The study was designed to determine the extent to which teacher preferences for selected social studies education traditions were related to their beliefs in traditional socio-political values (BTSV), level of political and community involvement, and personal characteristics (i.e., age, sex, and years of teaching experience). Additionally, it focused on the extent to which teachers' political and social behaviors could be predicted from the personal characteristics and values of the sample. / For this investigation, preferred approach to teaching social studies was defined as those teaching decisions that reflect the following rationales for social studies education: (1) history of citizenship, (2) student centered, (3) critical thinking or reflective inquiry, (4) social studies as social science, and (5) active involvement. Belief in traditional socio-political values was defined as narrow and parochial views toward youth, the role of education as a social institution, and the American system of government as a world model. Political involvement was defined as the extent to which an individual had participated in the political process as indicated by voting habits, working in a political party, working for a political candidate or political issues, and participating in selected community affairs. / One hundred-twenty secondary social studies teachers throughout the State of Michigan participated in the study. A .05 level of significance was set. Multiple regression analysis procedures were used to establish the relationship between the independent and dependent variables of the study. / Two research hypotheses were developed for this study. These were as follows: (1) There are no significant relationships among each of the independent personal characteristic variables (age, sex, and years of experience), BTSV scores and political involvement scores, and the dependent variable preferred teaching approach. (2) There are no significant relationships among each of the independent personal characteristic variables (sex, age, and years of teaching experience), BTSV scores, and the dependent variable political involvement scores. / The findings on these hypotheses were as follows: Hypothesis 1. The independent variables of political involvement, years of teaching experience, BTSV scores, and age were found to be useful predictors of preferred teaching approach, and thus, generated a prediction equation that was significant. As anticipated, political involvement related positively to teaching approach; years of teaching experience, BTSV scores, and age were inversely related to preferred teaching approach. The multiple correlation of these four variables with the variable teaching approach was .27, significant beyond the .05 level. Hypothesis 2. A correlation of personal characteristic variables (sex, age, and years of teaching experience) and BTSV scores with political involvement scores showed that years of teaching experience correlated positively and significantly with political involvement at the .05 level. However, a regression of personal characteristic variables and BTSV scores on political involvement showed that none of the four predictor variables had F-values which were significant beyond the .05 level. Thus, these variables were not found to be useful predictors of political involvement and did not support the rejection of the hypothesis. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-01, Section: A, page: 0192. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74041 |
| Contributors | SIMMONS, LEROY., The Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 147 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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