Six instructional competencies (communication skills, positive regard, non-authoritarianism, pedagogic flexibility, socio-cultural knowledge, and self confidence) were investigated to determine the effectiveness of elementary bilingual education teachers. Supervisor/peer ratings of teachers' effectiveness were selected as the criterion of effectiveness for this study; the relationships between competency scores, supervisor/peer ratings, and background data were then examined and compared. / There was a significant correlation between teachers' pedagogic flexibility (the ability to provide a variety of methods and materials) scores and their ratings, although the remaining correlations between competencies and ratings were near zero. Correlations between background variables and competency scores were not significant, nor were correlations between background variables and competency scores, with the exception of the significant relationship between the subjects' years of experience teaching limited English proficient students with their scores for the competency of positive regard. / There were minimal differences in the background data of teachers who had received the highest and lowest supervisor/peer ratings. However, the highest rated teachers scored higher on all competencies; their mean total competency score was almost double that of the lowest rated teachers and their mean pedagogic flexibility score was almost triple that of the lowest rated teachers. / The factor that determined a teacher's effectiveness rating seemed to be skill in pedagogic flexibility. If further experimental studies that deliberately train one set of teachers in pedagogic flexibility and deny such training to another set of teachers verify the findings of the present study, the need for specialized training in ESL/BE will be substantiated and pre- and in-service training will need to be modified to emphasize the development of a repertoire of skills in pedagogic flexibility. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4408. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

R 65,T 5The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of intensity training on the ability of preservice elementary education majors to teach music with accurate, efficient presentation of subject matter and with an effective delivery style. Of additional interest were the impact of poor singing on high intensity teaching and the amount of lesson time devoted to active music-making. / Preservice elementary education majors enrolled in a music methods course for nonmajors served as subjects. All subjects completed five teaching presentations which were videotaped for subsequent analysis. During the first three presentations, subjects taught children's songs by rote to peers. The fourth and fifth presentations served as transfer tasks; including, respectively, a music concept lesson taught to peers and a preschool field teaching lesson. Experimental subjects (n = 26) received four training sessions in teacher intensity which alternated with the five presentations. Control subjects (n = 26) engaged in similar activities on treatment days but received no instruction in intensity. / All videotaped sessions were observed and teacher behavior was recorded as high intensity or low intensity. Low intensity was further separated into poor information and/or ineffective delivery. / Analysis of the three rote songs indicated that treatment had no effect on increasing high intensity teaching or on improving delivery. There was, however, a significant interaction between teaching task and treatment on accuracy and efficiency of instruction. During the music concept lesson the experimental group increased the instances of low intensity/instruction. During preschool field teaching, both groups significantly improved in the delivery aspect of teaching, and control subjects significantly increased the percentage of intervals of high intensity teaching. / Since subjects were nonmusic majors it was theorized that poor singing ability might interfere with teaching effectiveness. Analysis of the impact of poor singing on high intensity revealed that poor singing by itself contributed relatively little to instructional problems. Further analyses indicated that experimental subjects learned to incorporate more interactive music activities into teaching presentations than control subjects. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-08, Section: A, page: 2140. / Major Professor: Clifford Madsen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

A need exists to establish congruency between teaching, learning, assessment, and curriculum. From a constructivist perspective, all learning experiences are perceived differently by individuals. As a result, these learning experiences should be evaluated via multiple modes of assessment. Portfolios are vehicles that can be used to represent a diversity of learners. / As a teacher-researcher in my classroom, I conducted a study to observe the influence of portfolio assessment on the students in my Advanced Placement Biology classes. The participants in this study were a culturally diverse group of 33 high school juniors and seniors. The students and myself negotiated the curriculum, while the students designed their own portfolios and submitted them each six weeks grading period. / Through numerous interviews, dialogues, questionnaires, student perception papers, my own journaling, and peer reviews, five learner outcomes emerged under the social constructivist theoretical framework I used to interpret and analyze my data: (1) Students can become self-directed learners through the use of portfolios. (2) Portfolio assessment involves peer evaluation, which can enhance interactive communication, group functioning, and consideration for other students' research. (3) Portfolio assessment gives students the opportunity to become potential quality researchers. (4) Through the use of portfolios, students' thought processes involved integration of information to assess and resolve scientific issues that were critical to their lives. (5) Portfolios give students the opportunity to demonstrate understanding that contributes to their community. / As a result of my construction of this dissertation, I concluded portfolios are a viable alternative assessment strategy to represent learning experiences, provided the students are a continual part of the negotiation process within the culture of the classroom. Portfolios show what the students can tangibly do. / As other teachers begin to take risks by becoming researchers in their classrooms, I feel it will empower them and give them a sense of ownership they can convey to their students. Students, teachers, administrators, and parents will become aligned in their mission for reform. This will continue to raise our high standards for learning. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: A, page: 1302. / Major Professor: Nancy T. Davis. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

The purpose of the study was to determine: (1) whether persons in two administrative levels in postsecondary vocational education in Florida (deans/directors and program chairmen) differ in their perceptions of barriers to the delivery of vocational education to persons with disabilities; and (2) whether their attitudes toward persons who are disabled and/or certain demographic factors correlate with the number of barriers within categories and the total number of barriers they affirm. / The population to be studied consisted of deans/directors and program chairmen of postsecondary vocational-technical centers and community colleges which have been designated as area vocational centers in Florida. / The data was collected by means of an attitude scale (Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons, Form B), and a listing of barriers within the four categories of legislation, support services, special education, and vocational education. / The analysis of data revealed no significant differences in either the number of barriers affirmed or the attitude scores between deans/directors and program chairpersons. / The Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPM) revealed a significant negative correlation between affirmative responses in the vocational education category of barrier and attitude scores of deans/directors. The PPM revealed a significant correlation between affirmative responses in the legislation and support services categories of barriers, total number of affirmative responses and attitude scores for program chairpersons. / Area of certification of deans/directors contributed to the negative correlation between vocational education barriers and attitude scores. Regression models including the business education and technology education areas of certification had F ratios which were significant. Area of certification of program chairpersons contributed to the correlation between legislation barriers and attitude scores. Regression models including the health occupations, public services, marketing education, and other program areas of certification had F ratios which were significant. / The demographic variables of age, gender, level of education, and size of community did not contribute to the correlation between categories of barriers and attitude scores. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-12, Section: A, page: 3928. / Major Professor: Hollie B. Thomas. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

This interpretive study focuses on issues relevant to teacher-learning and enhancement of science education at a developing Professional Practice School (PPS) site (Holmes, 1990; Levine, 1992). In a previous study undertaken at the same school, (Dana, 1991/1992), action research resulted in the emergence of teacher-voice. Teachers desiring to continue their professional development collaborated with the researcher to develop the Southside PPS. / The researcher met with a group of 9 teachers in the first year, 1991-1992, and thereafter began working with various other teachers until May, 1994. The study is based on use of qualitative data sources including: transcripts of afterschool meetings, school documents, interviews, field notes, and the researcher's personal journal. Narratives provide a context (Connelly & Clandinin, 1994) for holistic representation of the research experience and have been deconstructed to render six thematic findings. / The six themes relate issues relevant to the sociocultural context of teaching at the school, conditions for teacher-learning, and teachers' personal and social practices of science. Teachers' dialogue about teaching and learning revealed a strong orientation for feminine epistemology (Harding, 1987). A situation which could have served as a science experience involving inquiry about educational practices (e.g. evaluation) denied teachers' ways of sense-making. In terms of school-wide science practice, events such as the annual Science Fair and teaching science from kits were perpetuating teachers' senses of disenfranchisement from science. Current perspectives of science are, for the most part, grounded in traditional views of Western science and may exclude those with other epistemological and ethical orientations in science learning. / One implication of the study calls for science educators to be aware of their own lenses for framing science as they endeavor to enhance science education. Secondly, consideration for how teachers construct themselves as knowers and co-learners may be a critical beginning point from which educators can begin to negotiate their science practices and construction new visions for science teaching. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-01, Section: A, page: 0153. / Major Professor: Kenneth G. Tobin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

The purpose of the study was to test the effects of a teacher planning intervention model on selected teacher behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes. The subjects in the study were 18 seniors enrolled in a secondary physical education methods course. They were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Assessment of knowledge and attitudes toward planning for maximum learning took place before and after the intervention through administration of a multiple choice test and an attitude questionnaire. Subjects in the treatment group participated in five 45-minute planned intervention sessions which were designed to reinforce selected teacher competencies of planning for maximum learning. For the same duration, subjects in the control group participated in team handball activities that were not related to the dependent measures. Afterward, subjects in both groups participated in practical teaching experiences in a laboratory school setting. Each subject was instructed to plan and teach two 25-minute badminton classes. All lessons were videotaped for subsequent analysis for verbal feedback, teaching cues, and ALT-PE. Data analysis revealed marked differences between the two groups in the variables measured. In light of these findings, it appears that the intervention was successful in enhancing and reinforcing desired teaching competencies which in turn could impact preinternship programs. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-04, Section: A, page: 1070. / Major Professor: Lynda E. Randall. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

This study was designed to assess the perceptions of recent Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University graduates (1983-1993) regarding the relevance of the institution's undergraduate business teacher education curriculum to the requirements of the world of work. A second purpose was to identify the requirements for modification and improvement of the business teacher education curriculum. Specifically, the study collected data related to present occupation of business education graduates and their degree of preparation to teach business subjects. / The questionnaires were sent to 130 business education graduates employed in middle, secondary, postsecondary, vocational-technical, private business, government, and other enterprises throughout the United States. Fifty-four percent of the sample responded to the questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the following statistical procedures: Descriptive statistics of background descriptive data, t-Test for differences in means, Point Biserial Correlation, Spearman Rank-Order Correlation, and One-Way Analysis of Variance. / The primary conclusions of the study were: (1) Business education students perceived themselves to be less prepared in the instruction of computer-related courses than in other types of program offerings, (2) Demographic factors such as Present Occupation of Graduates, Highest Degree Earned, Number of Years in Teaching, Types of Inservice Training Received Since Graduation, and Length of Time Between Graduating and Obtaining Employment had little effect on the graduates' perception of the program in business education, (3) Business education graduates were receptive to changes in curriculum content that would make them better prepared for teaching business subjects, and (4) Graduates who were in teaching positions perceive themselves to be better prepared for employment than graduates who were in non-teaching positions. / Major recommendations for the Business Teacher Education curriculum at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University are as follows: (1) An ongoing review of the curriculum should be conducted periodically by members of the business education faculty to ensure that content of the curriculum remains current and consistent with the changes in the workplace, (2) Faculty participation in workshops, seminars, short courses, and business and industry exchange is needed on a regular basis in an effort to keep business education faculty abreast of current trends and issues in business education, (3) Work with business and industry partnerships and partnerships with school districts to keep abreast of the needs of students and of the workplace, (4) Provide undergraduate business teacher education students with opportunities to observe and/or teach at various levels of education--elementary, secondary, vocational-technical, and private business schools, and (5) Replicate the study within the next five years to determine continued relevancy of course offerings and curriculum content. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-10, Section: A, page: 3815. / Major Professor: Clyde Maurice. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

This research represents an autobiographical case study of my practical knowledge and conceptual change as an environmental educator. My purpose for this work is to chronicle a personal evolution of metaphor in my teaching practice and to document the effect on the implemented curriculum. / My research is a story of my work as a cooperating teacher with two student interns whose experiences and questions served as catalysts for my change process. The interns provided a "mirror for reflection" on my practice thus promoting a "re-viewing" of my life history and a reevaluation of my beliefs on teaching and learning. The Reflective Cooperating Teacher Model is introduced in this work which facilitated my reconceptualization of previously unknown interests and beliefs through the construction and analysis of narrative in the research text. / A variety of strategies were utilized to collect and organize the field texts for this study including the use of journals, planning books, audio-tape transcripts, observational notes, and autobiographical texts. Document analysis was performed on Q. S. R. NUD$\cdot$IST 3.0.5 (1994) software. / Throughout this research, I was able to resolve many of my personal conflicts in teaching and learning by using constructivist theory to make sense of the way I had constructed myself as a learner while a teacher and a graduate student. Through the use of personal experience methods, several thematic patterns were explored including the evolution of metaphor in my practice, the influence of role models in my education, the importance of having a passion for one's discipline and work, and the influence of stress on the development of survival strategies in teaching and learning. The understanding and resolution of these issues and others through interpretive autobiography facilitated a reconstruction of my environmental education curriculum to one that is driven by authentic science practice in which the processes and spirit of science rather than the products become the curriculum. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-11, Section: A, page: 4361. / Major Professor: Nancy T. Davis. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether high/low contrasts in conductor intensity could be taught to, and then demonstrated by, undergraduate beginning conductors and, further, whether observers untrained in the concept of intensity could recognize these contrasts. A stimulus videotape, illustrating beginning conductors in one-minute demonstrations of intended high/low intensity contrasts, was developed for broad-based dissemination and subsequent viewing by independent observers. Subjects were (a) graduate music majors (n = 80), (b) undergraduate music majors (n = 80), (c) undergraduate nonmusic majors (n = 80), (d) high school band and choir students (n = 80). All subjects (N = 320) observed 20 one-minute conducting segments and labelled each 15-second interval according to perceived contrast of intensity. Additionally, subjects indicated an overall intensity rating at the conclusion of each conductor presentation. / Results indicated a total rate of correct responses across all groups of 77%. Analyses yielded a significant difference in mean correct responses among groups, and a significant difference in mean correct responses between the graduate group and all other subjects. Graduate music majors were more accurate in identifying intensity contrasts. Data analysis indicated a high degree of reliability among the four experimental groups on overall intensity ratings, and no significant difference in mean intensity ratings among subjects. In order to examine the relationship between beginning conductors and all other groups, a mean rating was calculated from the beginning conductors' self and peer ratings, and was considered in comparison with that of experimental subjects. Despite significant agreement among all five groups, there was a significantly higher mean rating given by the student conductors in comparison to that of the four experimental groups. / Future research in conductor intensity seems promising and might focus on effect of intensity contrasts in conducting on performer attentiveness; maintenance of high intensity by student conductors across successively longer periods of time; and application of the intensity training model, used in this study, to other university conducting settings in order to investigate its feasibility and usefulness across environments. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-08, Section: A, page: 2139. / Major Professor: Clifford Madsen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

The purpose of this study was to identify and validate the work-related problems of public school prekindergarten teachers in Florida. The study was designed to answer three questions: (1) What problems are perceived to be most bothersome and occur most frequently? (2) What global areas of concern can be inferred from these teachers' perceptions of their problems? (3) Are there significant relationships between the problems reported by the teachers and (A) the age of the teacher? (B) S = sex of the teacher/ (C) years of teaching experience? (D) type of teacher certification? (E) highest degree earned? (F) number of students in the classroom? (G) length of the student day? and (H) geographic location of the school? / For problem generation, a state-side random sample of 55 teachers described their biggest problems. A jury of early childhood experts reduced the 432 descriptions to 111 individual problem statements. For problem validation, a second state-wide sample of 249 teachers rated the frequency of occurrence and the bothersomeness of the 111 problems. They also supplied specific demographic information. / The results identified 37 problems that occurred significantly more frequently than others and 36 problems that were significantly more bothersome. The 111 problems fell into eight global areas of concern, or factors. Those perceived to be of most concern were (1) Control and Discipline, (2) Parent Relationships and Home Conditions, and (3) Program. Other factors were identified as (4) Student Success, (5) Time, (6) Classroom Personnel, (7) Affiliation, and (8) Facilities. No significant relationships were found between the problems and the specific demographic variables, indicating that the teachers were perceiving the problems in similar manners. / Recommendations were made for the use of the results in planning preservice and inservice education for these teachers. Recommendations were also made for modifications in the prekindergarten program at the state and local levels. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 0801. / Major Professor: Charles H. Wolfgang. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.