This creative project was to develop a curriculum art Package for special education students in the seventh grade, enabling them to work independently within an art class for normal seventh grade students.The package was developed in such a way that special education students would learn skills that would help them in their everyday environment, as well as giving them a pleasing end product that would encourage a feeling of self-worth.Observations were made in training centers for the handicapped in New York City to obtain information on developing the package. From these observations certain needs became apparent: learning to cope with the environment; art skills should be relevant to their environment; repetition was essential in a learning situation; students needed to experience a feeling of self-worth; and emphasis should be Placed on teaching special education students to be more independent.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

Students are regularly involved in art making as a part of the general school curriculum. This study investigated and documented sixth grade students' art making in terms of thinking and the construction of knowledge. Following qualitative research procedures the study took place in two sixth grade classrooms. Four questions directed the investigation. These included inquiries into the subjects' art making knowledge base, how knowledge is used in the practice of classroom art making, ways in which art making exhibits cognitive and reflective thinking, and finally how student production is affected by interactions with other members of the environment. Data was collected through observation and informal interview. Data collection activities focused on three student subgroups, identified by peers as having an interest, disinterest or a neutral attitude toward classroom art making.Analysis of data revealed three broad patterns of behavior relative to student art making. Reflecting the research questions these behaviors considered ways art making knowledge is constructed by students, how art making knowledge is used for the process of art production problem solving, and the impact of other members of the environment on the art making.These data indicate that subjects are especially able to construct and use art making knowledge in terms of technique and procedure. Knowledge exhibited through the use of analytical and critical language was observed less frequently, and with less skill. Subjects' processed art making as cognitive and reflective thinking, rather than as spontaneous activity. Students identified asart interested especially pursued their production activities, making choices and decisions relative to their act of making and their constructed object. Junctures of the art making activity specifically considered the envisioning of the problem, choosing appropriate production actions and the determination of a work's completion. Interaction between members of the setting was also prevalent during class observations. Teacher input resulted in the highest level of impact relative to student art making. The focus of student interactions was primarily social and thus had limited influence on the art making practices of their peers. / Department of Art

The Scientific Attitude Inventory, TSAI, was developed in an attempt to measure the Scientific Attitude of elementary teachers. Form D, the form used with the study population, was developed through a refinement technique involving three pre-test forms, Forms A, B, and C.From an original pool of items, fifty-three items were selected to constitute Form A. Form A was constructed and administered to a pre-test population for the purpose of refinement of individual items from the item pool. On the basis of an item analysis of the responses by the pre-test population, several of the items were revised.The revised items from Form A, together with newly written items constituted Form B. Form B was administered to a second pre-test population for the purpose of refinement of individual items. Several items of Form B were revised on the basis of an item analysis.The set of items which resulted from the pre-testing of Forms A and B, revised as appropriate, were submitted to a panel of judges in order to establish a response key and content validity of the items for the purpose of measuring the Scientific Attitude.Those items which were judged to have content validity constituted Form C. Form C was administered to a third pretest population in order to identify the set of items to be used in Form D, the form used with the study population.The identification of the set of items from Form C to be used in Form D was accomplished through a series of reductions in the number of items in Form C. On the basis of an item analysis, the items with the lowest item validity indices were removed from the instrument. The resultant version was scored and an item analysis made unisg the new instrument as the criterion measure. This procedure was repeated until diminishing returns were noticed in the split-halves reliability. The 45 items of Form C which produced the highest split-halves reliability were used in Form D and constituted Version 45 C.Inspection of the 45 items of Form C which were used in Form D revealed that with but one exception, the items which produced the highest item validity indices were items keyed "disagree." Therefore, in the construction of Form D, 25 additional items were uted keyed "agree" in order to achieve an apparent balance in the response key.A 70 item instrument, Form d, was administered to the study population of 224 elementary teachers in graduate study at the masters level in the Elementary Education Department of Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, during the Summer of 1969. The administration of Form D provided data and Norms of Performance for Form D, Version 45 C. This version of TSAI yielded a split-halves reliability of 0.72 with the study population.The complete 70 item instrument was also scored and analysed. Further, a series of reductions in the number of items, refining the form as an internal criterion measure of validity, was effected in the same manner as was used with Form C. Diminishing returns in split-halves reliability was seen beyond the 45 item set, identified as Form D, Version 45. This version yielded a split-halves reliability of 0.80. Version 65 of Form D, and each subsequent version in the reduction series yielded split-halves reliabilities equal to, or exceeding, 0.70, the minimum level of reliability specified in the design of the study. Norms of performance were compiled from the administration of Form D to the study population for each of the versions which yielded a reliability equal to, or greater than, 0.70.

The purpose of this research was to determine if teacher written evaluations in arithmetic and the frequency of administering them would produce a significant difference in arithmetic achievement. The following null hypotheses were set up to guide the statistical analysis:1. There will be no significant difference between the achievement of students receiving no teacher written evaluation and those receiving teacher written evaluation every day.2. There will be no significant difference between the achievement of students receiving teacher written evaluation once every two weeks than those who receive no teacher written evaluation.3. There will be no significant difference between the achievement of students receiving teacher written evaluation every day than those having no evaluation and those evaluated once every two weeks.Three groups of sixth grade children in Anthony Elementary School in Muncie, Indiana were used in this study. Each group contained fourteen boys and eight girls. The mean intelligence quotients determined by the Otis Lennon Dental Ability Test of the three groups were approximately the same (110). Each group had a different teacher. Arithmetic was taught at the same time for fifty minutes each day for eighteen weeks. The researcher met each week with the teachers to determine pace and material to cover the next week.Group I did not use tests of any type during the study. Group II was given teacher written evaluations once every two weeks. Group III was evaluated every day by teacher written tests.The Standard Achievement Test, Modern Mathematics Concepts Tests, Form X was given at the beginning of the study. The analysis of variance and the "F" test was applied to the raw scores resulting in the value of "F" as 1.286. A difference at the .C3 level of confidence would necessitate an "F" value of 3.14. We therefore concluded that there was no significant difference in the achievement of the three groups at the beginning of the study.Form W of the Stanford Achievement Test, Modern Mathematics Concepts Tests, was given at the conclusion of the study. Again using the analysis of variance and the 'F" test the value of "F" was 1.284. A difference at the .05 level of confidence would necessitate en "F" value of 3.14. We therefore concluded that there was no significant difference in the achievement of the three groups at the conclusion of the study.The analysis of variance and the "F" tests was used to compare the group because of the involvement of more than two groups. This means of comparison eliminates the necessity of comparing subsamples one by one which is nearly impossible because of the calculation involved.Null hypothesis number one which stated, "There will be no significant difference between the achievement of students receiving no teacher written evaluation and. those receiving teacher written evaluation every day," can not be rejected at the .05 level of confidence and must be accepted with the limits of this study as valid end reasonable.Null hypothesis number two which stated, "There will be no significant difference between the achievement of students receiving teacher written evaluation once every two weeks than those who receive no teacher written evaluation," can not be rejected at the .05 level of confidence and must be accepted within the limits of this study as valid and reasonable.Null hypothesis number three which stated, "here will be no significant difference between the achievement of students receiving teacher written evaluation every day than those having no evaluation and those evaluated every two weeks," can not be rejected at the .05 level of confidence and must be accepted within the limits of this study as valid and reasonable.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative effectiveness of two teaching strategies in a studio art context for Elementary Education majors. It concerned itself with the development, implementation, and evaluation of an instructional method specifically designed to increase learning in the cognitive domain.

The primary goal of this research project was to produce and test individually paced curricular materials designed to develop basic science process skill competency in preservice elementary school teachers. The four basic science process skills of observing, measuring, classifying, and predicting were identified for the study. Evidence accumulated through three approaches substantiated preservice teachers' needs for further development of these four process skills. The need for science process skill study was based upon recommendations of The American Association for the Advancement of Science, upon the results of a science process measure for teachers administered to a population of preservice elementary school teachers, and upon nine years of personal observation by the researcher in his capacity as a public school science supervisor.In developing the project a sequence of performance steps was established, taking into consideration current trends in elementary science education, individualization of instruction, and educational accountability. This systems model embodied the development of specifically stated performance objectives for each process skill identified for the study. Eight prototype process skills tests were constructed consisting of a pre/post-test for each of the four process skill areas. The tests were validated by expert opinion. Four individualized learning guides, one for each process skill area, were created to be used with preservice elementary school teachers inelementary science methods courses. An instructors' guide was developed to accompany the student materials. The format for each student guide included a rationale, performance objectives, and a sequence of activities designed to facilitate the attainment of the objectives. A different content carrier was selected to be used in developing each of the four process skill areas. Selected content from the Elementary Science Study program was used in the development of the observation process skill. Selected content from the Science-A Process Approach program was used in the development of the measuring process skill. Selected content from the Science Curriculum Improvement Study program was used in the development of the classifying process skill. And materials of the researcher's design, problem-solving activities related to the concept of change, were used in the development of the predicting process skill. The prototype materials were tested during the Spring and Summer Quarters of 1973 and revisions were made on the basis of this testing. The revised materials were pilot tested during the Fall Quarter of the 1973-74 school year with six sections of Ball State University elementary science methods students. As a result of the pilot testing a new multiple choice process pre/post-test was created and revisions in the teachers' guide were made. Final testing of the curricular materials occurred during the Winter Quarter of the 1973-74 school year with four sections of elementary methods students.Statistical treatment of the data collected during the final testing of the materials included analysis of individual pre/post-test scores, pre/post-test variance, per cent of growth applied to an established competency criterion and the application of a one-tailed t test testing the null hypothesis that the mean of the difference between the paired measures (pre/post-test scores) is zero.The feasibility of creating individually paced, science process skill curricular materials using a systems approach and merging selected content goals of elementary science methods with science process skill acquisition goals was established in this study. The population of preservice elementary school teachers who used the curricular materials met the established competency criterion for all four process skills. Data from this study provide a model for further development of other science process skill building curricular materials for pre service elementaryschool teachers.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of Assertive Discipline on Title I students in the areas of reading and mathematics achievement. Specifically, the study was designed to determine whether application of the systematic program components developed by Canter would result in statistically significant improvement in achievement in reading and mathematics.Conceptual and empirical literature relating classroom management and academic achievement was reviewed. Based upon the evidence, a study to investigate the effectiveness of the Assertive Discipline model was undertaken.Fifth and sixth grade students enrolled in the seven Title I programs in East Allen County schools during the 1979-80 school year comprised the population from which the sample was drawn. Teachers of Title I students at schools containing four of the Title I programs included Assertive Discipline as part of the Title I offerings for fifth and sixth grade students. Teachers of Title I students at schools containing the remaining three programs used an undifferentiated approach to behavior management with fifth and sixth grade students.The 1971 Metropolitan Achievement Tests, Elementary Reading and Mathematics, form H, were administered to the subjects in April 1979 and in April 1980. The eighty-three students both pretested and posttested were the subjects for the study. The experimental group consisted of forty-nine subjects. Thirty-one experimental subjects were in grade five; eighteen were in grade six. The control group consisted of thirty-four subjects . Twenty-three, control subjects were in grade five; eleven were in grade six. Of the total experimental group, thirty-five subjects were male, and fourteen subjects were female. The control contained twenty-two male and twelve female subjects.One null hypothesis and two alternative hypotheses were tested to determine the degree to which Assertive Discipline affected achievement in reading and mathematics. Pretest and posttest data were analyzed for experimental and control groups and for subgroups based upon grade and sex. An analysis of covariance, with pretest means as co-variates, was used to control for selection biac attendant to non-randomization. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences was the set of computer programs utilized to perform the statistical analysis of the data.Based upon the results of univariate and multivariate tests of equality of mean vectors for experimental and control subjects:1. Differences noted when mean group scores were compared were not significant atthe .05 level of confidence.2. Differences noted when mean scores were compared by grade were not significantat the .05 level of confidence.3. Differences noted when mean. scores were compared by sex were not significant atthe .05 level of confidence.The null hypothesis was held as tenable. A statistically significant difference in reading and mathematics achievement did not exist between fifth and sixth grade Title I students for which the program included Assertive Discipline as a condition of the Title I experience and fifth and sixth. grade students for which Assertive Discipline was not a part of the Title I experience.

This thesis is about an investigation of how children with philosophical experience use philosophical discussion as a way of doing research. A Lawrence Stenhouse description of 'research' as "systematic and sustained enquiry made public" (Bridges 1996, p. 2) served as my starting point for what to count as 'research'. As an interpretive case story of children participating in research as co-researchers, this research is about how I engaged in an after-school Discussion Research Group co-research project with seventeen volunteer students from my Philosophy for Children classes. Our co-research was a methodological experiment in merging genres of research (Anderson, 1989) in which we adapted and combined Philosophy for Children and qualitative research techniques in a philosophical exploration of philosophical discussion. Bringing together the children's philosophical expertise and my interest in the use of qualitative research methodologies, I explored how and whether 'to do philosophy' is 'to do research'. / Using an open and systematic inquiry approach, I answer the dissertation research question in three ways: by demonstration, by surfacing philosophical inquiry research acts and by conceptual investigation. In a set of co-researching stories, I use document and verbatim transcribed data obtained from audio and video tapes of forty-eight co-research sessions to demonstrate the co-researcher children at work using their own voices. Using these data I surface philosophical inquiry research acts by identifying philosophical inquiry 'moves' the children use in the research context. And I present a conceptual investigation of research roles as a way of answering how the philosophical work the children co-researchers do can be seen as 'doing research'. / This investigation offers a textured portrayal of children using philosophical discussion as a way of doing research. It presents their work as a complex and comprehensive account of 'philosophical discussion'. It uses children's verbatim data to surface the philosophical in research thereby supporting my assertion that to do philosophy is to do research. It presents a conceptual refinement of a variety of research roles. And it presents a viable example of how philosophical and qualitative research methodologies can work together for mutual benefit.