Industrial arts education is changing its curriculum to teach technology education. Teacher education programs in industrial arts have also changed their curriculums to prepare teachers for the new technology education programs. Current industrial arts teachers are in great need of staff development opportunities to help them deal with technological change, update their skills, and enable them to develop a curriculum to teach technology education. The purpose of this study was to survey Connecticut technology education teachers to determine their participation in specific staff development activities. The study also allowed responding teachers to identify how beneficial they perceived the staff development activities to be. In addition, the study was designed to identity significant correlations between staff development activities, attitude toward change, flexibility, and innovativeness. The substantive findings after a survey was administered are: (a) Connecticut teachers participated in a variety of staff development activities, with activities required as conditions of employment and activities related to state certification requirements receiving the greatest percentage of participation; (b) the staff development activities perceived as most beneficial by Connecticut technology teachers were those activities that were not required and in which the teachers voluntarily choose to participate; (c) a correlation was found between attitude toward innovation and participation in graduate degree programs, independent study, the technology teacher enhancement center, research projects, and curriculum development projects; (d) a correlation was found between flexibility and participation in teacher networks, and interdisciplinary teams; and (e) a correlation was found between innovativeness and participation in regional conferences, state conferences, state association meetings, student group advising, interdisciplinary teams, school committee meetings, and parent teacher groups. Lastly, recommendations were made for additional research and suggestions were made to modify the methodology.

No description available.

<p> Arizona police officers are required by the Arizona Police Officer Standards and Training board to complete continuing training on an annual basis. Police continuing training has traditionally been offered as lecture-based classroom training. Online training offers an alternative method of providing training. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of an online version of a police training class to a classroom-based version of the same course. Participants consisted of sworn police officers employed by the Phoenix Police Department and taking the department&rsquo;s Domestic Violence Investigation (DVI) course. The study compared student learning outcomes between the two course versions, as well as student attitudes and perceptions of training. </p><p> The study utilized a descriptive research design with a mixed methods approach. Research questions investigated the attitudes and perceptions of participants, compared student learning outcomes between the two course versions, and asked whether educational level and previous experience with online learning was linked to positive learning outcomes in the DVI course. Quantitative data consisted of demographic questionnaires, a 45-question assessment of the likelihood of success in online learning, a 10-question pre-test, and a 10-question post-test. Qualitative data was obtained through interviews with six participants who had taken the DVI course. </p><p> The results of the study indicated participants in the online version of the DVI course performed as well or better on the post-test than their counterparts in the classroom. Participants interviewed for the study enjoyed the online presentation of the course, and supported the development of additional online training options within their department. Positive student learning outcomes for the online DVI course provide support for the development of online police training programs.</p><p>

The dissertation is based on the exploration of resources and materials for the instruction of low achieving mathematics students in an urban school district of Western Massachusetts. Mathematics is one of the four most important subjects in the educational curriculum at the junior high school level. Due to the educational revolution of the 1950s and 1960s, new and better mathematics are being taught in the schools of today. However, only the more able students have been able to glean from the curriculum. The low achiever in mathematics finds little that meets his or her needs. Due to repeated failure in the attempt to learn mathematics, the low achiever formulates a low self-esteem and experiences a psychological dropout. The purpose of this research study was to explore methods and materials with the hope of finding resources and materials to teach mathematics to low achieving mathematics students. The researcher contends that if low achieving mathematics students were taught mathematics by using concrete objects and manipulative devices, instead of conventional textbook and lecture methods, low achievers tend to learn faster, retain more, and achieve higher as a result. To test this theory, the researcher taught a small group of low achievers in mathematics for six weeks using concrete objects and manipulative devices to teach and demonstrate various mathematical concepts. He also had the students use calculators as computational aids. He found that the students demonstrated greater interest in mathematics, increased attention span, and better performance. A teachers' handbook was developed.