This study examined the content of textbooks for levels one, three, and five of six elementary science series to determine the extent to which the development of creative thinking skills was emphasized.

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that related to the acquisition of computer skills in California high schools. Procedures. The first part of the study was examination of data from a sample of 63 California schools: scores from computer skills tests, achievement tests, and other pertinent information. The second part was an in-depth study of four schools taken from the sample of 63 schools with high or low scores on computer skills tests. Case study methodology was used with the sample of the two high scoring and two low scoring schools to examine other factors that may have contributed to the differences in scores. Findings. Significant statistical relationships were found between the high scores on computer skills tests and parents' educational attainment. High percentages of recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) showed a negative correlation with the test scores. Significant statistical relationships were also found between scores on reading and math tests and computer skills tests. The case studies revealed differential access to computers based on ability, and a lack of integration of computer skills into the curriculum in the low scoring schools. The importance of teacher training, and the commitment of school and community to computer programs with high quality hardware and software were important factors in schools with high computer skills scores. Recommendations. (1) Districts desiring to implement successful comprehensive computer programs should secure involvement of, and commitment from all aspects of the school and the community. (2) Administrators of programs should utilize additional resources in computer classes for those who have low reading and math scores. (3) Districts need to be wary of the relationship between sources of funding for computer programs and their classroom utilization, as this study indicates that categorical funding tends to result in "narrow" categorical use. (4) A recommendation for further study is the extent to which there is a division among the school districts of the state into "have" and "have-not" districts with regards to access to computer literacy courses for all students. Such a division, if it exists, might be of interest to the legislature as a matter of State Policy.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of paraprofessional assistance on the academic progress of lower achieving intermediate grade migrant children.

Problem: The problem was divided into two parts. The first part investigated the question whether students who were taught reading comprehension skills by the PIRAMID objective-based approach showed a greater gain than students who were taught the same skills by use of the basal reader approach. The second part was to ascertain the degree of concordance between results of the criterion-referenced test (CRT) and results of the norm-referenced test (NRT). Purpose: The purpose was twofold: (1) to compare gains in reading comprehension achievement of an experimental group with gains of a control group, and (2) to compare the pretest and posttest results obtained from the CRT with those obtained from the CRT to determine the extent of relationship between the two measures. Methodology: The study was conducted in thirty-four fourth and fifth grade classrooms in three school districts in Northern California with a sample of 670 students participating. An experimental group consisted of 369 students and a control group consisted of 301 students. Of the total sample of 670, 407 were classified as students of low socioeconomic status (SES) and 263 were classified as students of middle SES. The experimental group teachers taught reading comprehension by the PIRAMID objectives-based approach and the control group teachers taught reading comprehension by the basal reader approach. The two groups were assigned to a Nonrandomized Pretest and Posttest Control Group Design. Pretests and posttests on the CRT and the Stanford Achievement Test were administered in one school district and pretests and posttests on the CRT and the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills were administered in the other two ·school districts. Analyses of covariance procedures were used to test Hypotheses 1-6 and a Pearson Correlation analysis was used to test Hypotheses 7 and 8. Findings: (1) The experimental group showed a significantly greater gain than the control group as evidenced by both measures. (2) Fourth grade subjects showed a significantly greater gain than fifth grade subjects as evidenced by the CRT. (3) Subjects of middle SES showed a significantly greater gain than subjects of low SES as demonstrated by both measures. (4) The experimental approach was more effective for fourth grade and middle SES subjects as evidenced by an approach by grade and an approach by SES interaction on the CRT. No significant differences occurred when grade or interactions were taken into consideration on the NRT. The correlation between results of the CRT and the NRT was substantially high and consistent across all measurements. Conclusions: It was concluded that the PIRAMID objectives-based approach was more effective than the basal reader approach in teaching reading comprehension skills to fourth and fifth grade students of low and middle socioeconomic levels. The CRT was highly comparable to the CRT in assessment of reading achievement. Administrative Implications: This study has implications for the elementary school principal relating to staff development programs, alternative school organizational patterns, the use of instructional objectives to provide balance in the total curriculum, the establishment of a resource center, parent education, budgetary provisions, and evaluation. Recommendations: The following recommendations are presented: (1) to replicate this study with a larger sample size and a broader range of SES groups; (2) to conduct a study similar to the current study in which the amount of investigator supervision would be reduced; (3) to conduct a similar study on the PIRAMID math instructional system in the subtest area of math concepts; (4) to follow up the current sample in this study to determine how lasting would be the effects of the experimental approach; (5) the PIRAMID Consortium should seek ways to reduce the amount of testing involved with its Instructional System; (6) establish grade equivalent norms on the PIRAMID CRT's; and (7) the California State Department of Education should refine its method of determining SES by including other indicators rather than relying solely on parents' occupation.

The purpose of the study was to determine what differences, if any, existed among monolingual (English) children, partial bilingual (English-Spanish) children, and proficient bilingual (English-Spanish) children in the level of sophistication of their sense of story. Sense of story was defined as the degree to which one has internalized the features, conventions, and structures of the story genre. Sense of story was analyzed in three areas: structural complexity (number of words, number of T-units, mean length of T-units, number of characters, number of incidents), story convention usage (use of past tense, formal beginning, formal ending, use of quoted and described dialogue), and story scheme analysis (the degree to which the subjects manifested knowledge of the parts or categories of story and the relationship of said categories). Ninety subjects from grades four, five, and six participated in the study. They were grouped into three linguistic categories, Monolingual, Partial Bilingual, and Proficient Bilingual. Subjects were asked to tell a story in English. It was predicted that the Proficient Bilinguals would outperform the other linguistic groups on all variables. Small hut significant associations were found on two of the criteria. Proficient Bilinguals were found to use past tense to a slightly greater degree than the other two groups, and Partial Bilinguals were seen to fall behind the other two groups in the use of quoted dialogue. No significant differences or associations were revealed in any other criteria.

It was the purpose of this study to investigate the premise that if a reading program is based on individual interest, those individuals participating in the program will be motivated to read and will make greater gains in vocabulary skills, comprehension skills, and total reading skills than those taught by a non-individualized approach. The research undertaken fer this study utilized thirty-nine, Black, seventh grade students who were underachieving in reading. These subjects were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and two control groups. The analysis of covariance procedures were used to measure gains in vocabulary achievement, comprehension achievement, and total reading achievement. The results revealed no difference in achievement gains between the experimental and. the control groups at the .10 level of significance. The conclusions drawn from the study revealed that although the individualized reading approach did not show significantly greater gains in reading scares, it may be a means of enhancing interest in reading. The findings in this study strongly suggest the need to undertake research to: (1) examine the impact high interest reading material may have in affecting reading skills improvement: (2) ascertain the variant reading interests which may exist among students of different ethnic origins.

This study describes the theory and design of a pedagogy that attempts to help men to develop new ways of being male that are less oppressive to women and more fulfilling to men. The goals of this pedagogy are summarized with the terms: autonomy, androgyny, awareness, and activism. These goals are based on an integration of three alternative models of masculinity: the "liberated man," the "androgynous man," and the "anti-sexist man." The need for the study is established through a description of the current societal transition in male role norms, an exploration of the critique of traditional masculinity, and a review of existing approaches for educating men about sex roles and sexism. The study demonstrates that these approaches are inadequate because they have limited objectives and/or do not take into account both key facets of men's identity in regard to this issue: the limitations imposed on men by traditional sex roles, and men's role in the oppression of women. A theoretical model for a more adequate pedagogy for "raising men's consciousness" about sexism is developed through a review, critique, and synthesis of four relevant educational approaches: human relations training groups (T-groups), Paolo Freire's education for critical consciousness, feminist consciousness raising groups, and anti-oppression education. The implications of a developmental perspective on men's identity for how the pedagogy should be implemented are then explored through a review of several theories of sex role identity development and male identity development, leading to the articulation of a more differentiated model that can explain developmental patterns experienced by men. A college course, "Men and Masculinity," which was designed on the basis of the pedagogical model, is described in detail. An informal evaluation of the course's effectiveness in meeting its objectives is reported. Based on an analysis of students' written materials and of pre and post scores on the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, the Women's Liberation Scale, and a questionnaire on "Men and Sexism," there were significant increases in androgyny and activism, with smaller but still significant increases in androgyny and activism.

This study was a phenomenological inquiry into the concrete and lived experiences of educators in a holistic school in Ecuador and from the founder of a creativity methodology program in Vietnam. These educators embarked on the remarkable journey from realizing the importance of holistic worldview to bringing about holistic education. The purpose of the study was to explore the significance of holistic worldview for education through investigating life-world stories. Using in-depth phenomenological interviews, the study explored these educators' past experiences, their present experiences and the integration of their past experiences with their present experiences. From a cross-case synthesis the salient themes and patterns evolved and unfolded into an interwoven web of knowing, doing, being and becoming. When this web is displayed in a two dimensional form it depicts the four most important dimensions of holistic educators: (1) the integrated knowing of the self, the subject, the students and the world; (2) the harmonious doing to create nurturing learning environments; (3) the genuine being to serve as authentic modeling; and (4) the ever-evolving becoming that seeks deeper meaning and larger purpose of life. When transform this web to a three-dimensional spiral, it portrays the dynamic, evolving, uplifting and transcending nature of the journey of holistic educators, where the four elements merge into an ultimate oneness that represents the essence of holistic educators. As Mario Solís suggests in my interview with him, “in a deep sense, my capacity as an educator comes from my choice to allow life to unfold through me and to demonstrate from my entire being.” The study manifests that when educators' entire being lives through their knowing and strives for becoming, namely, a higher purpose and deeper meaning of life, their vision and mission are not empty words on paper but rather a reality of life that they have created as the result of drawing from energy and resources from the creative, implicate order of life. The major insight of the journeys of these holistic educators is about touching the higher values of themselves, allowing themselves to manifest the excellence from within, and in turn, allowing others to manifest their inner resources, creativity and excellence. The study demonstrates how the holistic educators have successfully created a caring, nurturing, and nourishing learning environment where loving for life, appreciating relationship, learning to live and to create, living to transcend, and educating for peace are modeled and fostered.

The classroom environment has a powerful influence on learning, and children's perceptions of that environment influence their behavior. This study examines the perceptions of sixth grade students who are the most and least academically successful regarding how they perceive their classroom environment and those factors within it that enhance or inhibit learning. Data gathered in this research indicate that there are significant disparities in how the most and least successful students perceive their classroom learning environment. The most successful students perceived the classroom environment as more affiliative and task focused, perceived their teachers to be more trusting, caring, and supportive, and perceived that they had more choice in how they learned. In contrast, the least successful students perceived the class to be more teacher controlled and competitive. In spite of the differences in friendship and support perceived by study participants, both groups of students were able to provide clear examples of teaching approaches and classroom conditions that they perceived increased or inhibited their learning. This study also includes students' suggestions for changes that would increase their learning. The findings in this study are consistent with the research and literature reviewed from the fields of education, psychology, and business regarding conditions that are likely to enhance learning. The major implications of this study are that teachers need to: (a) be able to form caring, supportive relationships with all students, (b) create safe, non-threatening environments where learning is less competitive and students are encouraged to form supportive relationships with one another, (c) provide students with interesting, challenging work that engages them, while supporting and encouraging students' efforts, (d) develop a large repertoire of effective instructional approaches to meet the diverse learning needs of students, (e) keep current with the knowledge base, (f) ask, and listen to students to understand how they learn best, and (g) seek professional experiences that will help them reflect on how they can improve their practice. Finally, a number of recommendations are proposed for use by teachers, administrators, organizations that provide pre-service and in-service opportunities, educational policy makers, and other parties interested in assisting teachers and schools increase student learning.

The great variety of authoring activities involved in the development of Web-based learning environments requires a more comprehensive integration of principles and strategies not only from instructional design, but also from other disciplines such as human-computer interaction and software engineering. The present dissertation addresses this issue by proposing an object-oriented instructional design (OOID) model based on Tennyson's fourth generation instructional systems development (ISD4) model. It incorporates object-oriented analysis and design methods from human-computer interaction (HCI) and software engineering into a single framework for Internet use in education. Introducing object orientation into the instructional design of distributed hypermedia learning environments allows for an enhanced utilization of so-called learning objects that can be used, re-used or referenced during technology-mediated instruction. In addition, by applying the Unified Modeling Language (UML), a modeling notation tool is available to instructional designers that helps them to visually communicate design specifications using a widely established standard. This developmental research study is based on an extensive document analysis of resources from a variety of disciplines involved in the instructional Web site development process. The author identifies a set of authoring activities from ISD as well as HCI and software engineering that play a major role in instructional Web sites development. These authoring activities have been specified based on the object-oriented paradigm and visualized using UML. The author provides an example from a higher education setting about how the OOID model can be implemented in the design of Web-based instruction. This study contributes to the ongoing research into the design of Web-based instruction. The results will be of interest to educators, instructional designers, and other e-learning specialists who want to implement learning objects and improve their development of Web-based instruction by incorporating object orientation as the primary development paradigm and UML as the principle modeling notation tool. This research also provides suggestions on how to develop instructional Web sites for international use.