The purpose of this study was to investigate what a group of older adults remembered after viewing a television program. The study sought to discover how much was learned, what proportions were main and subordinate ideas, what ideas were inferred by the viewer, and what change in recall occurred after a period of two days. / Fifty-nine older adults from an association of retired persons participated in the study. They were randomly divided into two groups, the immediate recall group and the delayed recall group. / The narration of a NOVA television program, shortened to be 30 minutes long, was subjected to a text analysis procedure to identify main ideas and subordinate ideas. A total of 1,317 ideas were presented, 315 main ideas, and 1,002 subordinate ideas. A recall test was developed and contained 14 items measuring main ideas, and 14 items measuring subordinate ideas. Eight items were written to measure inference. / Both groups viewed the television program. The immediate recall group took the test immediately afterwards, the delayed recall group took the test two days latter. / Results indicate that both groups recalled approximately 54% of the main ideas immediately after viewing the program and 53% after two days. There was no significant difference in recall of the main ideas. However, 54% of the subordinate ideas were recalled by the immediate group and 48% by the delayed group. The difference between immediate and delayed recall of subordinate ideas is statistically significant. The subjects had a high overall level of education and both groups answered correctly about 5 of the 8 inference questions. / A three way analysis of the variance indicated that mean performance scores on all recall tasks were significantly higher with education levels above high school. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-12, Section: A, page: 3665. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

Procedures for creating instructional text illustrations are not explicit in the literature. Therefore, an illustration design model was developed requiring designers to consider how target learners study illustrated text, to use learner data regarding their specific illustration requirements, and to apply four steps in order to develop illustration specifications. These steps address the events of instruction to be provided or supported, and the locations, content, and learning cues for each illustration. Illustration design principles were derived from recent literature to support these steps. / Three sets of illustrations for the same automotive mechanics assembly procedure were developed to evaluate the model: seven "learner-based" illustrations using the complete model; ten "designer-based" illustrations using the model without learner data; and one "typical" illustration. To assess the learning effects of the model's use, 173 students were randomly assigned to one of the three treatments. Students took a vocabulary test, studied their illustrated assembly procedure, completed a multiple-choice posttest, and answered questions about their study of the illustrations (visualization). Thirty-seven students were randomly selected to also perform the assembly procedure. / Few differential effects among the three treatments were found. Students studying the "learner-based" illustrations did no better than the others on the posttest. Analysis of covariance suggested that students studying the "designer-based" illustrations performed the assembly significantly better (p < .05). No interactions related to vocabulary or visualization scores were found. Chi-square analyses of individual posttest and assembly items revealed significant differences which could be related to the treatment illustrations. Visualization scores correlated significantly with overall posttest and assembly results. Vocabulary correlated significantly only with overall posttest results. / Based on the results, the model seems useful and relevant to designing illustrations; however, the use of specific learner data should be eliminated. It was also concluded that procedure illustrations should focus on difficult aspects of the performance; training in the study of illustrations could improve students' written and performance test results; and that further applications of the revised model should be evaluated. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-04, Section: A, page: 1103. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

The integration of the systems approach to the design of instruction with the adult education principle of learner involvement in planning instruction was investigated in a course for master's level educational research students. The participatory instructional design model was implemented with one intact class of learners who made design decisions with regard to the instruction that was later delivered to them, as well as to another class of similar learners who did not participate in its design. Instruction for the same content area was developed according to a nonparticipatory systems approach model, and delivered to a third class of similar learners. / Achievement and attitudes toward instruction were assessed for the three groups with a criterion-referenced test and questionnaire. Another questionnaire was used to assess the reactions of the participant group to their design experience. Achievement and attitudes of two subgroups within the participation group were also compared. / No significant differences were found among the groups or participant subgroups (p (LESSTHEQ) .05) regarding any of the stated hypotheses. Significant positive correlations were found, however, between actual level of participation and desire for involvement in the following three phases of instructional development: (a) determining procedures for constructing criterion-referenced tests, (b) determining instructional strategy, and (c) developing and selecting instruction. Participation level was also found to be positively related to the degree to which a student viewed the design process as a good use of class time. The results suggest that it may not always be necessary to require adults to participate in the design process in order to create effective instruction that is well received by learners; also, that adult learner involvement at the design stage and one-to-one formative evaluation with a draft of the instruction can be effective alternatives to each other. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-05, Section: A, page: 1246. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

This study is the reassessment of the implementation process of educational innovation in the school cluster systems of rural schools in Thailand. It aims specifically to use path analysis to study the relations between student outcomes and levels of implementation of educational innovation and some other school, community and context factors, such as community participation, community SES, principals' quality, school quality and teacher quality. / Data used in this study were collected separately by the Thai Office of the National Education Commission Research Committee during 1979 and 1980, but were only partially analyzed, with the analysis based on the presumption that experimental controls were sufficient. Since there were many potentially relevant differences between the experimental and control clusters besides treatment, the investigation re-analyzed the data, developing a causal model of the processes affecting student achievement outcomes. / The results of the causal analysis indicated that student past knowledge (pretest) explain 80 percent (R('2) = .797) of the variance in the posttest. This indicates the general problems faced by rural schools, where inadequate teachers, educational materials and facilities make it difficult for them to have much impact. The analysis showed school clustering to have no direct effect on student outcomes, but to have some indirect effect through student past knowledge (pretest). It also indicated that there is no direct effect on student outcomes (posttest) from principal quality or school quality, but there is an indirect effect of school quality (availability of books and library) through student past knowledge (pretest). One teacher quality factor which did have a direct effect on student outcomes is the number of grades taught by one teacher. In other words, the more grades a teacher has to teach, the lower the student scores of the pupils she or he teaches. These results have research and policy implications for the development of rural schools in Thailand and are discussed in the conclusions. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-11, Section: A, page: 3365. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a tree diagram of coordinate definitions upon a defined concept learning task. Two levels of treatment method were used: a text that arranged the definitions and examples of seven coordinate concepts in a tree-like diagram, and a text that arranged these same definitions and examples in a standard textbook format. In addition, this study examined a method of creating concept examples that required different levels of discrimination and generalization. This method was called a rational set generator. Forty-six junior and senior high school physics students were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups. One group received a self-instructional text of definitions of seven physics concepts arranged in a tree diagram, while the control group received the same concepts in a standard textbook format. All students were given an immediate retention test and a similar delayed measure 8 days later. Both tests were composed of test examples created by the rational set generator method. / A regression analysis of test results indicated significant interaction between the text method used and the reading ability of the subjects used, with the lower ability students using the diagram method scoring higher than the textbook subjects of the same ability. A regression analysis of the delayed retention test indicated no significant interactions or differences between groups. The test item error patterns of all subjects were examined for the percentage of low versus high generalization items missed, and the number of items missed due to obvious versus fine discrimination mistakes. A t-test of immediate and delayed retention tests indicated significant differences in both tests, with the high generalization items missed more frequently than the low generalization items, and the number of fine discrimination errors greater than the obvious discrimination errors. These results confirmed the hypothesis that a rational set generator creates item examples that individually require different levels of generalization and discrimination. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-11, Section: A, page: 3366. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

This study sought to determine the feasibility of using cloze test data to improve the effectiveness of instructional lessons as a part of the formative evaluation process. Two groups of instructional designers were used to revise a science lesson, with three designers in each group. One group, the cloze group, received both cloze test data and performance test data. The other group, the non-cloze group, received only performance test data. / The six revised lessons were randomly given to a group of 251 sixth grade students. Performance test scores were collected to measure the effectiveness of the lessons in teaching the objectives of the lesson and cloze test scores were collected to measure the comprehensibility of the lessons. / First, t-tests were used to compare the cloze lessons and the non-cloze lessons. There were no significant differences between the two groups on either the cloze test scores or the performance test scores. / Next, the six revised lessons were compared using an ANOVA procedure. The six lessons differed significantly on the cloze test scores but not on the performance test scores. / The six revised lessons all had cloze test scores higher than the original lesson but none of the lessons had cloze scores high enough to meet the suggested criterion for instructional level. The performance test scores did not differ very much from the original lesson. These findings suggest that the revisions were more comprehensible but no more effective in teaching the objectives of the lesson. / The study suggests possible reasons for the findings as well as suggestions for further research. While this study did not result in findings to justify the use of cloze tests in formative evaluation, cloze appears to be a valid and reliable test of comprehensibility of text and thus deserves further consideration as part of the formative evaluation of instructional materials. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-12, Section: A, page: 3547. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

The purpose of this study was to determine if postsecondary vocational teachers who reviewed a chapter taken from a traditional, commercial textbook and revised using instructional design criteria had significantly different attitudes toward adopting the chapter from teachers who reviewed the original, unrevised version. This study also assessed whether the revisions had a positive effect on student performance. / Nine instructional designers followed Gagne's events of instruction to prescribe revisions of the chapter to make it more effective in teaching specified objectives. The Instructional Materials Acceptance Questionnaire was developed to measure teachers' expression of acceptance/rejection behaviors toward using the material. A criterion-referenced achievement test was developed to measure student performance on the chapter's objectives. Information was collected on the effects of reading ability on student performance on both versions of the instructional material, on the time spent by learners to complete the chapter and the test, and on learners' attitudes. / There was no evidence to show that teachers who reviewed the modified chapter were more or less willing to use it than teachers who reviewed the original version. Teachers expressed slightly favorable attitudes toward using both versions of the instructional material. However, the instructional design revisions did significantly improve student performance on a criterion-referenced achivement test. Students who read the modified chapter took 28% more time to complete it than students who read the original chapter. There was no difference in the amount of time students in the two groups took to complete the test. Teachers and learners paid more attention to content than to instructional features when forming attitudes toward using either version of the instructional material. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-10, Section: A, page: 3299. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

This study examined the relationship between (1) attitudes toward an innovative conceptual model and the linear combination of individuals' Level of Knowledge, Self-Esteem; Type of Thinking, and the opportunity to acquire information about the innovation, and (2) Level of Knowledge about this conceptual model and the linear combination of individuals' Self Esteem, Type of Thinking, and the opportunity to acquire information about the innovation, for a sample of 54 public-school guidance counselors. / All subjects completed pre-treatment instruments including an Attitude survey, a Level of Knowledge survey, and the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI--Shostrom, 1974). Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI--Myers, 1962) classifications were already available for each subject. / After the pre-treatment instruments were completed, twenty-nine counselors read Kaufman's Identifying and solving problems: a system approach (3rd ed.--1982) and then completed the Attitude and Level of Knowledge instruments again. The remaining twenty-five counselors completed the Attitude and Level of Knowledge instruments without reading the treatment materials. / The data were analyzed using Multiple Regression Analysis. / The results of the study indicated that posttest Perception Scores (PS--the cognitive measure of the attitude instrument) of subjects who had the opportunity to acquire information about the innovation were higher than posttest Perception Scores of subjects who did not have that opportunity, given the same score on the pretest Perception Scale. Level of Knowledge, Self-Esteem and Type of Thinking, however, did not contribute significantly to the variance in attitude scores. / Both Type of Thinking and the opportunity to acquire information about the innovation contributed significantly to the variance in posttest Level of Knowledge scores. Moreover, a joint and positive significant relationship of Self-Esteem scores and the opportunity to acquire information, with Level of Knowledge, was found. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-07, Section: A, page: 1977. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the function served by a cartoon character, or its absense, within a printed text on learning the rules required to find a word and its definition in the dictionary. The two types of functions examined included one in which the character actually demonstrated the skill taught (modeling), and a second, where the character's function was to motivate the students' interest in the materials (motivational). This variable was also examined in relationship to its effect on learner attitudes. Participants were 99 fourth-grade students. One week after pretesting, they worked through self-instructional print materials on dictionary skills. Two criterion-referenced multiple choice posttests (immediate and delayed) were utilized to collect performance data. A questionnaire assessing attitudes towards the materials, dictionary skills and cartoons was also utilized. Data were also collected on the amount of time learners spent working through the instructional materials. In addition, a behavioral assessment, in which learners chose their preferred treatment, was utilized with a subsample of 26 students. A one-way ANCOVA, with pretest scores serving as the covariate, yielded no significant main effects of the treatments on immediate or delayed posttest performance. Futhermore, chi square analyses indicated no significant differences among treatment groups on their responses to attitudinal items. However, the subsample tested indicated a strong preference for the motivational treatment. A one-way ANCOVA reflected no differences among treatment groups in the amount of time spent on the instructional materials. Possible explanations for the results in relationship to rule-learning include: failure to provide sufficient cues to attend to model, insufficient instructional time for students to identify with the / model, and/or the type of model and medium utilized. Lack of differences in participant attitudes may be attributed to: insufficient time to change attitudes, the combination of the method used to design the instructional materials and the type of performance assessment utilized, and/or the type of attitude assessment used. Another possible explanation in relationship to both participant performance and attitudes is that the hypotheses stated were false and, in fact, there were no differences among treatments on these variables. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-07, Section: A, page: 2123. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

This study had two major purposes. First, the study was aimed at providing a statistical statement about the overall magnitude of the effects produced by problem-solving instruction. The second purpose was to provide a description of the relationship between study findings and study characteristics making it possible to determine the particular conditions and circumstances in which problem solving promotes effective learning. / Sixty-eight experimental studies were collected and integrated using meta-analysis techniques to reach the aforementioned goals. The data set was based on 343 effect sizes that were Jackknifed by Tukey's technique. This is an inferential technique which takes into account the interdependencies in a large set of estimated ESs in a meta-analysis. / The problem-solving instruction method produced an average effect size of up to .54 standard deviations. In other words, students exposed to this method of instruction exhibited a superiority of .54 standard deviations as compared to the control group students (no problem-solving instruction). The 95 percent confidence interval calculated (.37 to .71) indicates the superiority of problem-solving instruction over no problem-solving instruction in enhancing student achievement in science and mathematics. / To determine the particular conditions and circumstances in which problem-solving instruction enhances student achievement, analysis of variance and regression tests were conducted. On the basis of the studies collected, several variables were found to be statistically related to problem-solving instruction: (a) The source of the study, especially studies published in journals, contributed significantly to the overall effect size of this study. (b) The length of instruction, appeared to be one of the best descriptors of problem-solving instruction. When studies lasted a period of time of 5 to 10 weeks, the effectiveness of the instruction was superior to those studies that lasted 16 to 20 weeks. When instruction lasted more than 20 weeks, the effects were significant but the tendency was to create negative results. (c) The inquiry method was another variable that was related to the effectiveness of problem-solving instruction. (d) Biology and elementary school science also seemed to produce significant results. However, when studies were analyzed by subject matter (science and mathematics), the results did not reach statistical significance. It appears to be that problem-solving instruction is independent of any particular content within science and mathematics. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-01, Section: A, page: 0023. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.