An instructional methods survey of full-time faculty at five midwestern colleges and universities was conducted during the fall of 1978 in an effort to provide both a description of current instructional practices and an historical perspective on their development over the last quarter century. The survey consists of a list of 42 method items…

Two approaches for teaching empirical research methods to graduate students in political science courses are evaluated. Specific objectives of the evaluation, in addition to comparing relative teaching effectiveness of the two approaches, were to explore causal dynamics between the teaching environment, user satisfaction, and learning performance.…

IN ORDER TO DISCOVER IF PUPILS COULD ARRIVE AT THEIR OWN RULES OR GENERALIZATIONS FROM DRILL (THUS SUGGESTING THAT TIME BE SPENT MORE PROFITABLY IN ADDITIONAL PRACTICE THAN IN EXPLANATION), FOUR DIFFERENT METHODS WERE TESTED. FOUR FRENCH AND FOUR SPANISH HIGH SCHOOL CLASSES WERE SUBJECTED TO EXPLANATIONS (1) BEFORE THE DRILL, (2) AFTER THE INITIAL…

Four combinations of two types of television lessons and two methods of classroom teacher follow-up were studied in order to identify how combinations of treatment affected pupil achievement and interest in science and how television instruction motivated learning in elementary schools. Pupils who were presented with unanswered questions designed…

This four-week fourth grade social studies unit dealing with religious dimensions in ancient Egyptian culture was developed by the Public Education Religion Studies Center at Wright State University. It seeks to help students understand ancient Egypt by looking at the people, the culture, and the people's world view. The unit begins with outlines…

This study was designed to investigate the effects of peer teaching on mathematics achievement, nonverbal reasoning, and attitudes of students teaching and being taught by this method. The methods of selecting and training peer teachers, and the special mathematics curriculum used, were those developed by Louis Schell. Students participating…

For this study, nine mental factors were selected from Guilford's structure of intellect model, and eight interest factors identified from a factor analysis of the Thinking Interest Survey. These factors were then treated as dependent variables in the assessment of two methods of teaching algebra to 244 college students. Students were assigned to…

The author taught one twelfth-grade general mathematics section (30 students) using a lecture method and two sections (31 students) using commercially available games. After six weeks, achievement of both groups was measured. An analysis of covariance (covariate: grade-point-average) was performed. Students in the lecture section showed…

The relation of the linguistic sciences to language teaching and language learning is explored. Part 1 discusses linguistics, phonetics, and their place in the description of language. Relations between language and the people who use it are examined, as well as the place of comparison and translation in the acquisition of a second language. Part…

The effectiveness of employing educationally advanced inmates as one-to-one basic education tutors for inmate students was evaluated. In conjunction with this evaluation, an experimental study of the most efficient material presentation and testing techniques using this manpower resource was conducted. Three different modes of presenting…

A course in the Bible as Literature is presented. It is an examination of significant selections from the old and new testaments, representing universality in theme, diversity in literary genre, and consideration of biblical language. Performance objectives for the student include: (1) proposal of reasons for studying the Bible as literature, (2)…

This study determines the preference of professional school faculty for associative, replicative, interpretive, and applicative uses of knowledge, and it compares those preferences to those expressed by arts and science faculty. Relationships of use of knowledge preferences to curriculum and instruction decisions are shown. Faculty from four…

A study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of an English composition telecourse in terms of skills and student attitudes and to compare its effectiveness with parallel classroom courses, to determine whether telecourse students constituted a distinct population, to obtain student evaluations of the two course methods, and to determine the…

Describes two microcomputer-assisted adaptations of traditional methods of teaching word recognition (alphabet-spelling method) and phonics (sound-symbol method) which are designed for use with students who have severe physical and communication handicaps, language disabilities, or fine motor problems. A clinical protocol is outlined for…

The failure of anti-failure measures in education is the focus of this article. The greater or lesser visibility of failure in the schools of various countries is discussed. Action that schools can take to overcome failure and ensure students more equality of opportunity both at school and afterward is suggested. (RM)