There is much current interest in the field of education concerning the academically gifted student’s needs. Guilford’s Structure of Intellect model (Guilford, 1956) holds particular promise for positively influencing the development of cognitive skills among academically gifted students. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of using a program of instruction based upon Guilford’s Structure of Intellect (SI) model (Meeker, 1969) with children identified as academically gifted. Subjects consisted of 68 fourth-grade students who resided in two counties of northwestern Kentucky and who were identified as being academically gifted. The treatment group consisted of 34 academically gifted fourth-grade students attending various schools in one of the counties. Each student in the treatment group received three hours of instruction per week based on the SI model. This SI instruction was on a resource basis, outside their regular classroom instruction, and lasted for a total of 34 weeks. The control group consisted of 34 academically gifted fourth-grade students who attended school within a second county in northwestern Kentucky. The control group received no instruction based upon the SI model; rather, they received only traditional instruction in a regular classroom. The dependent variables were the abilities of evaluation, memory, cognition, divergent production, and convergent production as defined by Guilford and as measured by the five subscales of the Structure of Intellect / Learning Abilities (SOI/LA) test (Meeker, 1969) which possess independent items across the subtests. A pretest-posttest control group design was used. Five analyses of covariance were computed, one for each of the five dependent variable measures. Results of the analyses indicated significant differences between the SOI / LA scores of the treatment group over the control group at the time of posttesting for all of the dependent variable measures except memory. Results of this study demonstrated that a program of instruction, based upon Guilford’s SI model, positively influenced the development of cognitive skills, as measured by the SOI / LA test, among students in the treatment group.

The study is divided into four parts, the first three having to do with the family and the last with work. The first section outlines the relationships of family members, including their attitudes toward themselves, toward each other, and toward society. The next two have to do with “Responsibility” as viewed by the family, and the need for “Stability” within the home and outside it. The final section examines the jobs held by Miller’s characters, their attitudes toward those jobs, and the extent to which an occupation helps to influence the characters and their familial relationships. A close discussion of the family contains, of necessity, a great deal about the jobs held by the family group, so the “work” chapter is to a large extent a correlation and summary of evidence already given. It is hoped that an examination of this sort will lead to a better understanding of the philosophical position from which Arthur Miller wrote his family plays.

Much has been written concerning the kind of training a high-school teacher should have, but very little has been written concerning the training they have in relation to what they teach. Not very much is known concerning the actual facts of the condition existing at the present in the high schools in the state of Kentucky. The purpose of this study is to find these facts as they are and on this basis to determine the relationship that exists between the major and minor subjects and administrators from the Western Kentucky State Teachers College; and the subject they teach. Also, there is an attempt in this study to show the number of teachers and administrators in Kentucky from this college who are qualified to teach in the high schools. Another main purpose of this study is to show the need of the cooperation of the state department of education and the teachers’ training colleges with the administrators and other members of the educational system of the state influential in the selection of the high-school teachers of the state. The relationship between preparation and subjects taught is to be shown by (1) the number of semester hours the teachers have had in college in their major and minor subjects, and by (2) the number of hours they have in the field or subject in which they are teaching.

The possibility that nocturnal migrants use sunset as an orientational cue was explored in the White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) between 1 April and 24 April, 1981. Orientation tests were run on the roof of the biology building at Western Kentucky University when birds were assumed to be in the proper physiological condition for migration. Birds exposed to only nighttime skies, birds isolated from all visual cues, and birds exposed to both daytime and nighttime skies did not exhibit the northward directional preference appropriate for the season tested. However, White-throated Sparrows exposed only to sunset and tested in the absence of visual nighttime cues exhibited significant orientation northward. These data clearly support the concept that White-throated Sparrows can use sunset as an orientational cue.

Using a Behavioral Expectation Scale (BES) format borrowed from the psychology department at the University of California – Berkeley and a BES form developed in and for a Southeastern university psychology department, students’ evaluations of their professors’ teaching performance were examined for interrater reliability, leniency error, variability and discriminability. Results indicate that neither form was psychometrically sound at the Southeastern university. Problems in obtaining sound ratings for the BES form were discussed.

Female undergraduates from a private college on the east coast were surveyed regarding their feelings about having children and were asked to complete the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). Eighty-one percent of the respondents indicated a desire to have one or more children. Nineteen percent responded negatively or were uncertain of their feelings at that time. On the BSRI, 12% were classified as Masculine, 38% as Feminine, 37% as Androgynous, 13% as Undifferentiated. Comparison of the Masculine, Feminine and Androgynous groups (the Undifferentiated group was excluded from analysis) showed that the proportion of Feminine women indicating a desire to have children was significantly higher than the proportion of Masculine women. The proportion of Androgynous women indicating a desire to have children was significantly higher than the proportion of Masculine expressing that same desire. No difference was found between the proportion of Feminine women indicating a desire to bear children and the proportion of Masculine women indicating that desire. The high percentage of women desiring children and the percentage of women in each of the four BSRI classifications was discussed. Explanations were posed for the lack of significant difference between the Feminine and Androgynous groups. Directions for future research were suggested.

The relationship between athletic participation, sex role orientation and self-esteem has received little attention from researchers and the relationship of these variables among females has not received as much attention as it has among males. It has been theorized that participation in sports, particularly team sports, may effect an increase in self-esteem due to increased positive body image and tend to “masculinize” women and/or attract females who possess or value more masculine traits and behaviors. To address these issues, a comparison of sex role orientation and level of self-esteem was made with female varsity athletes, recreational athletes and nonathletes at Western Kentucky University. The instruments utilized in the study were the Bem Sex Role Inventory, the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, and an activity instrument on which the women indicated activities in which they had participated since and including the ninth grade. The activity instrument also asked for certain demographic information. The three groups of women were matched according to age, socioeconomic status and marital status. Significant differences were found between the three groups on sex role orientation. There was a much larger proportion of varsity athletes classified as androgynous when compared to the recreational athletes and nonathletes. In addition, a larger proportion of nonathletes was classified as feminine, and fewer were classified as masculine when compared to the varsity and recreational athletes. Indicated was a trend for an increasing number of females to be classified as androgynous and masculine as athletic participation increased. No significant differences were found between the groups with regard to level of self-esteem. Possible explanations for the finding are explored.

Ground meal and 4 sizes of pelleted feeds (3/16, ¼, 3/8 and ½ inch diameters) were offered to captive Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris, Linnaeus) to determine the minimum feed size they were unable to consume in significant amounts. The ground meal, 3/8 and ½ inch diameter pellets substantially decreased feed consumption compared with 3/16 and ¼ inch diameter pellets. Additionally, ½ inch pellets were consumed substantially less than ground meal or 3/8 inch pellets. Supplemental feed was require to prevent mortality among Starlings offered only ½ inch pellets. Two pellet sizes, the 3/16 inch pellet which was readily consumed by Starlings and the 3/8 inch pellet which was less preferred by the birds, were selected for tests with free ranging Starlings. Field tests comparing consumption of these 2 pellet sizes were conducted in southcentral Kentucky during January and February 1982. Starlings consumed significantly (P<0.01) lesser amounts of 3/8 inch pellets than 3/16 inch pellets during this test. It appears that feeding both ground meal and 3/8 inch diameter pelleted feeds to livestock is effective in reducing livestock feed losses to depredating Starling, and feeding larger-sized feeds such as ½ inch diameter pellets may further reduce losses.

It is the plan of this study to present an accurate picture of the work done by Miss Eva Barton in her effort, through supervision, to establish for the rural schools of the county increasingly effective teaching. The writer hopes that from this study other counties may through comparing their program gain suggestions that will aid in their development.

There is a need for a clearer understanding of the methods by which vocabularies can be enlarged most effectively. Results of experiments indicate that pupils are unable to recognize their own deficiencies and needs in respect to the meanings of words; consequently they need some type of guidance in enlarging their meaning vocabularies. Teachers are agreed that word lists are a non-effective device. They are agreed, too, that not one or a few techniques are being used to teach the meanings of new words, but many techniques. The two most effective seem to be (1) relating the word to former experiences and (2) studying the context in which the word appears and the environment surrounding it. Incidental attention to words results occasionally in vocabulary growth and in correspondingly improved comprehension. There are many words, however, which are not mastered in this way and for which direct instruction in their meaning, recognition, and use is necessary. By its very nature direct instruction concerning the meaning, recognition, and use of words brings out essential relationships and promotes good organization of ideas. Direct instruction on words taken from the context promotes greater accuracy in word recognition in oral reading, more fluent and orderly habits of recognition in silent reading, and more detailed and accurate comprehension of the meaning of what is read in both oral and silent reading.