Thesis--Pennsylvania State College. / Includes bibliographical references.

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The main purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic evaluation of a social science curriculum (program) at a suburban community college. The emphasis was on the compilation of an accurate description of that curriculum rather than on the making of personal judgments based on the evaluator's biases.These basic assumptions were made by the writer:1. A social science curriculum at a community college should have stated, measureable objectives;2. The typical social science class at a community college should have a democratic educational environment where student needs and interests play a significant role in the selection of course objectives and daily class activities;3. It is possible to obtain an accurate description of the social science curriculum at the community college by systematically collecting data from the students, faculty, and administrators involved with the curriculum.The writer set forth to evaluate the following hypotheses:1. The social science curriculum at the suburban community college will lack stated objectives known to most students, teachers, and administrators associated with the curriculum;2. The typical social science class at the suburban community college will have an educational environment which is basically authoritarian, teacher-directed, lecture-type, and fact-oriented.To build an accurate description of the social science curriculum at the community college, multiple sources of data and multiple methods of data collection were employed. Three approaches were used to collect data from the faculty, its students, and the administrators-interviews, questionnaires, and direct class observations. Once the data had been collected, tabulated, and summarized, the evaluator scrutinized it for implications which appeared to flow naturally out of that data.The two principal conclusions reached by the author were:1. The social science program as perceived by most students and faculty does not have formal objectives. Those objectives cited by the administrators apparently exist only in their minds, for data received from both students and faculty indicate that the only objectives which exist are those which have been created by some teachers and students. The hypothesis that the social science curriculum at the suburban community college will lack stated objectives known to most students, teachers, and administrators is substantiated and accepted.2. It is obvious to this observer that the social science program more closely resembles the traditional, undergraduate, social science program than it does the non-traditional one. It is basically an authoritarian, teacher-dominated, lecture-type, fact-oriented educational program. The hypothesis that the typical social science class at the suburban community college will have an educational environment which is basically authoritarian, teacher-directed, lecture-type, and fact-oriented is substantiated and accepted. Data gathered during the course of this study reveals a picture of the typical social science classroom. The teacher is at the center of virtually all learning activities. He creates the course objectives, determines the daily class agenda, dominates class discussion, and functions primarily as the class resource person. Students are generally granted little opportunity for influencing the direction the class will go during the course of the semester. As a rule, only a minority of students ever participate in discussion. Those students who do participate are usually asked by the teacher to repeat factual points or the views of others. Rarely do students interact with one another or express their views on an issue.

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