Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-10, Section: A, page: 5304. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-10, Section: A, page: 5306. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

This study investigated the nature of the interaction between a particular method of individualized science instruction and the personality characteristic of dependency. Interaction effects were sought in two areas--the interaction of instructional method with changes in dependency over time, and an aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) between dependency, instructional method, and science achievement. / In the area of changes in dependency, it was hypothesized that exposure to a period of individualized instruction based on materials of the Junior Secondary Science Project (JSSP) would be associated with an increase in the independence of students. A small battery of personality tests was used to determine the dependency of 275 eighth-grade students in 12 science classes twice over the six-month treatment period. The tests employed included the Hidden Figures Test, the Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank, and an Independence of Mind test and Dependence-Proneness Scale modified by the investigator. / For only one of the facets of dependency measured (field-dependence-independence) was any difference observed between the changes in dependency of students in the individualized classes and those in a control group. Consistent with the experimental assumptions, males and individualized students made greater gains (p < .05) on the Hidden Figures Test than females and students in the control group. However, more detailed analysis of the treatment effect revealed that the effect was largely due to the regression towards dependency of initally independent students in conventional instructional classes (the control group). Within the circumstances of the experiment, this finding could not be satisfactorily explained. / No evidence of an ATI between dependency and instructional method was found when scores on a specially developed science achievement test were used as the criterion. A generalized regression analysis computed on the achievement scores revealed that science ability accounted for nearly half of the achievement test score variance, while ATI effects accounted for just over one percent. Possible explanations were offered in terms of likely test-battery invalidity and insufficient control over the instructional treatments. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: A, page: 0918. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether guidelines for teachers on how to review and select instructional materials have any effect on their actual selection of materials, their teaching processes, and their students' test performance. Adult basic-education teachers (N = 115) went through a review and selection process of materials for a metrics objective that had been specified in advance. Each of 24 teachers was assigned to one of three groups. Group 1 used decision-making guidelines and a criterion checklist; Group 2 used the same criterion checklist withou decision-making guidance; and Group 3 did not receive any guidelines. A workshop was conducted for the teachers on the use of review/select guidelines (Groups 1 and 2) or on the general review/select process (Group 3). / Of the 115 original workshop participants, 24 were assigned to the three groups and proceeded to teach the lesson. / These teachers provided feedback on the instructional process they used to teach the lesson, and they collected student attitude, pretest, and posttest data. One hundred and sixty one students were included in the analysis. / (chi)('2) analyses were conducted on teacher background, teacher and student attitudes, and instructional-process data to determine whether groups of teachers differed in their background, attitudes, or the instructional processes. No significant differences were found among teacher groups (p < .01). However, significant differences were found among students' attitudes (p < .01); students in Group 3 exhibited more positive attitudes toward the lesson and the materials than students in the other groups. / Student performance on a 10-item test administered following the lesson was analyzed by means of an analysis of covariance in which group assignment of their teachers was the independent variable; pretest scores were the covariate. Scores on a parallel posttest were the depenent variable. Significant differences (p < .01) were found among groups. / A formative product evaluation of the guidelines resulted in no suggestions for substantive content changes, but suggestions were to restructure the guidelines into a training section and into an application section. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4276. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: A, page: 4874. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

The purpose of the study was to develop an instrument comprised of two parts (English and Greek) that would measure the language dominance of Greek bilingual children attending Grades 1-4 in the United States. The instrument is expected to assist school personnel, educators, and researchers to objectively determine children's language dominance for placement and instructional purposes. / An item pool of 80 items for each language part (60 multiple choice and 20 free-response items) was pilot-tested in the Greek bilingual schools of Tarpon Springs, Florida, and field-tested in New York and Chicago. The subjects, over 400 in number, were about equally distributed over the four grades and equally divided by sex. Data analyses included: item analyses, test reliabilities, test-retest reliabilities, reliabilities by school and by sex, and an examination of the instrument's concurrent validity. / The 40 best items (30 multiple choice and 10 free-response items) of the 80-item pool for each language part were selected to comprise the final instrument. Item selection was based primiarily on two criteria: (a) lack of statistically significant differences between the Greek and English counterpart items and (b) a minimun of a .30 point biserial value for each item. / The overall test reliability values obtained for the final 40-item instrument were .92 and .93 for the English and Greek parts, respectively, and .84 for the difference between English and Greek scores. Finally, the instrument was further examined for its concurrent validity, using teacher ratings as a criterion measure. A correlation obtained between teacher ratings and instrument scores of student language dominance showed an overall concurrent validity of .47. / In addition to being useful for both diagnostic and placement purposes of Greek bilingual students in Grades 1-4, the instrument may also be used as a model in development of a similar instrument for bilingual students in higher grades. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-09, Section: A, page: 3862. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects rule selection training would have on performance in tasks requiring the selection of an appropriate rule from a set of related rules. It was anticipated that a treatment program designed to promote rule application skills would be less effective than a program designed to teach both rule application and rule selection skills. / Two experimental tasks were used, each involving a different set of related rules. One task included the rules governing the drawing of diagrams (Experiment I). The other task included the computational procedures used to solve two kinds of probability problems, i.e., addition-rule problems and multiplication-rule problems (Experiment II). Two seventh grade classes served as subjects in each experiment. Pretests were administered prior to the administration of treatment programs. / In both experiments, students were randomly assigned to either a Rule Selection Training group or a No Rule Selection Training group. Students in the Rule Selection Training group were provided multiple opportunities to reach mastery performance levels for both the rule application skills and the rule selection skill. In contrast, those in the No Rule Selection Training group were given multiple mastery opportunities for the rule application skills only. / In Experiments I and II, nearly all students in both groups demonstrated mastery on the rule application skills. Of students in the Rule Selection Training group, 74% in Experiment I and 62% in Experiment II met mastery on activities designed to assess the rule selection skill. / The primary dependent variable for both experiments was a retention test designed to assess the learner's ability to select the appropriate rule. In Experiment I, students in the Rule Selection Training group were more successful on the rule selection retention test. In Experiment II, students in the Rule Selection Training group were more successful on the rule selection-and-application test for addition-rule problems, as measured by the number of problems correctly solved (rule selection-and-application) as well as the number of times the wrong computational procedure was used (rule selection errors). There were no significant differences between the two groups for multiplication-rule problems for either the number of problems solved or the number of rule selection errors. / It was concluded that rule application practice to mastery levels may be neither an efficient approach nor a sufficient condition for teaching sets of related rules. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-09, Section: A, page: 3867. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

The intent of this study was to determine the effectiveness of several formative evaluation models. / Four different versions of two lessons (chemistry and weather) were used in this study. The versions resulted from: (a) original draft, (b) draft from a one-to-one formative evaluation and revision, (c) draft from a small group tryout using a composite method based on a literature review of formative evaluation methods, and (d) draft from a small group tryout using Gropper's extensive student testing methods. / The resulting eight sets of material were used in two separate experiments (chemistry and weather). / For each experiment the four versions were randomly assigned to 100 students in six intact classes. For chemistry no significant differences were found on any of the three dependent variables (learner performance, attitude, and learning time). For weather, significant differences were found in learner performance and learning time; the Gropper method was superior. / Results of the two experiments were inconsistent. However, the conditions of the experiment and learners available may not have allowed for conclusive results. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-12, Section: A, page: 4958. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

This study addressed the question of how a teacher might assist students to study college textbook materials in order to convert textual information into performances of the intellectual skills of a learning hierarchy. Two methods of study were compared for a single textbook chapter for which a whole series of intellectual skills were to be attained as the chapter objectives. The research was designed to determine if students using an integrated study method would perform better on the chapter test than those not using the method. Students in two intact, introductory-level classes in the human services participated in this study as part of their course work. / Students in an experimental group received pretraining in the integrated study method, using a study-method workbook and an early chapter in the text. These students then used this study method for a later chapter. The method consisted of a color-coded strategy for selective underlining of portions of text relating to the enabling and terminal objectives of a chapter learning hierarchy phrased as adjunct questions (the integrated study method). It was expected that the integrated study method would overcome the handicaps of (a) lack of congruence in sequencing between text and hierarchy, and (b) need to convert relevant textual information into intellectual skills reflected in the hierarchy. / Students in a control group received pretraining in a different study method, using a study-method workbook and an early chapter in the text. The method consisted of the use of a terminal objective as a guide to studying textual materials. These control students were provided with the same textual materials and the identically-phrased terminal objective of the hierarchy as those given to the experimental group and told to use their own study methods. They did not receive instruction and practice in the integrated study method which was given to the experimental group. / The hypothesis which was tested in this study stated that students receiving instruction and practice in the use of the integrated study would perform better than those students not receiving such instruction and practice. However, the test data failed to support the hypothesis. An analysis of covariance of the two treatment means (experimental and control) of the criterion test detected no significant difference at the 0.05 level of significance. The use of the integrated study method, thus, resulted in no observable differential effects on test performance scores. / According to statements from students, the least effective component of the integrated study method was the color-coded underlining, followed by the training workbook, the hierarchy (showing adjunct questions which represented the performance objectives in the hierarchy), the practice questions about the study method, and the adjunct questions (which represented the performance objectives in the hierarchy). Students rated adjunct questions as the most helpful component of the integrated study method. Student ratings and assessment of effectiveness of the separate components are consistent with existing literatures about the separate components. / On the basis of the encouraging factors noted when students in this experiment used adjunct questions to guide their study of textual materials, additional attention should be given to strengthening adjunct questions as a study aid for achieving performances of intellectual skills. The study aids should be congruent with the criterion test which measures the performances of those objectives. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2480. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

The purposes of this study were twofold: (1) to formulate a model for systematically planning institutional curriculum development, and (2) to test the model's effectiveness through an application and evaluation of its initial three planning stages. An eight-stage curriculum development procedure was devised by the investigator to provide administrators with a tool for decision-making when they are considering curriculum change. The basic tenets of the model are that curriculum development: (a) is an incremental process, (b) includes the participation of both faculty and administrators in decision-making, (c) affects and is affected by a variety of institutional programs, (d) requires an assessment of institutional need, and (e) has an informational data base for decision-making. / In this study, the effectiveness of the initial three stages of the model were tested at Broward Community College in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The college is involved in advancing program development in international/intercultural education at its institution and in other community colleges in Florida and across the United States. A primary goal of program development at these institutions is to introduce international/intercultural concepts and learning experiences into the mainstream of the colleges' curricula. / Results of the first test or application of the model provided: (1) a list of institution-wide curriculum priorities for development, (2) a description of the international expertise of faculty and administrative participants in the study, (3) a method for identifying implementers of the curriculum priorities, and (4) a means for identifying campus locations where curriculum priorities should be initially implemented. / The second test of the model, or the formative evaluation, was conducted to determine the necessity for revisions to the operations of the initial three planning stages. The results were inconclusive; however, there may likely be faculty and administrative resistance to the development of an international/intercultural program at Broward Community College. Administrators may be overlooking the need for faculty participation in decision-making during the curriculum planning and development process. / The primary constraints on the planning model, as it was implemented in this study were: (a) a lack of commitment by faculty to an international/intercultural program at the institution, (b) a lack of commitment by the institution to long-range planning in international/intercultural education, (c) inconsistent collaboration between the investigator and key members of the institution's faculty and administration, and (d) lack of funding for full implementation of the study. / Recommendations for future research were made with respect to: (1) the application of the remaining stages of the model, (2) the application of the model to other institutional settings and curricula, and (3) the continued use of evaluation of the planning process. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-05, Section: A, page: 1920. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.