The purpose of this study was to evaluate the individual and organizational impact of the Florida State University/University of West Florida Cooperative Doctoral Program. All graduates of the program and their employers were included in the study. Interviews were conducted with 82 of 101 graduates and 11 employers to gather perceptions of program aspects, the graduates' professional growth and movement, the fiscal impacts of salary increases and program costs incurred by graduates, job performances, also the topics of research studies as organizational problems with suggested solutions. / The results of the evaluation revealed a favorable impact of the doctoral program in the following areas: (1) Positive impacts for graduates came mainly from coursework, the dissertation process, and the professional rewards of completing the degree. (2) Although the EdD was conferred, graduates would have preferred to earn the PhD. (3) Convenience of the off campus program was cited as its greatest advantage. Disadvantages included limited access to professors and unavailable library resources. (4) The program positively impacted graduates' careers in the areas of promotion, salary supplement, and improved ability to perform job responsibilities. (5) The research studies proved beneficial for the employing organizations. (6) Employers perceived that the program positively impacted the graduates' job performances. / From the findings of the study, the following conclusions were determined. (1) Graduates regretted that the PhD was not available through the off campus program. (2) Graduates perceived definite advantages of the off campus program. Disadvantages had to be ameliorated to successfully complete the program. (3) The lock step curriculum was a positive impact on the students' camaraderie. However, it prevented graduates from exempting courses based on their expertise. (4) The motivation of graduates to begin the doctorate was related to their perceptions of the eventual impact of the degree program. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 0749. / Major Professor: L. V. Rasmussen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

The purpose of this study was to study the strategies used by effective faculty teachers at the Florida State University to develop classroom learning environments at the college level. The study focused on: (1) the extension of current knowledge about the development of effective classroom learning environments at the college level through in-depth examination of the strategies used by effective faculty teachers; (2) exploration of the full range of the dimensions of learning environments as they were conceptualized by Rudolf Moos; (3) exploration of other dimensions of classroom learning environments which emerged from the data collected; and (4) gaining insight into how effective college teachers interpret the strategies they employ to create educational environments. / As the goal of the inquiry was in-depth understanding, a qualitative interviewing method was employed in data collection. An extreme-case sampling procedure was used to select the study's ten faculty participants. The data were analyzed in the constant comparative style which allowed categories to emerge from the data. That analysis was then related to Rudolf Moos' classroom environment theory framework. / The findings of the study suggest that the theoretical framework defined by Rudolf Moos, and used as the conceptual framework for this inquiry, has definite application within the university classroom. However the findings also indicate that the Relationship Dimension of that framework should be expanded to allow greater complexity in explaining environmental elements, while the System Maintenance and Change Dimension contains elements that do not apply within the college classroom. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-10, Section: A, page: 3542. / Major Professor: Allan Tucker. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

The major objective of this study was to identify teaching behaviors successful teachers felt were important for high student achievement and compare those teacher behaviors with the generic teacher competencies required by Florida's Beginning Teacher Program. / In this descriptive research study, data was collected from successful veteran teachers using the structured interview technique. These teachers were asked to identify teaching behaviors they have found to be effective in improving student achievement. Respondents were selected by random from a pool of former "Teacher of the Year" honorees and Florida Beginning Teacher Program completers who are effective teachers in the School District of Escambia County. The interviewer used a questionnaire designed specifically for this study and a survey instrument developed by the Florida Department of Education. / Florida began its Beginning Teacher Program on July 1, 1982 with the stated goal to increase student achievement by improving teacher performance. The program was/is committed to the professional development of the beginning teacher through a comprehensive program of support, training, and documentation. The training includes collaborative planning, conferencing, observing, assessing, prescribing, and repeating the cycle until the beginning teacher successfully demonstrates all required generic teacher competencies. Research based information on effective teaching was used in the design of Florida's Beginning Teacher Program (Handbook for the Florida Beginning Teachers, 1985-1986). / From the data obtained, the following conclusions were generated. The Beginning Teacher Program completers and the Teacher of the Year group rated all 27 generic competencies above the minimum mean of 3.00 for competency acceptance. The elementary teachers tended to rate the importance of the competencies as to job relatedness, frequency of use, and importance for initial certification higher than their peers in middle and high school. The effective teaching behaviors identified by the successful teachers surveyed were not significantly different from those competencies required for program completion of Florida's Beginning Teacher Program. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 0772. / Major Professor: L. V. Rasmussen. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

Partially in response to the nationwide science and math teacher shortage, the United States Navy and Escambia county, Florida, school system have established a partnership program in which Navy volunteers are utilized within the school system in roles such as academic tutors, teacher aides, and lecturers. At the time of this study, the Math/Science Initiative Program was concluding its third fully operational year. / The problem of this study was: Using the MSI program as the innovation, and using the Stages of Concern profiles as indicators of the status of the innovation's implementation, to what extent had this program been implemented, and what implications for staff development could be drawn from the SoC profiles and specific concerns of Navy volunteers and public school teachers participating in the program? / The descriptive portion of the study focused on the extent to which implementation had been achieved by Navy volunteers (N=51) and Escambia county teachers (N=89), as well as specific concerns they were experiencing. The first research hypothesis considered the correlation between SoC profiles of matched pairs of volunteers and teachers, while the remaining eight research hypotheses utilized the SoC profile as the dependent variable and examined the impact of the following independent variables: student-interaction time, principal support, preparation time, relationships with professional educators, opportunity to satisfy personal entry level expectations, student feedback, matched pair teacher feedback and in-service programs. / Data revealed that for approximately 70% of the Navy volunteers and professional teachers the innovation was in the "self" oriented, early stages of implementation. However, 82% of the specific concerns expressed by the participants would not have been predicted based upon their Most Intense Stage of Concern. / As for the hypotheses, evidence supported the idea that based upon the SoC profile of one member of a matched pair, the other member's SoC profile cannot be predicted. As for the remaining independent variables, using the.05 level of significance, there was insufficient statistical evidence to reject the null hypotheses. / The study concluded with numerous suggestions for program improvement as well as recommendations for future research. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-06, Section: A, page: 1342. / Major Professor: David D. Redfield. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

The concept of absolute value is central to several important mathematical topics. Among these are distance, limits, continuity, metric spaces and the square root function. Some studies reveal that students perform surprisingly poorly on problems related to absolute value. / Several authors of articles in professional journals have identified a variety of errors, difficulties, and misconceptions arising from attempts to solve sentences involving absolute value. / This study compared the results of two groups of college algebra students studying the solution of absolute value sentences. One group was instructed using the Distance approach, and the other group used the Enhanced Traditional approach. The comparison was made on achievement, retention, and transfer. This research used four intact college algebra classes from four different colleges as the population sample. / Four different junior colleges were involved in this study. Two classes of college algebra students at two different junior colleges were assigned to the Distance approach. Two classes from two other junior colleges were assigned to the Enhanced Traditional approach. Each of the four classes took four tests on solving absolute value sentences. Subjects were given a fifty minute pretest on the day the experiment started. Then the instructional materials dealing with the absolute value concept were presented during four fifty-minute lessons. The subjects were given the fifty minute achievement test at the next scheduled class meeting. Two weeks later the retention test was given to each of the four groups. / Analysis of covariance was used to test whether there were any significant differences between the two groups on the three tests with the pretest as the covariate. Three null hypotheses of no differences between means scores were rejected at the 0.05 level for the achievement, the retention, the transfer test. In addition, no gender differences were found in this study. We may conclude that students in the Distance approach perform better than the students in the Enhanced Traditional approach in each of the three areas investigated. / We found from interviews that most teachers view absolute value as an important part of mathematics. Those contacted supported this view with reference to specific areas of mathematics that draws upon absolute value. The interviews were also valuable in identifying specific diverse difficulties experienced by students studying or using absolute value. / Students interviewed from the distance group demonstrated greater competency in solving problems involving absolute value. Not only did they get more correct answers but did so in less time. Several students from the Traditional group found problems too long and boring. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-11, Section: A, page: 3820. / Major Professor: Herbert Wills, III. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

The goal of this study was to assess the level of knowledge and attitudinal characteristics of secondary school teachers teaching population education; to examine the relationship between two dependent variables (population knowledge and attitude toward population education) and thirteen independent variables (age, sex, marital status, religion, ethnicity, education, teaching experience, experience in teaching population education, other sources of information on population issues, training participation, support from the community, support from colleagues, and support from administrators); and also to test hypotheses based on the premise that knowledge is theoretically related to attitude. / The sample comprised 224 teachers. The Pearson correlation analysis of data identified eight independent variables significantly related to knowledge (age, teaching experience, education, experience in teaching population education, training participation, other sources of information on population issues, support from the community, and support from colleagues). Five independent variables related significantly to attitude toward population education (education, training, age, teaching experience and experience in teaching population education). The analysis of data using parsimonious regression indicated that for this sample there were six significant determinants of population knowledge: education, training participation, sex (male), support from the community, environmental variables and other source of information on population matter). / For the attitude toward population education there were three significant determinants which affect attitude toward population education (education, training participation and age). Reciprocal analysis showed that there were a significant positive relationship between knowledge of population and attitude toward population education and vice versa. / The result of this study appear to throw some light on the relationship between attitude and knowledge on a subject matter. By taking a broader and more comprehensive definition of attitude than is often the case in attitude research, the direction of the relationship has been clarified, and at least a partial explanation can be proposed for the low correlation usually found between attitude and knowledge in a subject matter. However, this research used a small sample in a small geographic area. Before its findings can receive more general acceptance the study needs to be replicated in other places, and with difference social-demographic background. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-07, Section: A, page: 2224. / Major Professor: Byron G. Massialas. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The purpose of the study was to describe the existing and preferred content and structure of the general education curriculum. The study also sought to determine if some agreement existed in the perceptions of faculty from varied disciplines as to the importance of a set of liberal/professional education outcomes and the role of general education coursework as a part of the total undergraduate experience. / In order to provide for a representative sample of degree programs, a representative degree program from each of the eight areas identified by Biglan (physics, biology, English, psychology, mechanical engineering, nursing, accounting and special education) was selected for inclusion in the study. Basic information on the content and structure of the general education curriculum was collected from the institution catalog and other documents where available in preparation for the site visit. The majority of the data collection was obtained from interviews done during the site visit. / The findings of the study suggest that faculty members across the representative degree programs expressed a positive view of general education coursework. Overall, faculty members expressed dissatisfaction with student writing and critical thinking abilities. Little curricular change in the general education component of the undergraduate degree program was expected with the exception of the addition of a multicultural requirement. Further, faculty members in the various degree programs indicated general agreement with the the outcomes developed by the Professional Preparation Network for students in their respective degree programs. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-03, Section: A, page: 0734. / Major Professor: Allan Tucker. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cooperative CBI (C-CBI) and individual CBI (I-CBI) on concept learning. The study also examined interaction effects of instructional modes and learning styles on achievement and attitude. A special attempt was made to analyze the effects of different pairings of students on learning. / Fifth- and sixth-grade subjects (N = 119) were designated as one of three types based on their learning styles. Ninety-eight subjects classified as either extrovert or introvert were included in the experiment. Twenty-one subjects classified as undetermined were excluded from the experiment. Subjects were stratified by learning styles and randomly assigned to one of two CBI instructional modes. In the C-CBI condition, students were further randomly assigned to one of three types of pairs. / The two independent variables in this study were learning style and instructional mode. Both learning style and instructional mode had two levels. The dependent variables included achievement and attitude. The achievement measures were obtained through the 20-item posttest. Attitude scores were assessed using a 10-item Likert-type attitude survey. The study employed a 2 x 2 randomized block design. Both posttest scores and attitude data were analyzed through ANOVA procedures. / The results of the study showed that C-CBI neither facilitated nor decreased student achievement. However, the expected superiority of C-CBI over I-CBI was borne out by the attitude data. While an interaction effect on achievement between instructional mode and learning style was not observed, an expected interactive relationship on attitude between both variables was observed from the study. The manner in which individuals were paired made no significant difference in both dependent measures. / Specific factors that may have caused a particular finding were discussed in relation to existing literature and supporting ideas. Several additional limitations relative to problems with the entire study were also discussed. Finally, conclusions and recommendations drawn from the study were presented both for future research and for instructional practice. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: A, page: 1232. / Major Professor: Robert M. Morgan. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, School of Education, 2007. / Title from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 25, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-02, Section: A, page: 0487. Adviser: Valarie L. Akerson.

This thesis is about how the creative arts helps circumvent the negative effects of the traditional school, such as, its disconnectedness from the community, confined view of literacy, isolation of school disciplines, and its predilection for competition over cooperation. The study notes that beyond geographical barriers and other historical differences, the colonial practices of mainstream schooling as seen in the U.S. and Guinea (West Africa) have pernicious effects on the school success of linguistic minorities. To improve learning, this study supports that students learn better when the school embraces their identities, dreams, and values their "fund of knowledge" and beliefs. It advocates using the creative arts to mediate students' affective, experiential, and intellectual input within a problem solving approach to instruction. The social, affective, physical, and intellectual gains from their encounter with the arts are not only engaging for critical thinking but also empowering for personal and school change.