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THE DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF A COURSE IN "THINKING OPERATIONS" FOR FIRST GRADERS IN VENEZUELA (COGNITIVE, ELEMENTARY, LEARNING)

This study was designed to develop and evaluate an Instructional Package on Thinking Operations for first graders in Venezuela. The skills developed into the Instructional Package were observing, comparing, and classifying, according to Louis Raths. The analysis and interpretation of theory and prior studies in learning to think were from the Information Processing Model. Five measures were used: test of Thinking Operations, school readiness, creative thinking, intelligence scale, and socio-economic status. The results from the posttest scores on thinking operations were used as the dependent variable. The subjects were 214 first graders from the Guarenas-Guatire school district in the State of Miranda, Venezuela. Three classrooms with a total of 114 students were randomly assigned to the treatment, and three classrooms with a total of 100 students were assigned to regular classroom activities. The research design was a classroom nested within treatment model. Analysis of variance and covariance was used for analyzing the data. / In Thinking Operations the results indicate that the treatment group performed better than the regular classroom activities group. Performance improved in the school where the treatment was applied and the classroom nested within treatment effect was significant at posttest in Thinking Operations. Within the treatment group, one of the three possible contrasts was statistically significant: it indicated that the classroom with the lowest socio-economic status performed better than the one with the highest. For the non-treatment group the classroom with the high socio-economic status was better than the classroom with the medium socio-economic status. / Another result observed was that classroom effect on performance in creative thinking was significant. Average gain scores in creative thinking were greater for students from the most deprived sector. The specific goal of enhancing the ability of first grade students in Thinking Operations was achieved with the Instructional Package treatment. This result is in accordance with what theory and prior findings had indicated. The implications of the findings and future research areas are also discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-03, Section: A, page: 0603. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75519
ContributorsVIVAS, DAVID A., Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText
Format130 p.
RightsOn campus use only.
RelationDissertation Abstracts International

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