability a significant interaction resulted, $F\sb(1,46)=6.41,$ $p=.02.$ Overall, success was significantly related to format, mathematics ability, and gender relative to mathematics ability.
ORDER NO: ABA96-11017
The rapid increase of information resources and retrieval tools in both print and electronic formats has challenged scholars and students to develop new and highly-tuned skills in locating, evaluating, and synthesizing information. Undergraduate students' learning of information literacy skills in a discipline is dependent upon their instructors' attention to information resources in the curriculum. Although previous researchers have examined students' use of the library and faculty course requirements specifying the use of resources outside the textbook, little is known, particularly since the advent of computerized information retrieval systems, about the extent to which college faculty in different disciplines and institutions instruct students in information resources. In this study, a Likert type survey was sent to 1000 faculty at three Connecticut institutions to learn which types of print and electronic resources they use themselves and instruct their students to use, opinions of the way students should learn about information research, and whether students' literature searches were adequately carried out. Data were subjected to chi-square, analysis of variance, and t-test procedures to determine the influence of faculty members' academic discipline, type of institution, years of teaching experience, and part-time or full-time status on responses. Results of the study showed that a large percentage of faculty require undergraduates to use information resources, and comments indicated they believe information skills important, but most faculty prefer that librarians instruct students in the appropriate resources. Over half the respondents were satisfied with the academic quality of students' literature searches. Academic discipline seemed to have the greatest influence on the types of resources faculty use and instruct students to use, while years of teaching experience had little impact. The resources faculty prefer to use themselves were found to have a significant influence on the types of resources they recommend to students. Only a small percentage of faculty tell their students to use electronic mail and electronic journals, texts, and discussion lists. Significantly, many are not using these resources themselves. Faculty in Business and professional programs, as well as faculty in the Humanities are more active resource users and instructors than those in the Sciences and Social Sciences. These findings indicate where more emphasis on information literacy is needed.
ORDER NO: ABA96-10349
After reaching a peak in the early 1980s, student interest in computer science and information systems has declined dramatically. When coupled with increased industry demand for information systems professionals and higher than average salaries, the decline is especially troublesome. The Computer Information Systems program at a midwestern state university mirrors the problems reported by other sources. Attrition in the programming courses is high, and students, especially those from other disciplines taking the initial programming class as a service course, are often less than successful. Thus it is important to discover the factors of the computer programming course that dishearten students and discourage them from pursuing a computing career. Parameter (argument) passing is the mechanism by which various program modules share information in a complex program. Without parameters, there is no genuine programming. Nevertheless, the computer programming instruction literature reveals a virtual absence of attention to the construct. This was a study of novice programmers' understanding of the parameter construct. The study used a multi-case qualitative design. The bulk of the data was collected from interviews with eight college students enrolled in a state university introductory computer programming course. Observations of the programming instruction, interviews with the course's instructor, and related student work provided additional data. Among other findings, the study revealed that the natural-language meaning of some computer terminology caused problems and that most students' understanding of the parameter construct was fragile at the conclusion of their introductory course. Furthermore, it found that students' procedural knowledge (ability to construct modular programs that incorporate parameters) generally surpassed their conceptual knowledge (understanding of the parameter construct and of programs that incorporate the construct). The study also divulged that students who harbored fundamental misconceptions of the parameter process could, by making seemingly innocuous adjustments to procedure heading lines, construct programs that produced the correct answer. Moreover, concrete representations, collaboration in a structured laboratory environment, focused completion-type exercises, and elaboration appeared to foster success.
ORDER NO: ABA96-10160
This examination of group learning addressed the problem of why some attempts at collaboration are more successful than others. The conceptual frame for the study draws from (a) epistemological theory associated with social constructionism and 20th century social and educational theory that supports the use of collaboration in work and learning environments, and (b) teaching and learning theory involving the study of cognition and an adaptation of an expectancy-value model of motivation. The investigator hypothesized that an interactive instructional approach would be more effective in enhancing student satisfaction and engagement than traditional approaches involving authoritative or detached instructional tactics. To test the hypotheses, students in each of three classes from separate institutions (a community college, a private liberal arts college, and a comprehensive state university) completed a questionnaire that: (a) measured perceptions of and satisfaction with class instruction and functioning, and (b) measured changes in levels of motivation and cognition from the beginning to the end of the term. The test confirmed the hypotheses. The outcomes were then interpreted through qualitative methods that revealed that the interactive instructor spent more time working directly with students in groups, discussing assignments, and modeling appropriate member behavior than did the other two professors. The data suggest that students whose professor utilized an interactive style had more favorable collaborative and intellectual experiences than students in the other two classes. The study's principle results indicate that the professor who approaches group work with traditional didactic methods tends to treat students as recipients of information and knowledge and as a consequence students are less motivationally and cognitively engaged. By contrast, the professor who treats students as active participants in the learning process is more likely to encourage interaction among all members, to teach collaborative techniques, and guide students through thinking processes. Such instructional behavior is more likely to elicit greater student engagement, satisfaction, and more positive educational outcomes. It was not possible through this study, however, to rule out other causal factors such as class size, instructor enthusiasm, personality, and knowledge and skills needed for successful collaborative instruction.
ORDER NO: ABANN-02694
This dissertation is a case study of the curriculum offered in the Kenyatta University pre-service teacher education programme. At the outset of the study, it was apparent that the quality of instructional performance manifested by student teachers during the Teaching Practice component of teacher preparation, and by the graduating teachers during their initial classroom teaching in schools, did not measure up to the expected professional standards. The objective of the study was to identify the factors responsible for the weaknesses in the teacher training programme, for the purpose of improving the programme. The study focuses on the content and the delivery mechanisms of the instructional technology component of the teacher training curriculum. Educational technology is taken as an exemplar of an integrative discipline for teacher education, and used as a basis for reviewing the functioning of the entire teacher training system in the University. The literature of teacher education and instructional technology was extensively studied to establish the pertinent theories and practices currently in application. The teacher training system was viewed as a composite of three curricular elements, comprising the intended, the implemented and the achieved curricula. The research used case study methodology as a basic approach, employing various modes of data gathering: open-ended interviews, questionnaires, examination of archival materials and documents, and observations of student teacher instructional performance during the teaching practice session. These were analysed against the discipline literature. The factors impinging on the training programme were identified, interpreted and discussed. The analysis traced the major programme weaknesses to two groupings of factors: those extrinsic to the programme--economic, administrative, resource management and policy aspects of the university functioning--and those intrinsic to the curriculum in its various dimensions. The main conclusion is that, although the curriculum of teacher education is basically an academic matter, the extrinsic, non-academic factors are more important in determining the weak effectiveness of the teacher education programme. Within this context, the thesis identifies specific aspects of curriculum where appropriate changes could result in improvement of the programme, provided that the extrinsic factors are suitably dealt with.
ORDER NO: ABA96-08186
This study investigated the effect of one type of instructional text (poetry) on developmental readers and writers in an urban community college. Specifically, it considered the effects of poetry as instructional text on students' attitudes toward reading, writing, and poetry, and on their reading and writing skills. The two instructional groups--experimental and control--each consisted of approximately 40 students on the campus of Roxbury Community College during the Spring, 1995 semester. Pre- and post-measures of students' attitudes toward reading, writing, and poetry were obtained, and pre- and post measures of students' scores on a departmental reading and writing test were obtained. The results of a Multivariate Repeated Measures analysis (the Wilk's test) shows there is not an apparent significant difference in group means for all three attitude scales considered jointly over time (F = 0.058 $>$ 0.05). Overall attitudes toward reading and writing did not show a significant difference. However, the univariate tests (F = 36.99591; 1,50 DF; Significance of F = 0.000) indicates that the posttest mean attitude scale for poetry was significantly higher than the pre-test mean when both groups were pooled together. And the increase for the experimental group was slightly higher than those in the control group (who used other types of instructional text). An important implication of this study is attitudinal change toward task (in this case poetry). Results support research that attitude toward task can be effectively controlled by combined use of positive verbal mediation and strategies. Further, the study's results seem to support research evidence linking various facets of poetry and literacy development; for example, poetry being central in promoting basic language art skills--listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The present study did not address specific reading and writing skills; rather, it looked at final scores. Future investigators might see the need to conduct a qualitative study as to how poetry helps to build specific reading and writing skills.
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