This study examines the impact of microteaching techniques toward the development of the thinking process from simple to complex skills. The study was conducted with twenty-three Spanish-speaking students in the Springfield (Massachusetts) Public Schools who were enrolled in the Special Education Program for children with specific learning disabilities. The students attended Van Sickle Middle School and Chestnut Middle School. Two groups were utilized in this study: Group A received treatments with microteaching techniques, while Group B did not receive any treatments with microteaching. Both groups were submitted to pre/posttests. Group A's teacher was trained with microteaching techniques, while Group B's teacher was not. Group A was subjected to three pre/posttests for the purpose of manipulation of a variety of treatments. Group B was submitted to a pretest/posttest. This was the test used to compare the results of both groups at the end of the study. This exploratory study did not deal with hypothesis testing. It set the basis for the formulation of hypothesis to be tested in future research endeavors. The instruments used in this study were in Spanish and consisted of three pretests/posttests used to evaluate simple and complex thinking skills. The pretests/posttests consisted of short readings in order to: determine the order of details using pictures; identify issues related to the main character in the study; express ideas that were not explicit in the stories; and find the central idea, order of successes, imply ideas, imply cause-and-effect, and main idea. The following microteaching techniques were used in the development of simple and complex thinking skills by the teacher that worked with Group A: diagnostic, introduction to learning, multiple reference markers, the art of formulating questions, and contra-interrogatory. The teacher who worked with Group B did not use the microteaching technique. Results indicated that Group A, after having used microteaching techniques in the posttests ("The Greedy Bear" and "The Wave That Wanted to Travel"), obtained 69 percent control in the following skills: order of successes, details, personal characteristics, imply ideas, imply cause-and-effect, and main idea. According to the results, after having utilized the test "The Wave That Wanted to Travel", it was found that the students from Group B were not able to master the simple and complex thinking skills. With Group B, the microteaching technique was not used. Based on the results mentioned, recommendations were formulated for administrators and teachers, as well as for future work and research in the field of Special Education with Spanish-speaking students.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-7494 |
| Date | 01 January 1993 |
| Creators | Gonzalez, Margarita |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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