Project PLAN, a system of individualized education designed to adapt the curriculum to the specific needs of each student, has as one of its principal objectives the assistance of young people in exploring and reaching tentative decisions about long range occupational goals. PLAN charges each student with the responsibility for formulating his…

This paper describes the first component of PLAN's Guidance Program. The five basic assumptions underlying Phase I concern the role of guidance within PLAN's educational system. In line with these assumptions, direct attention is being focused on seven goals: (1) orienting new students to PLAN and orienting current PLAN students to operational…

This study compared the mean scores of the final examinations given to 2 populations of junior college students taking College Algebra by 2 instructional methods. The control group received instruction by the traditional approach of lectures and classroom discussion; while the experimental group had their lectures and discussions supplemented by…

The schools have not met the challenge of preparing todays youth, many of whom lack both purpose and plans. This challenge to education can best be met through psychological studies and the application of psychological knowledge in the development of new systems of education. Some of the primary needs are: (1) an understanding by the student of…

To examine three teachers' communication to individual students during their attempts to individualize instruction, a class of sixth grade students was videotaped as it spent a week in science, in social studies, and in mathematics. Tapes were analyzed using a modified form of Bellack's observation system. With the pedagogical move as the primary…

Instructional innovation should progress through three major stages before general implementation--development, field testing, and dissemination. During the 1965-66 school year, joint planning was undertaken by the staff of the Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) at the University of Pittsburgh and by Research for Better Schools (RBS),…

This manual for tutors participating in the Homework Helper Program (which employs high school students or graduates as tutors for elementary school students) opens with generalizations of the characteristics of third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students intended as a base of understanding for tutors. The next section focuses on the varying…

This six-volume teacher workbook introduces the teacher to the design of the Individually Prescribed Instruction procedure (IPI)--particularly as it is applied in mathematics--and instructs him in the use of its objectives and tools through pretest-posttest lessons. Following initial lessons in the history and procedures of individualized…

Special features of a nongraded elementary school program are reviewed as a guide to those wishing to implement the concept as a way to provide individualized instruction and quality education for all students. Emphases include the individual differences of students, the restrictive character of graded schools, curriculum patterns, levels of…

One of the most pressing needs in education today is the adaptation of instruction to individual characteristics and background. The Individually Prescribed Instruction project (IPI) of the University of Pittsburgh represents an investigation into the requirements for and the problems encountered in developing a system for individualizing…

Profiles are presented of two middle schools designed to improve the transition of elementary pupils to a modern high school program featuring individualized, self-directed study and research. One school uses a cluster plan, the other a compact design. The descriptions emphasize why the schools were designed as they were and how they were designed…

The essential purpose of the five papers compiled in this report is to summarize, analyze, and interpret recent tendencies in educational theory and practice and their implications for "the heart of the educational process," i.e., the curriculum. The papers focus on general strategies or methodologies of instruction, rather than specific subject…

This paper presents the rationale, structure, and specifications for a model program for the preparation of chemists, chemical engineers, and high school chemistry teachers. The model (an application of systems technology to program development in higher education) is based on the structure provided by the Georgia Educational Model Specifications…

The New School for Behavioral Studies in Education is demonstrating alternative approaches to elementary school instruction and teacher preparation in North Dakota. It is establishing a cooperative working relationship with participating school districts through a teacher exchange program in which less-than-degree teachers are released to complete…

Two separate subject matter areas, which were felt to represent two distinct types of learning situations, were selected for investigation, namely, a kind of logico-mathematical procedure--the transportation technique, and a visual form discrimination task--aircraft recognition. Two separate courses were developed for each subject matter area. One…