No description available.

The purpose of this study was to correlate the Vegetation of the Woodbine Sands with the edaphic factors. In the laboratory an analysis of the edephic factors was made of the twenty-two soil types collected from the three formations. The results of these and other analysis are shown in tables and graphs. The results indicate that the vegetational cover of an area that is uniform in its origin and in its resident soil factors is determined by the edaphic factors present.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether modifying photographic illustrations used for concept-learning by emphasizing defining attributes improves learning by individuals exhibiting various degrees of field-dependence. Concept-learning in this instance refers to identifying objects based on visual characteristics. The specific questions addressed were: 1) Does emphasis of attributes improve concept attainment in general? and 2) Does attribute emphasis provide a differential advantage to field-dependent students, who generally do not perform as well on visual tasks? The relative levels of field-dependence of 115 participants, recruited from the university and surrounding community, were assessed using the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT). Three levels of field-dependence were identified: an "indeterminate" level centered on the mean GEFT score for the group; field-dependent, those scoring more than 1/2 standard deviation below the mean; and field-independent, those scoring more than 1/2 standard deviation above the mean. Participants partook of one of two computer-based lessons on the identification of four maple tree species based on the appearance of leaves. One lesson (the control condition) was illustrated with plain photographs, the other with photographs which had been modified using digital image editing to emphasize the critical attributes of each leaf. Following the lesson, each participant took a computer-based, 15-item multiple choice test on identification, and then a second 20-item test requiring identification of mounted leaf specimens. Bartlett’s test for homogeneity of variance revealed that the values in the six cells were not equal. Therefore, the test scores were analyzed using two-way t-tests for samples with unequal variances. All analyses were performed at the 0.05 significance level. Results of the analyses suggest that attribute emphasis does improve learning by individuals in general, particularly when considering transfer. However, no evidence of specific benefit for field dependent learners was revealed by the results. The author concludes with suggestions for further investigation of the benefits derived by various types of attribute emphasis and also the extent to which attribute-emphasis techniques may improve learning for tasks other than concept attainment. / Ph. D.

The objective of this study was to determine whether computer programmers would organize reserved words by programming language or by conceptual category, when given an opportunity to use either strategy. Twenty-seven participants, stratified by programming experience level (novice, intermediate, and expert), were given sixteen reserved words on index cards. The words were taken from four programming languages, as well as six conceptual categories. Participants were given both a recognition and a recall task. Organizing the words by conceptual category enabled the expert programmers to perform significantly better on the recall task than experts who organized by language. In addition, they made fewer recognition errors, and had more structured recall, in terms of recalling the words by the categories in which they were studied. Expert computer programmers, similar to natural language multilinguals, can recall more (reserved) words when they are organized by conceptual categories rather than by (programming) language. It is hypothesized that this is because human memory is organized in a fundamentally interdependent (across languages) manner in many domains other than natural language, such as computer programming. / Master of Arts

This quasi-experimental study investigated the hypothesis that specially designed art lessons can be used as a vehicle to enhance the learning of specific concepts. The concepts selected were ones traditionally taught in an elementary art program coinciding with those measured on standardized tests. The selected concepts were area, volume, perimeter, congruency, pattern, and sequence. Elementary school art lessons designed to teach specific concepts and taught by an art specialist to a treatment group of students were found, as a whole, to enhance the learning of concepts significantly over that of the comparison group of students taught in a traditional manner. All teachers provided a multimodal approach to teaching, but the treatment teacher was found to use more visual and kinesthetic modes of instruction than the comparison teachers. Students' dominant learning modalities appeared to have no influence on the amount of knowledge gained from the type of instruction received. Students who were taught by the treatment method learned more regardless of their dominant learning modalities. Students taught by the treatment teacher who exhibited a positive “feeling tone” in her classroom learned more than students taught by teachers who exhibited a negative or neutral feeling tone. As a whole, concepts transferred from the teaching situation to the testing context. The students in the treatment group were found to have scored significantly higher on the posttest than those students in the comparison group. No significant difference was found in creativity of the artwork produced by the two groups of students. In addition, no significant relationship was found between dominant learning modality and developed ability level, race, or gender. Race and gender had no significant relationship to the amount of knowledge gained. / Ed. D.

M.Ed. (Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This qualitative study examined seven preservice teachers' perceptions of their science content knowledge, teaching practices, and reflective processes through the use of the metacognitive strategy of concept maps. Included in the paper is a review of literature in the areas of preservice teachers' perceptions of teaching, concept development, concept mapping, science content understanding, and reflective process as a part of metacognition. The key questions addressed include the use of concept maps to indicate organization and understanding of science content, mapping strategies to indicate perceptions of teaching practices, and the influence of concept maps on reflective process. There is also a comparison of preservice teachers' perceptions of concept map usage with the purposes and practices of maps as described by experienced teachers. Data were collected primarily through interviews, observations, a pre- and post-concept mapping activity, and an analysis of those concept maps using a rubric developed for this study. Findings showed that concept map usage clarified students' understanding of the organization and relationships within content area and that the process of creating the concept maps increased participants' understanding of the selected content. / The participants felt that the visual element of concept mapping was an important factor in improving content understanding. These participants saw benefit in using concept maps as planning tools and as instructional tools. They did not recognize the use of concept maps as assessment tools. When the participants were able to find personal relevance in and through their concept maps they were better able to be reflective about the process. The experienced teachers discussed student understanding and skill development as the primary purpose of concept map usage, while they were able to use concept maps to accomplish multiple purposes in practice. / by Judy L. Somers. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-109).