The report explains the construction of the function-task-competency method of developing vocational education curricula in agriculture at the secondary and postsecondary levels. It discusses at some length five approaches to the development of vocational education curricula used in the past: the subject approach (which centers on subjects taught…

The development of training material for police management personnel concerning command and supervisory actions appropriate for more effective driving-while-intoxicated (DWI) enforcement is desired. The training is based on two research studies that identified environmental and attitudinal factors influencing a patrolman's arrest decision. These…

Studies have not made clear what specific teacher competencies are important for teachers of health occupations in secondary schools or vocational centers. This study, therefore, used Flanagan's Critical Incident Technique to collect reports of observed teacher behaviors which students perceived as being especially effective or ineffective for…

The question of developmental synchrony within the concrete operations period described in Piagetian literature was investigated. The idea of synchrony has been challenged by Brainerd's initial groupement research, which indicated a two-dimensional structure, corresponding to class operations and relational operations. A review of the literature…

In a study of mathematics learning, taking a rule-oriented approach, students were taught to trade objects of type A for objects of types B and C. Children ranging from ages 7 to 9 were given rules for converting A to B and B to C and were then presented with the task of converting A to C. Of the 30, 6 succeeded. Of the 24 who failed, half were…

Individualized education works well for a particular type of student and faculty member. If you go beyond this type of student and faculty member, you run head-on into serious administrative and planning problems. In short, students are unsure and often confused about their role in individualized education. It seems that (1) students need thorough…

Developed for the Carroll County Public Schools, this Learning Activity Package (LAP) for grade 8 offers a way to provide individualized learning about African cultures. Learning activities presented are based on curriculum and audiovisual materials available in the Carroll County Schools. The focus of the unit is on the effects that tribalism has…

This project determines the extent to which similarity of teacher and student structuring of class materials is related to student performance on tests covering the materials. Information about how student and teacher structure the materials was obtained through a matching test. During the second stage of the project, three alternative procedures…

The problem in the study was to determine the makeup of typing tasks assigned to beginning office workers and to see how closely the practice problems in high school typing textbooks conformed to the duties that beginning office workers actually perform. Using sequential sampling procedures, copies of 531 items typed by 100 beginning office…

The study of task identification in clothing, apparel, and textile services presents statistical correlations of task frequencies obtained by questionnaire in six task clusters for the occupations of fabric specialist, tailor, alternation specialist, dry cleaner, launderer, and clothing apparel and textile service occupations. One-way matrices…

Telesensory Systems, Inc. (TSI) was awarded a contract to design, develop, and test Optacons (Optical-to-Tactile Converter) and perepheral equipment. Optacons are direct-translation reading aids for the blind. The text summarizes the engineering design, manufacturing activities, field test procedure and results, and it provides recommendations for…

The Instructional Improvement Questionnaire (IIQ) is a four-part questionnaire designed to collect evaluative feedback from students on their instructors and courses. The class characteristics section collects data from the student on variables such as grade point average, sex, class level, grade expected, time spent studying for the course, etc.…

The curriculum guide for office occupations is one of five guides written and field tested in a project to develop statewide articulated competency-based curricula in selected vocational education programs. For each of the 32 job titles listed in the guide, the overall goal, specific tasks, and performance objectives and criterion-referenced…

The Communications Aids Lab at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf was designed for training the hearing impaired to participate in various telephone communication situations through the use of special equipment and learned strategies of communication. Approximately 44% of the students, having non-functional hearing and unintelligible…

A contrast is drawn between "norm-referenced" grading (on the curve) and "criterion-referenced" grading (including contract). Most teachers incorporate both methods but without always being aware of the logic behind their grading procedures. It is suggested that the academic units of the University of Michigan must continue to…