This document presents the results of a major study of the relationship between elementary school social systems and educational outcomes. This research sought to identify factors associated with academic climate which could account for the variance in achievement levels in a random sample of Michigan elementary schools. The main hypothesis of the…

An attempt is made in this working paper to synthesize the existing empirical evidence concerning the utility of simulation games in social studies teaching, training, and research. The data are drawn from several sources: published literature dealing with simulation games, descriptions of games in use, communications with people who use games,…

Theories are useful in predicting events and exploring alternatives only to the extent they accurately describe existing states of affairs. The development of a curriculum theory with predictive and exploratory power depends on accurately describing decision-making systems that result in curriculum -- however curriculum is defined. Three…

A concept of teacher-centered management was proposed as a style of leadership behavior for school administrators to reduce the incompatibility between social/psychological needs of teachers and monocratic/bureaucratic management patterns in educational organizations. Data obtained from self-report questionnaires distributed to teachers in 21…

Objectives of this paper were to define the concept of programing, to discuss programing in a complex adult education organization, and to point out aspects of programing of a sociological nature. Programing is a decision-making process. In a complex adult education organization, the process can be divided into eight phases: formulating the…

The Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire (OCDQ) determines the openness or closedness of an organization from principals' perceptions of their schools' organizational climates; and the Assumed Similarity of Opposite Scales (ASOS) measures openness or closedness of interaction systems from principals' perceptions of the psychological…

This paper develops a model for the analysis of occupational history data as a contribution toward the development of a system of social accounts. The model is designed to examine the flow of men, throughout their lives, through the occupational structure. Using retrospective life history data collected from a sample of black and white men, the…

This exercise, designed for use by upper elementary and high school students, introduces the concepts of model and system. By examining a physical model, such as a top, the student learns the concepts of model and system which can later be applied to the study of social systems. A large system of interrelated parts is examined and the system and…

The rural Appalachian community of a few decades ago functioned as a relatively autonomous social, economic, educational, and recreational unit. It was a producing and consuming unit that provided a setting for interaction patterns that led to the building of the family social structure, which, in certain respects, contained rigid and well-defined…

Contends that a linear approach to a social justice curriculum cannot be developed because subject matter requires allowance for unanticipated objectives and outcomes to emerge during the course of study. Thus, different models of curriculum development are appropriate for different subject matter. Considers views of social justice represented in…

Western schools in non-Western societies can pose a threat to existing social relationships. (MM)

Leadership style significantly affects the quantity and quality of group interaction. The personality of individuals in a group will be related to the amount and type of interaction that an individual emits in a group, to the satisfaction that a person reports about the group, and to his socio-political subculture. (Author)

Notes that the major prerequisite for successful implementation of a model for African educational institutions in America is organization. (Author/AM)

Differentiates between utopian societies and their opposite, anti-utopias. Cites literary works which refer to the relationships between utopias and technology. Provides a bibliography of works cited as well as secondary sources. (TW)

Describes power structure of corporations functioning under Theory W in which single leaders, in partnership with trusted followers, achieve corporate success. Basis of this industrial structure is attributed to social and developmental structures of prehistoric man and city states. Dimensions of W, X, Y, and Z theories are discussed. (MBR)