Within the last decade research and development activity in the social studies has ranged from curriculum development projects to innovations in instructional strategies. Little effort has been expended, however, to justify these changes in curriculum and instructional strategies. The author suggests in this essay some purposes for social…

Just as programs and organizations have too frequently been established for the presumed benefit of mankind but do not work out as expected because the social methods available are not good enough, so the author proposes that the existence of social problems in general bespeak the need for new social inventions. Social inventions provide laws,…

This paper presents some suggestions about and evidence on how research theories from social psychology can be used to improve the operation and effects of short term educational programs whose objectives include the education or reeducation of individuals. The document is intended for people connected with the kindergarten through college…

These proceedings include four articles intended to familiarize librarians with many facets of operations research and how they might be applied to their institutions. The first paper provides a brief definition of operations research. The second presentation, by Ralph Shoffner, relates, in the form of concrete examples, the questions one asks…

Low achieving, low socioeconomic students, because of a multiplicity of little-understood background factors, seem to fail not because of an initial lack of motivation to learn, but because basic learning processes taught them by their own communities are not contiguous with those required for academic success. The study attempts to determine if…

Development programs have usually been organized for a one-way flow of information, from the experts to the users. This is especially true of American programs in "less developed" countries. A better arrangement would allow at least a two-way flow of information, so that, for example, clients could tell experts what problems need to be solved.…

This study developed (1) exemplary behavioral objectives and performance indicators for the business component of a school district and (2) a model to aid practitioners in stating the behavioral objectives and performance indicators of a school district's business function. A jury, whose members had a working knowledge of PPBS, school business…

The conference theme was "The Promise and Perils of Educational Information Systems," defined as collections of test data on knowledges, skills, interests, and attitudes maintained for the purpose of educational decision making. Topics covered were: "Longer Education: Thinner, Broader, or Higher" (Fritz Machlup); "Testing:…

This manual, to be used in conjunction with 10 demonstration films on the teaching of German in introductory college courses, serves as a guide to the objectives and teaching techniques illustrated in each of the films. The films demonstrate to future teachers of German workable teaching techniques designed to produce specific competencies and…

This book is directed at professional educators in the Australian public schools with the specific objective of the modernization of instruction in the social studies. The rationale is that too little attention has been devoted to teaching about man's social world while teaching about the physical environment has been the subject of much…

A review of the literature on automated psychological testing shows that most research and development in this area is based on a one-test, one-psychologist model. In this model, the functions of test administration, scoring, and interpretation are thought out in terms of specific tests presented on an individualized basis. However, more complete…

The historical background of mastery learning is discussed and related to the use of the traditional normal curve and to the nature of curves which express more adequately the mastery learning concept. It is suggested that the mastery model calls for strategies that: inform students about course expectations; set standards of mastery in advance;…

This study attempts to determine whether the pattern of human abilities varies or remains constant over a range of ability levels. Scores on 12 aptitude and achievement tests for 11,743 subjects, subdivided into four groups according to intelligence and socioeconomic status, were used. A technique, developed by Joreskog, for simultaneously factor…

Bloom's taxonomy of the cognitive domain consists of six major levels: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. The purpose of this study is to construct a quantitative causal model for a set of tests designed to operationally define these six levels in order to further explore the validity of the cumulative…

This paper discusses a process model designed for the Kansas City (Missouri) School District. The model attempts to achieve the translation of student learning tasks into an operational and accountable program of instruction on a five year cycle plan. A flow chart of the model is presented and appropriate segments and outcomes of the process…