An experiment to adjust a programmed college business mathematics text to the level of comprehension suitable for high school students of low ability was prompted by the writer’s awareness of the need for a similar text for high school business majors. The writer was especially concerned with those students who lack ability to attend college, but who go into business offices seeking employment-- positions which invariably require a knowledge of the fundamentals of business mathematics. The case study approach was used in conducting the experiment. The research involved a programmed text of 432 frames, entitled Fundamentals of College Business Mathematics, by Dr. Harry Huffman. Two major objectives were established as a basis for this study. The first objective was to adjust Huffman’s programmed business mathematics text to a level of comprehension of students of below average ability, so that their completed work, without a teacher's help, would be approximately 95 percent accurate. The second objective of the study was to determine whether students could retain the material covered in the programmed unit. This objective was achieved by means of intermediate tests given to each student throughout the unit. Four revisions of Huffman’s original programmed text were necessary to accomplish the objectives of the study. Five panels of student-editors, each panel comprised of three students of below average ability, participated in the research. Revisions to the original programmed text were made on the basis of incorrect responses by individual students working through the unit. Written and oral comments by these students were also taken into consideration in making revisions. Analysis of the data revealed the following results of the total experiment. A total of 104 new frames were added to the original program of 432 frames. This represented a 24.1 per cent increase of frames in the total unit which required an additional 208 responses. There was a total decrease in errors from Panel One to Panel Five of 5.20 per cent. The average score on the six intermediate tests increased 9.1 points from the beginning to the end of the experiment. Results of the experiment lead the writer to conclude that: 1. The error rate of successive panels dropped from 8.03 to 2.83 per cent. This represents a total decrease of 5.20 per cent from the beginning to the end of the experiment. Therefore, it was concluded that senior students, in high school, of below average ability can complete the adjusted programmed unit with an average error rate of less than 5 per cent. 2. Test score average for the panels rose from 78.2 to 87.3, an increase of 9.1 points, from the beginning to the end of the experiment. Therefore, it was concluded that students of below average ability can successfully perform on the retention tests used to measure the result of the programmed unit on fundamentals of business mathematics. / Master of Science

This thesis is the report of an experiment carried on under the direction of Harry Huffman, Professor of Business Education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, using material in Programmed Business Mathematics which was written by Dr. Huffman especially for post high school students and college freshmen. The programmed material used in the experiment consisted of the first 239 frames covering the basic fundamentals of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The main emphasis of the program is on building speed and accuracy in applying the skills and concepts related to these basic processes. The subjects of the experiment were eleven high school students from grades 9, 10, and 12, at Eastern Mennonite High School. The purpose of the experiment was to obtain these data: 1. What kind of errors do high school students make on the program? 2. What changes need to be made in the program to adapt it for use on the high school level? 3. Can the program be adjusted so that high school students can work through it with five percent or less of errors? The writer found that errors were grouped under these major headings and in this order: Lack of comprehension of concepts introduced, carelessness, and computational (errors of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). The frames were revised three times during the experiment. Revision consisted of adding prompts of underlining or new words, rewriting frames, or constructing new frames. Two students went through the original frames: average errors, 6.56 percent. Three students worked with the first revision: average errors, 11.58 percent. Four students worked with the second revision: average errors, 3.13 percent. Two students worked with the third revision: average errors, 2.56. Although the error rate did not drop consistently, it did drop from a high of 11.58 percent on the second round of testing to 2.56 percent for the final round, a decrease of 9.02 in percent. Individual differences in I.Q., previous training, and the manner in which the student-editors worked undoubtedly account for part of the variation in error percentages. The results of the experiment show that it is possible for high school students to work on the fundamentals of business mathematics frames with an error limit of five percent or less. / Master of Science

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1933 G41

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1979 D34 / Master of Science

The use of computer application software could be increased. The goal of this research was to uncover a design for a module which instructs the potential user how to use software. This type of module, called an instructional module, would, when incorporated on software such as decision support tools, increase the willingness of novices to use the software more frequently. Four instructional modules designs, which were the result of combining two states of two variables of instructional module design, were examined. The four designs are (1) an automated programmed learning module; (2) an automated help facility; (3) a manual programmed learning module and; (4) a manual help facility. A financial decision support tool was developed, and each of the four instructional modules designs was placed separately on the decision support tool. This created, in effect, four different tools. Subjects in the experiment were business school students with no formal experience using a decision support tool. Each subject was exposed to two of the four instructional module designs during a training session which lasted one hour. One month after the training session, the subjects were reassembled for a second session. During this session, the subjects selected one of the two tools, with its instructional module, which they had been exposed to previously. The subjects were to use the selected tool to solve problems which would likely require them to access the instructional module. In addition to these behavioral selection data, attitudinal data concerning the instructional module designs were also collected throughout both sessions of the experiment. Based on their selection and their attitudinal responses, the subjects indicated that the tool with the automated programmed learning module was the module of choice. The research methodology successfully provided input for instructional module design for computer application software such as decision support tools.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of either a programmed instruction booklet or group lecture on knowledge of post myocardial infarction patients. A convenience sample of 30 post myocardial infarction patients enrolled in Cardiac Rehabilitation at a midwestern hospital were asked to participate.Subjects were assigned either to the experimental group or the lecture group. The pretest was administered to both groups. The experimental group received the self instruction booklet and the lecture group received a posttest was immediately completed by the participants. A nonequivalent pretest-posttest repeated measure design was utilized in the study.The results of the study showed a mean improvement in knowledge scores for both the booklet group and lecture group, with the booklet group having the larger gain in knowledge scores. The knowledge gain however, was not significant at the 0.05 level. / School of Nursing

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Philosophy

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