w THE DEVELOPMENT OF A BELIEF IDENCI'IFICATlON INSTRUMENT Yhesis for the Segree of Ph. D. MICHMN STATE UNEVERSITY JOSEPH Sh YANICK, JR. 1970 th‘S‘“ LIBRARY ‘5 Michigan State . University .-.' This is to certify that the thesis entitled THE DEVELOPMENT OF A BELIEF IDENTIFICATION INSTRUMENT presented by JOSEPH S. YANICK, JR. has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Ph.D. degree in Education /% an” / // // / 5 / Date / 0-169 “TWA“..- 'r '9- IINSINO IV f IDAS & SUNS' 300K BIND!" M. . nag-gnu -Iunfthe .. . . Vtr)‘ r), . t vs.7.ur..‘u.. ,n 1.14....I’vr...tn..n....iv74._ Eu ,1“... 1.1. I,..llup|.PNl5. .... _. .. J t urafihww 1. tflh (it. Nuuuutmzpi .. n .. t . 4... . -amu..l .. , ABSTRACT THE DEVELOPMENT OF A BELIEF IDENTIFICATION INSTRUMENT BY Joseph S. Yanick, Jr. The main body of research concerning teacher edu- cational beliefs centers around observation and measurement of teacher classroom behavior. This study was undertaken to afford the classroom teacher the opportunity to identify his personal beliefs concerning various educational perspec- tives. The purpose of the study was to design and de- velop a useful instrument in identifying and examining the teacher's beliefs by comparing his actions with those of another person and making inferences as to that person's be- liefs as manifested by those actions. Similarity of be- liefs could then be considered in conjunction with the com- parison of behavioral traits. The observer views a video tape of a simulated classroom situation in which a teacher-performer role-plays stereotypes of selected teacher behavior. Inferences are made as to the beliefs held by the role-playing teacher on the basis of his displayed behavior. The observer then Joseph S. Yanick, Jr. identifies with one of the educational perspectives by rating the roles as to effective classroom practices. The criterion measure was selected from the fac- ulty of the College of Education and the video tape roles were filled from the Department of Theater Arts at Michigan State University. The experimental group was composed of teachers attending graduate classes in education. The Belief Identification Instrument was designed and developed by synthesis of the material in the Review of the Literature into two divergent educational perspectives or approaches. These approaches were then used to both de- velop the Belief Identification Statements and design the Behavioral and Organismic teacher-performance roles. The experimental group viewed the video tape and made agree-disagree response choices in terms of whether or not they perceived the belief statements to be reflecting the behaviors displayed. They then responded to questions designed to elicit role identification and were asked to choose the role they felt was generally more effective. Since it was evident that the item responses were made as a result of personal preferences for andidentifi- cation with one educational perspective or the other it is concluded that the experimental group members were able to perceive parts of and gain insights into their own profes- sional educational roles. The criterion group, selected on the basis of Joseph S. Yanick, Jr. sensitivity to other people, agreed closely with each other and easily suggested adjustments to the few items on which they originally disagreed. The content of the per- formance roles and the Belief Identification Statements are therefore taken to possess a measure of face validity. A high positive correlation exists between the criterion group and the experimental group's ability to perceive others' beliefs as manifested by their behavior. This same correlation is also present between the criterion measure and the experimental group's level of subjective influence upon these perceptive or inferential abilities. The validity of content of the Belief Identifi- cation Instrument has been demonstrated and a high positive correlation exists between the criterion group and the ex- perimental group as shown by comparison of their respective item responses. It is submitted that the Belief Identifi- cation Instrument is in fact useful for identification and examination of educational beliefs. The teacher's personal classroom behavior can be brought to conscious awareness thereby permitting inferences to beliefs to which he him- self may subscribe. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A BELIEF IDENTIFICATION INSTRUMENT By Joseph S. Yanick, Jr. A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY College of Education 1970 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. James L. Page, my chairman, Dr. Dale V. Alam, Dr. Louis Romano and Dr. John T. Gullahorn for their helpful suggestions and guidance during the course of writing this dissertation. I would also like to express my appreciation to the faculty of the College of Education who served as the criterion measure. Special thanks are extended to the staff of the Department of Closed-Circuit, par- ticularly Paul Witkowski, for its professional assist- ance in the development of the video tape. To my graduate fellows in the Instructional Media Institute, simply for being there to grow with me for the past two-and-a-half years, I wish to express my warmest feelings. I will keep them among my fondest memories. This dissertation is dedicated, first, to my wife June and children Jill, Jane and Jay without whose encouragement and cheerfulness under all circumstances none of this would have been possible...and finally to my parents, without whom I would not have been possible. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V LIST OF APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi Chapter I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Need for the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Purpose of the Study . . . . . . . . o . . 3 HyPOtheseS o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 7 Methods and Procedures to be Used . . . . 8 Limitations of the Study . . . . . . . . . 9 Rationale for the Study . . . . . . . . . 11 Importance of the Study . . . . . . . . . 11 oveer-ew O I 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 13 II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . . . . . . . . . . , 15 IntrOduCtion o o o o o o o o o 15 Attitudes, Beliefs and Behavior . . . . . 15 Perception o o o o o o o o o o o o o c 19 Related Attitudinal Studies . . . . . o . 25 Summary 0 o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 28 III. PROCEDURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Introduction . . . . . . . 3O Selection and Function of the Criterion Group 0 o o o o o o o o o o 0 etc o a 30 Description of the Teacher-Performer . . . 32 Description of the Teacher-Performer R0188 o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 32 Development of the Belief Identification InStrument o o o o o o o o o o o o o g 33 Development of the Belief Comparison Chart 0 O O O O O O O O O I O O O O Q 35 iii Chapter TABLE OF CONTENTS CONT'D III. PROCEDURES CONT'D Development of the Belief Concept List Development of the Video Tape . . . Description of Technical Equipment and Specifications . . . . . Rationale for the Use of the Video Tape Technique . . . . . . . . Description of the Experiment . . . . Description of the Experimental Group Experimental Procedures . . . . Description of the Response Technique Rationale for the Response Instrument DeSj-ng O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Rank Ordering of Roles . . . . Role Identification . . I I : Statistical Analysis Rationale . . . Statistical Analysis . . . . . Glossary of Terms Used in the Study serQQOOOOOOOOOOOO IV. FINDINGS OF THE STUDY . . . . . . . . . . Introduction . . . . . . . . Presentation and Analysis of Data . . summary.oooooooooooooo O O V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDICES RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . S ummary O O O O O O I O O I 0 Conclusions . . Implications for Further Study Recommendations . . . . . . . O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 O 0 iv Page 0 O O O O I:- \A) O O O O O O O 68 , 68 . 70 . 72 . 72 . 75 . 82 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 DISTRIBUTION OF AGREE-DISAGREE CHOICE DETERMINATIONS OF THE CRITERION GROUP . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 2 ITEM ANALESIS-INTERCOMPARISON PERCENTAGE OF AGREEMENT BETwEEN THE CRITERION GROUP AND EACH EXPERIMEN- TAL GROUP MEMBER ACROSS ALL ITEMS , , , 58 3 ITEM ANALESIS-INTERCOMPARISON PERCENTAGE OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CRITERION GROUP AND EACH RESPECTIVE AGGREGATE ITEM ACROSS THE TOTAL EX- PERIMNTAL GROUP . O C O I O O O O O C O 60 4 ITEM ANALYSIS-INTRACOMPARISON _ MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATION FOR EACH RESPECTIVE ITEM RESPONSE SHOWN AS A DICHOTOMOUS VARIABLE FOR THE ENTIRE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP . . . . . . . o o . o 62 5 PERCENTAGES OF IDENTIFICATION OF THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP TO THE BEHAVIORAL OR ORGANISMIC ROLES . . . . . . . . . . 65 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix Page A CORRESPONDENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 B BELIEF COMPARISON CHART.. . . . . . . . . . . 85 C BELIEF CONCEPT LIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 D BELIEF IDENTIFICATION INSTRUMENT . . . . . . 96 Belief Statements...Behavioral Role . . . 96 Belief Statements...0rganismic Role . . . 98 E ROLE DESCRIPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 BehaVioral00000000000000.100 organismic O O 0 o O O O O O o O o o o . 103 F VIDEO TAPE SCRIPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Role #1 Behavioral . . . . . . . . . . 107 R018 #2 organismic o o o o o o o o o o 11” vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Need for the Study The main body of research concerning the evaluation of teachers deals with the observation and measurement of teacher classroom behavior and centers around teacher per- sonality and characteristics. When the teacher's behavior is considered to be a reflection of his personality, research at- tention centers on individual differences of teachers in ability, knowledge, attitude, tem- perment and the like. Personality traits are inferences from relatively large samples of be- havior. "Intelligence", "knowledge of sub- ject", and "authoritarianism" are examples of dimensions of the personalities of teachers.1 The most accessible suggestions of teacher person- ality and characteristics come through the observable behav- ior exhibited in the classroom. This behavior deliniates the social and professional role the teacher wants to and/ or is expected to play. The teacher's behavior may be that which is characteristic of a certain definition of 1Gage, N. L., Handbook of Research 2n Teachin , (Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., l§335, preface, p. 3 the teacher's role or method; in methods con- sidered as roles individual differences among teachers are for the moment disregarded. Ex— amples of such roles are "lecturing" and the "project" method.2 With respect to the above statement two roles will developed in Chapter III and will be called the "behavioral" and "organismic" teaching and learning approaches. A teacher must be sensitive to how he interacts with the learner and, in turn, how the consequent behavior of the learner is changed (assuming that learning can be observed through a change in behavior) as a result of the interaction taking place in the environment provided by the teacher. This kind of self-analysis of the teacher is difficult for two reasons: first, personal educational beliefs do not lend themselves to verbalization and systematic examination and, secondly, the teacher is more conscious of what he is expected to believe by the society supporting the educational system. To account for the characteristic ways people behave in specific situations, altogether new concepts are introduced, personality psycho- logists typically preferring trait concepts, and social psychologists preferring role con— cepts and such additional concepts as group norms, Social pressure, legal constraints, definition-of—the-situation, and social struc- tures.3 2 ibid., p. 5 3Rokeach, Milton, Beliefs, Attitudes and Values: A Theory 2: Organization and‘Change, (San Francisco: Jossey- Bass, Inc., 1968), p. 119 This study will be an attempt to give the teacher a point of departure; a place to begin introspection by providing a means to classify and organize what he sees in other teachers and through them, finally in himself. In general, each teacher would do well to iden- tify his educational beliefs. That in which he presently believes should point the way to further study and inquiry if one of his beliefs is continual self-improvement. This will lead to reinforcement of positions now held or change and modification to new positions. An example of a question concerning a specific ed- ucational belief might be: Are teachers more effective who "run a tight ship", i.e., tend toward classroom Situations which are highly structured and authoritarian, or those who tend toward a learning situation which permits more freedom and which is Significantly less structured. What is needed is a teaching philosophy which the teacher is able to deliniate and subsequently examine and continually re-examine in a systematic manner. His phil— osophy could be based upon his beliefs which could then be be used to develop his teaching methods, approaches and, finally, to understand his attitudes toward his classroom practices. Purpose 2: the Study The purpose of the study is to deveIOp an instru- ment which would be useful in identifying and examining teacher educational beliefs. These beliefs for the present may be subconscious, nebulous, unverbalized and unsyntho- sized“. The instrument would provide the teacher with a means to compare his classroom practices with his educational beliefs by identifying particular displayed behavior patterns and by inferring underlying educational beliefs which foster them. He would bring his personal classroom behavior to conscious awareness by observing a controlled situation dis- playing some stereotypes of teaching methods (composed of ob- servable actions) which inherently infer underlying beliefs. He would then identify with or against these behavior patterns and traits displayed by someone other than himself and sub- sequently infer beliefs to which he himself may subscribe. Finally, he would synthesize his own educational beliefs as a guide to his future classroom behavior. The teacher will be asked to view video taped teaching situations and to interpret the television teacher's nSynthesis is the putting together of elements and parts so as to form a whole. This is a process of working with elements, parts, etc., and combining them in such a way as to constitute a pattern of structure not clearly there before. Generally this would involve a recombination of parts of previous experience with new material, reconstructed into a new and more or less well-integrated whole. This is the category in the cognitive domain which most clearly pro- vides for creative behavior on the part of the learner. See Bloom, Benjamin S., et al., Taxonomy 93 Educational Objec- tives: The Classification of Educational Goals, (New York: David McKay Co., Inc., 19537, p. 162 behavioral acts. Using a prepared list of educational be- lief statements, he would be asked to choose the underlying beliefs of the television teacher by inference. The pro- priety of the inferential technique is explained by Brodbeck: A physicist seeing a flash of light on a screen infers the presence of a charged particle. See- ing a husband accidently spill hot soup on his wife, a psychologist infers unconscious hostil- ity. Hearing someone make certain statements, a social psychologist infers anti-Semitism. Science, like common sense, frequently makes in- ferences from observations to something not ob- served. In order to help explain certain man- ifest behavior, the researcher formulates cer- tain concepts that name unobserved states of the organism or object exhibiting the observed be- havior. He postulates certain lawful connect- ions between these ”underlying states" and the Observed behavior.5 After making these inferences and upon introspec- tion of his own behaviors compared with those he has viewed, the teacher can begin to recognize and identify personal ed— ucational beliefs he himself possesses. It is important for the study that the desired re— sponses be a personal, subjective interpretation of a set of displayed behavioral acts and not an objective observa- tion and recording of what is actually taking place on the television screen. This subjective interpretation repre— sents that particular teacher's unique view of reality and 'SBrodbeck, May, "Logic and Scientific Method in Research on Teaching", Handbook 2f Research 2n Teachin , p. 61 the chaining of behavioral acts observed will lead to equal- ly unique inferences about the underlying beliefs which shape them. Further, there will be no attempt made in the study to moralize or justify which beliefs lead to more or less correct, efficient or expediant behaviors; the sole purpose will be to detect and to identify them for further examination. Three secondary purposes of the study are: l. to gain practice in inferring others' beliefs from observing others' actions, 2. to gain practice in seeing why people have the beliefs they have from viewing their observable behaviors, 3. to become more sensitive to others' behaviors by ”seeing oneself" in the behaviors of others. The final purpose of the study is to provide an efficient means to accomplish the above by designing and developing an easy-to administer, easy-to-score-and—analyze, valid instrument. Measures to achieve validity of content will be described in Chapter III. In summary, the proposed study would afford the teacher an opportunity to expose his educational beliefs and examine them by interacting with a systematic procedure, and to identify with or against the educational beliefs of other teachers. a1 a2 33 Ha“ Hypotheses The role portrayals on video tape will allow the intended underlying beliefs to be inferred from the observed behaviors The members of the criterion group will agree that each observed behavior infers its intended under- lying belief. The criterion group and the experimenter will agree that each observed behavior infers its intended underlying belief. The video tape and the belief statement list will prove to be valid with the experimental group and will prove to be reliable within the experimental group. Definitions: A measure is valid to the extent that differ- ences in scores yielded by it reflect actual differences in behavior and not differences in impressions made on different observers. For an observable scale to be valid for meas- uring behavior, it must provide an accurate record of behaviors which actually occured in such a way that the scores are reliable. To be valid for predicting some outside variable, such as teacher effectiveness, the behavior scores would have to correlate with some out— side criterion. A measure is reliable to the extent that the average difference between two measurements independently obtained in the same classroom is smaller than the average differences be- tween two measurements obtained in different classrooms. Unreliability can come about most commonly when two measures of the same class tend to differ too much; this may 8 happen because the behaviors are unstable, because the observers are unable to agree on what occurs, because the different items which enter into the measurement lack con- sistency, or for some other reason. Methods and Procedures 32 be Used Two professors currently involved in teacher train— ing in the Michigan State University College of Education will be selected and asked to serve as the criterion measure for the study. Their task will involve the assessment of the content validity of both the video tape and the accomp— anying belief statement list by viewing the tape and respond- ing to the list. The video taped roles will display stereotypes of teaching approaches and behaviOr traits frequently exhibit— ed by teachers in classroom situations. They will reflect characteristics of two extreme stereotype approaches dev— eloped from the readings in the Review of the Literature. The roles will be played by performers from the College of Theater Arts at Michigan State University. The literature suggests two divergent teaching and learning approaches. These approaches will be given the designations ”behavioral" and "organismic" and the material gleaned from these readings will be synthesized into the Belief Comparison Chart. The Belief Comparison Chart is 6Medley, Donald M., and Mitzel, Harold E., "Meas- uring Classroom Behavior By Systematic Observation", Hand- book 2: Research 9g Teachin , p. 250 a list of educational concerns which will be compiled, each item being defined from both the "behavioral" and "organ- ismic“ perspectives. The Belief Comparison Chart will be further refined into a list of declarative statements reflect- ing one or the other of the divergent approaches. This will be named the Belief Concept List. The criterion group will view the taped video seg- ments and respond to the belief statements. Any modification of the statements will be made at this time on the basis of their recommendations. The experimental group members will then respond to the list of belief statements during the viewing of each separate segment. Each group member will make an agree- disagree choice response for each statement in terms of wheth- er or not he perceives the statement to be reflecting the behavior being displayed. These responses will indicate the beliefs to which the observer is making inference while viewing the role-played segments. The degree of variance in comparison to the criterion group, as detected by the sta- tistical analysis, will bethe amount of subjective interpre- tation perceived by the experimental group. The group members will then be asked to rank order the roles in terms of the more to the less effective teaching Situation. Limitations 2: the Study It is the primary purpose of the study to allow teachers to make inferences from empirical data. It is 10 important to point out that generalizations and predictive statements may be made only to teacher populations which closely resemble the teachers working with the Belief Ident- ification Instrument. Charters cautions, Decades of empirical research have failed to identify unequivocally the behaviors which define "effective teaching" much less estab- lish an association between such behaviors and enduring personal attributes of teachers.7 More specifically, Hayes states, The population is defined by the sample and the manner in which it is drawn. The only populations to which the inferences strict- ly apply are those which individuals have equal likelihood of appearing in the sample. The rationale for the selection of the teacher sample to be used in the experiment will be made in Chap- ter III. Finally, Ryans states, Generalizations are appropriate only when made to populations which it seems reason- able to believe are not significantly dif- ferent from the small group employed in the study. Conclusions to be drawn are approximate, as are all inferences based on empirical data, which are by their very nature to some degree unreliable. 7Charters, W. W., "The Social Background of Teaching”, Handbook 2: Research 2n Teachin , p. 726 8Hayes, William L., Statistics for Psychologists, (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963), p. 216 9Ryans, David G., Characteristics .93 Teachers, (Wash- ington, D.C.: American Council of Education, 19505, p. 398 11 Rationale for the Study Attitudes are based on organizations of beliefs. Beliefs are based on perceptions and cognitions of the environment. Beliefs are factors in perceptions and affect the nature of perceptions. Beliefs also affect further perceptions, i.e., perceptions are influenced by personal beliefs. Perceptions and cognitions are elements of behavior. Behavior is a function and sometimes a consequence of perceptions. Behavior may infer personal beliefs. Importance 2f the Study The importance of the study is viewed by the inves- tigator in terms of its practical application to teachers and teacher—training. The most accessible suggestions of teacher personal characteristics come through the observable behavior exhibited in the classroom. Teachers must therefore be sensitive as to how they interact with learners and, in turn, how the subsequent behavior of learners is changed as a result of the interaction with the environment provided by teachers. This study will give the teacher a place to begin introspection by providing a means to Classify and organize what he sees in other teachers; and through them eventually 12 in himself. This will lead either to reinforcement of positions now held or to modification of those positions. A teaching philosophy is needed which a teacher is able to deliniate and subsequently examine and contin- ually re-examine in a systematic manner. The philosophy could be based upon his beliefs which could then be used to develop his teaching methods, approaches and, finally, to understand better his attitudes toward his classroom practices. The teacher's classroom behavior deliniates the social and professional role he wishes to and/or is expected to play. Self-analysis concerning this role is difficult, first, because personal educational beliefs do not lend them- selves to verbalization and systematic examination, and sec- ondly, the teacher is self-conscious of what he is expected to believe by the general society. The attempt to delimit the teacher's educational beliefs, as provided by this study, will permit an orderly approach toward actualization of his professional role concept. The most important use of the Belief Identification Instrument to be developed in this study is with in—service training courses in public school situations and with grad- uate level education courses in universities. The instru— ment could also prove useful with courses involved in under- graduate teacher-training as a diagnostic experience before entering the teaching field. 13 The need for a deeper human sensitivity across our culture is becoming increasingly evident. The study would serve this need at both the inter-personal and intra-personal levels. The sensitization of the teacher's perceptive awareness would permit a fresh and clear look at his colleg- ues, his clients and himself. W Chapter I outlined the need for the study; to clarify teachers' educational beliefs as a guide to their classroom behavior. It stated the purpose of the study as the development of an instrument which would be useful in identifying and examining teacher educational beliefs. It stated the hypotheses to be tested, presented a synOpsis of the procedures and design of the study and defined the terms used. This chapter also set forth the rationale and the limitations of the study. Finally the importance of the study, both in theory and in practical application, was proposed. Chapter II documents the rationale of the study by reviewing pertinent professional literature on perception; attitudes, beliefs and behavior; and related studies in at- titudinal measurement. Chapter III describes the selection and function of the criterion group and the development of the teacher performance roles. It describes the rationale, development 1H and production of the video tape and the accompanying Belief Identification List. This chapter also relates the exper- imental procedures used and describes the administration of the instrument. Chapter IV presents and analyzes the data collected which concerns the validity and reliability of the Belief Identification Instrument. Chapter V summarizes the study and draws pertinent conclusions, discusses implications for further study, and includes recommendations for modifications and further development. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Introduction It is the purpose of this chapter to document the rationale of the study by reviewing pertinent professional literature in Social Psychology on attitudes, beliefs and behavior; perception; and related studies in attitudinal measurement. Attitudes, Beliefs and Behavior As suggested in the Purpose of the Study, the teacher's beliefs could be a point of departure in under- standing his attitudes toward his classroom activities. A discussion of beliefs with respect to their relation- ship with attitudes would prove useful here: Helen B. Lewis defines an attitude as ”an interrelated set of opinions organized around a point of reference.” In the a- bove definition the point is clearly made that the elements are underlying beliefs rather than expressed opinions. 1Lewis, Helen B., "An Approach to Attitude Measure- ment", Psychologist's League Journal, (1938), pp. 2, 64-65, cited by Rokeach, Milton, Beliefs, Attitudes and Values; A Theory 2: Organization and Chan e, (San Fran- cisco; Jossey-Bass Inc., 1968), p. 112 15 16 Mager further expands the nature of attitudes: Actually, "attitude” is a word used to refer to a general tendency of an individual to act in a certain way under certain condi- tions. The use of the word ”attitude" is based on what someone says or what he does. It is based on visible behavior.2 Rokeach's definition of an attitude is, ...an organization of several beliefs focused on a specific object (physical or social, concrete or abstract) or situation, predis- posing one to respond in some preferential manner. Some of these beliefs about an ob- ject or situation concern matters of fact and others concern matters of evaluation. An attitude is thus a package of beliefs consisting of interconnected assertions to the effect that certain things about a spe- cific object or situation are true or false, and other ghings about it are desirable or un- desirable. Rokeach continues, All beliefs are predispositions to action, and an attitude is thus a set of interrel- ated predispositions to action organized around an object or situation.“ An attitude as an organization of beliefs is also reinforced by Krech and Crutchfield who take the view that all attitudes incorporate beliefs but not all beliefs are 2 Mager, Robert F., Developing Attitude Toward Learn- ing, (Palo Alto, Calif.: Fearon Publishers, 1968), p. 15 3Rokeach, Milton, Beliefs, Attitudes and Values, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1968), p. 159 h ibid., p. 11H 17 necessarily part of attitudes. They explain: Attitudes can be designated as either "pro" or "anti", while beliefs are conceived of as neutral. We speak of a pro-British at- titude or an anti-Russian attitude, but we do not speak of pro or con when we are de- scribing a man's belipf about the spherical nature of the earth. Berelson outlines quite another approach to at- titudes and beliefs: These terms do not have fixed meanings in the literature, but in general they refer to a person's preference for one or anoth- er side of a controversial matter in the public domain--a political issue, a reli- gious idea, a moral position, a certain practice. Attitudes and beliefs are ra- tional and/or emotional judgements on such questions. They differ from one another in their generality or in the intensity with which they are held. Opinions com- monly refer to topical and short-run judge- ments, usually dealing with public affairs; attitudes are somewhat more enduring and inclusive; beliefs are more basic still, having to do with central values of life. Thus, people have opinions on the latest economic proposal, attitudes regarding the welfare state, and beliefs about freedom. Jastrow suggests that, A belief is any simple proposition, con- scious or unconscious, inferred from that szrech, D., and Crutchfield, R. 5., Theory and Problems of Social PS cholo , (New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 19%): P0 153 6 Berelson, Bernard, and Steiner, Gary, Human Behavior: An Inventory 9f Scientific Findings, (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1964), pp. 557-58 18 what a person says or does, capable of being preceded by the phrase, "I believe that..."7 A belief has three components, a cognitive com- ponent, an affective component, and a behavioral component. Rokeach leads us to the relationship between beliefs and behavior: This definition departs from one widely- held distinction between belief and atti— tude, namely that beliefs have only a cog- nitive component while attitudes have 8 both cognitive and affective components. Beliefs have a direct relationship to behavior through this behavioral component. A belief relates to its behavioral component because: The belief, being a response predisposition of varying threshold, must lead to some action when it is suitably activated. The kind of action it leads to is dictated strict- ly by the content of the belief. Even a belief that merely describes is a predispos- ition to action under appropriate conditions. Consider, for example, my belief, ”Columbus discovered America in 1h92." The behavior- al component of this predisposition may re- main unactivated until I am one day leafing through two history books to decide which one to bu for my young son. One gives the date as 1 92 and the other as 1482. My be- lief will predispose me, other things equal, 7Jastrow, J., ”The Animus of Psychical Research”, in Murchison, C., editor, The Case For and Against Psych- ical Belief, (Worchester, Mass.: —Clark_ University Press, 1927), p. 284, cited by Rokeach, Beliefs, Attitudes Egg Values, p. 113 8 ibid., p. 115 19 to choose the one giving the 1h92 date. I am "pro” the 1R92-book and ”con” the 1482-book. 9 Perception It is the opinion of the investigator that the main concern of the RevieW'e§ gee Literature Should be di- rected toward an analysis of perception. The assertion is made on the grounds that: beliefs are based on perceptions, beliefs are factors in perceptions and affect their nature, perceptions are influenced by beliefs and, behavior is a function of perceptions. To initiate the discussion, MacLeod offers the following. If we are to understand the social behavior of man we must understand the structure of the social world to which he is responding... not merely the social world as independently defined by the omniscient sociologist, but the social world as it is actually inter- preted by the behaving individual. The prob- lem then is essentially a cognitive probleB and the basis of cognition is perception. Krech reinforces: Many processes in attitude change, suggest- ibility, and group dynamics become more meaningful when viewed from the "perceptual approach". Conversely, perceptual laws 9ibid., p. 114 10MacLeod, R. B., "The Place of Phenomenological Analysis in Social Psychological Theory, Current Per- spectives ie Social Ps cholo , Hollander, E., and Hunt R., editors, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1963), pp. 32-33 20 can no longer be isolated from the social milieu of the perceiver.1 Social psychologists have been studying perception as a means of understanding behavior. Bruner and Postman state three determinants of social perception. ...first, description of the physical stim- ulus and the environmental conditions; second, deliniation of organismic factors such as prevailing dispositions, available response patterns, expectations, and the like; third, knowing the stimulus and the prevailing set of the organism, we need to describe the dimensions of the percept which results.12 Unfortunately, Bruner and Postman note, accurate description of this perceptual component is extremely difficult and we do not yet have language or methods ade- quate for it. Most stimuli do not produce behavior in reflex fashion. The situation, rather, is perceived or "defined" by a person before he makes overt response. That is to say, "meaning” is achieved, and this meaning becomes the most crucial determinant of behavior.1u 11Krech, David, “Psychological Theory and Social Psych- ology", Enc clo edia of Educational Research, Harris, Chester, editor, (New York: Macmillan Co., 19505, p. 944 Bruner, Jerome S., and Postman, Leo, "An Approach to Social Perception", Current Trends in Social Ps cholo , Dennis, W., editor, (Pittsburgh, Penna., 19535, p. 315 1BSargent, S. S., and Williamson, Robert C., Social Psychology, (New York: Ronald Press Co., 1958), p. 315 4 ibid., p. 313 21 Psychologists generally have assumed that since stimuli have objective existence the assumption follows that a stimulus is perceived in the same way by different indi- viduals although they may respond to it differently. This assumption has been criticized vigor- ously by Kurt Lewin and others interested in social psychology, clinical psychology, and personality. According to them a given sit— uation, particularly a social one, never is psychologically identical for different per- sons. Each individual perceives and inter- prets a situation via his sensory capacities, attention, past experience, motives, attitudes, eXpectations and the like, i.e., in terms of his unigue patterns of experience and person- ality. Although behavior is a function of perception, it is important to remember that psychologists mean perception at the present moment. A person's behavior is, indeed, a result of his past experience, his life history. How he behaves right now, however, results from his ways of seeing, learned from his past ex- perience, to be sure, but existing in his present perceptions at this time. The im- mediate view stresses that it is the way of seeing the situation at this moment, today, this instant, which prodgces the person's be— havior at this instant.1 Sargent and Williamson state that the "definition of the particular situation", i.e., the "present moment" 15ibid., p. 199 16Combs, Arthur W., Perceivin , Behaving, Becoming, Combs, A. W., editor, (Washington D. 0.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum, 1962), pp. 75-76 22 always operates as the final link in the chain of events which determines behavior. We tend to overlook it in situations where social norms are rigid, as at a church serv- ice, funeral, formal meeting, or ritual of any kind. In such cases conformity occurs because everyone perceives these situations in approximately the same way. But where social behavior is more variable, as in a new, informal, or "unstructured" situation, understanding of the participants' differ- ing perceptions is necessary to an explana- tion of their behavior.17 Bruner discusses the relationship of perception to role: The selective effect of role relationship upon our perception of others is also worth noting. One does not see and assess one's parents in terms of the same dimensions re- served for friends; what we look for in our own children may differ from our way of look- ing at children in general.18 This selective effect also affects subsequent inferences. The inferences about personality drawn from our observations differ as a function of the roles of the individuals involved. "High- brow” behavior in a white man and in a Negro may not lead to the same inferences about 1 7Sargent and Williamson, Social Psychology, p. 398 18Bruner, Jerome S., and Taguiri, Renato, ”Percep- tions of People”, Handbook 2: Social Psychology, Lindzey, Gardner, editor, (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publish- ing Co., 1954), p. 6h0 23 the person.19 The condition of the person at any particular moment can exert a selective influence. The internal state of the perceiver is also of utmost importance. A person in a state of fear or insecurity may not perceive be- havior or draw inferences in the same terms as one who is in a relaxed and secure state. We may be predisposed to perceive selec- tively the behavior of another and infer his ”character" or ”intentions” in a manner con- gruent with our own needs.20 Combs is concerned with perceptual levels. The varying levels of personal meaning are expressed in the words we use to describe perceptions. Arranged in order of in— creasing meaning, we speak, for example, of looking, seeing, knowingé of understand- ing, belief, conviction. 1 Perception can also be defined as the gradual structuring of one's sensations into meaningful relation- ships.22 The process of perception occurs as the first in a series of events in a person's attempt to organize his be- havior. Berelson offers examples of sensation and percep- tion: 1 91bid., p. 6&0 ZOibid., p. 640 21Combs, Perceiving, Behavin , Becoming, p. 65 22Sargent and Williamson, Social Psychology, p. 198 24 sensation...the immediate and direct appre- hension of simple stimuli...the response of the sense organs to light, pressure, and the like...or the experienced results of that process. So, for example, we sense or have sensations of color, brightness, shape, loudness, pitch, heat, and so on. perception...the more complex process by which people select, organize, and inter- pret sensory stimulation into a meaning- ful and coherent picture of the world. We perceive a friend in the cgowd, or that a parking space is too small. 3 Sometimes a person's unwillingness or inability to share his thoughts and feelings affect the validity of per- ceptual research. Rogers states that in centering atten- tion on the person (client-centered) his work has led him to adopt the client's perceptual field as the basis for genuine understanding. In trying to enter this world of perception by observation and direct inference he feels he gains a new advantage for understanding personality dynamics.2u Allport further eXplains Rogers' approach: An equally striking development in the right direction is the revolution in theory implicit in Rogerian or ”client—centered" therapy. The position holds that the self, under proper conditions, is capable of reorganizing its pgg- ceptual field and thus of altering behavior. 23Berelson and Steiner, Human Behavior, po 88 2“See Rogers, Carl R., "Some Observations on the Organization of Personality", American Psychologist, (vol. II: 1947): PP- 358-68 25Allport, Gordon W., Personality and the Social En- counter, (Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, 19605, p. 29 25 Finally, Combs gives impetus to our future efforts: If we can understand how a person is perceiving right now, we may be able to help him change his behavior even if we do not know how he got this way. That is, if human behavior is a function of perception and if perception exists in the present, then it should be possible to change behavior if we can change present perceptions. This opens vast new possibilities for education.26 Related Attitudinal Studies Psychologists and social scientists have designed numerous instruments to identify beliefs and measure atti- tudes. Most of these investigators conceived an attitude as a general predisposition to respond to a given stimulus, be it object, person, or situation. This characteristic response may be either positive or negative. Sargent and Williamson list some pioneer efforts: The early scales were little more than collec- tions of statements presumably related to the attitudes being studied. Students taking the test noted their approval or disapproval of the statements made or checked the item most near- ly approximating their own attitude. Each item was scored in 30mg fashion and a total for the test was computed. 7 Thurstone's early work involved: ...devising a more scientific procedure for the construction of attitude measures. He main- 26Combs, Perceiving, Behaving, Becomin , p. 76 27Sargent and Williamson, Social Psychology, p. 227 26 tained that an attitude score could have mean- ing only if the weight given each item were empirically determined. Thurstone and var- ious associates have prepared attitude scales in a number of areas by the use of their judg- ing technique. High reliability was rggort- ed and the tests have been widely used. Soon, however, Likert insisted that Thurstone's judging technique was laborious and that an arbitrary assignment of scores to the questionairre items is just as satisfactory. He proposed an alternative method. A large number of statements relating to a subject are collected. These are presented to groups of persons who are instructed to indicate their approval or disapproval on a five-point scale. The value of a given item is determined by discovering whether or not it coEFelates highly with the rest of the list. - There has been considerable discussion over the various aspects of the Thurstone and Likert methods. Some improved procedures have been suggested: Guttmann, for example, has deve10ped a ”scale- analysis" technique, Which selects about ten to twelve consistant items and arranges them along a single dimension. A person's rank on the continuum then shows fairly accurately how he answered the questions both above and below. Edwards later proposed a somewhat complicated ”scale-discrimination" method which attempts to combine the better points of the Thurstone, Likert and Guttmann techniques... 28 ibid., p. 228 29 ibid., p. 228 27 Lazarsfeld has contributed a rather complex ”latent structure analysis" which was used, along with the Guttmann method, in studying the attitudes of servicemen during World War II.30 Rokeach, in his Belief Inventory31, dealt with changing beliefs and subsequent measurement of the amount of change rather than with the identification and measure- ment of existing beliefs. Of interest was the attempt to equate the weights of the belief statements. The California 3 Scale32 was examined. This in— ventory simply identified open and closed—mindedness with- out regard to degree or intensity. The scale elicited the same type of agree-disagree response choice which was em- ployed in this study. Sargent and Williamson address themselves to the validity of the measurement instrument and its improvement: York: In evaluating the measurement of attitudes it is evident that all of these approaches have some degree of validity, though critics differ as to just how much. It will be recalled that valid- ity refers to the ability of the instrument to measure what it purports to measure. In other words, will the respondents genuinely feel and demonstrate in their action the characteristics indicated by their performance on the attitude scale? In general, validity is improved by such techniques as combining the Thurstone equal- 301bid., p. 229 31Rokeach, Beliefs, Attitudes, Values, pp. 26-29 32Rokeach, Milton, The 0 en and Closed Mind, (New Basic Books, Inc., 1950 , pp. 415-19 28 appearing intervals with the Likert summated rating, i.e., the five-point scale, or through development:¥§ projective and other indirect techniques. I The measurement and analysis of attitudes has shown itself to be a complex endeavor. It is usually difficult to provide for behav- ioral tests, so the hope lies in a combination of conventional verbal scales with projective techniques. Although the latter have the advantage of depth, and tap to some degree un- conscious factors, there is a problem of 1+ standardization in the testing instrument.3 Summary Attitudes are organizations of beliefs predisposing one to behave in some preferential manner. Beliefs are composed of cognitive, affective, and behavioral components and it is the last component which gives beliefs relationship to behavior. Beliefs are based on perceptions, are factors in perceptions and affect their nature. Perceptions are in— fluenced by beliefs and are functional to behavior. A given situation is perceived or defined by the individual before a response is made in the form of overt behavior. Each individual thus responds uniquely to a given stimulus. Inferences drawn from observation of be- :XBSargent and Williamson, Social Psychology, p. 230 3L5 ibid., p. 231 29 havior (stimulus) are unique even as the perception and definition of that behavior are unique. 5 Several attitudinal studies were reviewed and relevant aspects of each noted. The studies indicated that the measurement and analysis of attitudes is a complex endeavor. CHAPTER III PROCEDURES Introduction It is the purpose of this chapter to describe the selection and function of the criterion group and the devel- opment of the teacher performance roles. The rationale, development and production of the video tape and the accom- panying belief statement list will also be described. Last- ly, this chapter will outline the experimental procedures used in the study and describe the administration of the ex- periment. Selection and Function 2: the Criterion Group Two professors currently involved in teacher train- ing in the Michigan State University College of Education were selected and asked to serve as the criterion measure for the study. (See Appendix A.) Their task involved assessment of the content validity of both the video tape and the accompanying belief statement list by viewing the tape and responding to the list. Comparisons of the re- sponses of the criterion group were made in order to seek out faulty statements. Any item not agreed upon by the members 30 31 of the criterion group was either modified or discarded. If an item was modified the criterion group was consulted as to the nature of the modification so that ultimate agreement between them was reached. Any item deemed un- suitable by either member of the criterion group was dis- carded and replaced with a new item. Agreement on all new items was reached in the same way. Comparison was then made between the responses given by the criterion group and the responses for which each belief statement was designed. Response items which did not agree with the response items selected by the criterion group were either modified in the manner previous- ly described or discarded. The criterion group functioned as consultant in the task of modification and replacement of irrelevant or ambiguous items. The criterion group was asked to answer the follow- ing questions: 1. Does the video tape allow the experimental group to identify the behavioral acts portrayed? 2. Does the video tape allow the experimental group to make inferences concerning the beliefs underlying those behavioral acts? Validity of content was established in two ways: 1. The criterion group ultimately agreed that each behavioral act on the video tape was capable of inferring some underlying belief to which the experimental group could respond. 32 2. The criterion group agreed on a "criterion" or ”correct” response for each displayed be- havioral act. Description.gf the Teacher-Performer The teacher-performer rOles were played by actors from the Department of Theater Arts. Selection was based upon: 1. demonstrated effective performance of role by audition, 2. ability to project the desired stereotype role, 3. confidence of both the experimenter and the performer that the desired role could be con- vincingly portrayed, 4. interest in the project. Description.g§ the Teacher-Performer Roles The roles displayed stereotypes of teaching ap- proaches and behavior traits frequently exhibited by teachers in classroom situations. Two roles reflected the extreme characteristics in the behavioral-organismic continuum. The terms "behavioral" and ”organismic" as used in this study will be defined in detail in the Development 2; Egg Belief Identification Instrument. A third role reflected a preponderance of behavioral tendencies with only a few of the organismic and a fourth role contained the converse of the third role's tendencies. The rationale proposed 33 is that nearly all teacher personalities reflect varying strengths of characteristics from both approaches rather than situations whereby the roles are totally contained in only one or the other approaches. Development 3; the Belief Identification Instrument The readings in the literature suggested two di- vergent teaching and learning approaches. These approaches were given the designations "behavioral" and "organismic" as a consequence of reading a passage by Maslow: I think it is now possible to begin to deliniate this view of human nature as a total, single, comprehensive system of psychology even though much of it has arisen as a reaction against the limitations (as philosophies of human nature) of the two most comprehensive psychologies now available...behaviorism and classical Freudian psychoanalysis. Finding a single label for it is still a difficult task, perhaps a premature one. In the past I have called it the "holistic- dynamic” psychology to express my conviction about its major roots. Some have called it ”orga_n_ismic" following Goldstein. 1 The material gleaned from the readings in the lit- erature was synthesized into the Belief Comparison thpp. (see Appendix B) The term "behavioral” was eXpanded to connote and describe a synthesis of approaches to education- al concerns listed in the.Development_pf the Belief Compar- ison Chart which gravitated toward classical behaviorism. 1 Maslow, Abraham H., Toward a Psychology.p§ Bein , (Princeton, New Jersey: D. van Nostrand Co., Inc., 19525 P- 177 34 This view is supported by Skinnerz, Smith and Moore3, and Miller and Dollardu. The term "organismic" was expanded to connote and describe a systhesis of approaches to ed- ucational concerns listed in the Development pg‘ppp Belief Comparison.ghgpp which gravitated toward the holistic or organismic aspects of perceptual psychology. This view 6, Rogers7, and Bruner8. is supported by MaslowS, Combs In addition, twenty more sources were also used in research- ing the various pertinent elements of interest to the topic such as learning theory, curriculum development, study of successful educational leaders, principles of effective learning situations and assessment of social behavior. These references are listed in the bibliography of the study. 2Skinner, B. F., Science and Human Behavior, (New York: Macmillan Co., 195 3Smith, Wendell 1., and Moore, J. William, Conditioning and Instrumental Learnin , (New York: McGraw— Hill Book Co.,—1966), pp. 1-I3E “Miller, Neal E., and Dollard, John, ”Reward", Reinforcement: An Enduring Problem in Ps cholo (Princeton, New Jersey: D. Van Nostrand Co., 1961 , pp. 1-35 5 6Combs, Arthur W., Perceiving, Behaving, Becomingi ed. Combs, A. W., (Washington, D. C.: Association for Super- vision and Curriculum, 1962) 7Rogers, Carl B., On Becomin a Person, (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Co., 19615 Maslow, Psychology 9: Bein , passim 8Bruner, Jerome S., The Process of Education, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1960)? 35 The following sources were used because they con- tained comparisons of divergent philosophies: Atkinson and Maliska 9, Ryans 10, Hilgard 11, and Kerlinger and Pedhaz ur 12. Development 2; the Belief Comparison Chart A list of twenty-six items of educational concern was compiled. Each item was then defined from both the behavioral and the organismic perspective. This yielded a list of fifty-two items which was named the Belief Compar- ison Chart. The Belief Comparison Chart, together with Kerling- 13 and Forcier's Statements of Belief 1” er's Education Scale was further refined into fifty-five items called the Belief Concept List. (see Appendix C) 9Atkinson, Carroll, and Maliska, Eugene T., ”Struc- turalism and Functionalism", ”Behaviorism and Gestalt Psych- ology”, Development: Physical and Emotional, Intellectual, Social and Personality", Tpg Story 2: Education, (Phila- delphia, Pa.: Chilton Books, Publishers, 1962), pp. 319- 18. pp. 318-21. pp. 337-352 ORyans, David G., Characteristics 2: Teachers, (Washington, D. C.: American Council of Teachers, 1960) 1 1Hilgard, Ernest H., Theories of Learnin ,. (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 19585 12Kerlinger, F. M., and Pedhazur, E. S., ”Attitudes and Perceptions of Desirable Traits and Behaviors of Teach- ers", (Washington, D. C.: United States Department of Health Education and Welfare, 1967) 1 31b1do, pp. 130-31 14 Forcier, Richard C., ”A Pilot Study Concerned with the Design of an Educational Belief Inventory Instrument”, 36 Development 2: the Belief Concept List Each item on the Belief Comparison Chart was further refined into a declarative statement of a specific education- al belief reflecting the perspective of one or the other di— vergent teaching-learning approaches. These statements were concerned with: 1. 3. educational values, goals, expediency, effect- iveness and efficiency traditional and progressive teaching and learn- ing approaches educational psychological theories: behavioral and organismic The items in the Belief Comparison Chart comprised a resource pool from which the Belief Concept List and final- ly the Belief Identification Instrument were developed. The Belief Comparison Chart was developed with four areas of educational concern in mind: 1. 2. 3. 1+. how and why learning takes place teaching methods and approaches to achieve de- sired goals the use of motivation in learning the importance of subject content in learning The Belief Comparison Chart was then used to: 1. describe the two bi-polar teaching approaches unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Michigan State University, 1969: PP. 3h-36 37 2. develop the Belief Concept List 3. shape the description of the teacher performance roles (see Appendix E) Belief statements were designed to be immediately and easily comprehensible by using non—jargon language, e.g., "internalize", "underachieve", and by using short sentences composed in a conversational style. Maximum reading time and maximum response time was eight and five seconds re- spectively. Thurstone's guidelines were considered: 1. The statements should be as brief as possible so as not to fatigue the subjects who are asked to read the whole list. 2. The statements should be such that they can be endorsed or rejected in accordance with their agreement or disagreement with the at- titude of the reader. Some statements in a random sample will be so phrased that the reader can express no definite endorsement or rejection of them. 3. Every statement should be such that acceptance or rejection of the statement does indicate something regarding the reade 's attitude about the issue in question.1 Shaw and Wright suggest: Items should be stated in as simple and clear language as possible, should contain a single idea, and should be unambiguous. One should avoid the use of items that are factual, ir- relevant to the attitude object, or non-dis- criminitory i.e., items that are likely to be l'SThurstone, L. L., "Attitudes Can Be Measured", Readings in Attitude Theory and Measurement, Fishbein, M., editor, '(‘fiew York":" John Wile'y' '& Sons, 1967), p. 81+ 38 answered the same way by persons havygg both favorable and unfavorable attitudes. Development p: the Video Tape It must be stressed that the taped roles of teach- ing behavior were not merely a recording of reality. They were staged performances deliberately emphasizing and to some extent exaggerating the traits of each teacher stereo- type portrayal. Every effort was taken to make the view- er's judgements as clear as possible both in his mind and on the belief statement response sheet. Each taping was of the highest technical quality possible with the equipment available and each role per- formance was as convincing as the performing talent was able to achieve. The performers were given a list of spe- cific behavioral acts which comprised their particular role. They were given approximately one week to decide in which order they would arrange the acts comprising their role and to translate them into visible behavior consistant with their own unique personality characteristics. It was emphasized that it was they who would decide how each behavior could best be observed and how they, according to their profession- al instincts, would work each behavior into a believable classroom event. 15 Shaw, M. E., and Wright, J. M., Scales for the Measurement of Attitude, (New York: McGraw—Hill Book Co., 19395: PP0 336' 7 39 Four teacher roles were originally designed. Each incorporated behaviors manifested by; 1. beliefs from the behavioral list pnly 2. beliefs mostly from the behavioral list plus a Egg from the organismic list 3. beliefs mostly from the organismic list plus a ppm from the behavioral list 4. beliefs from the organismic list pnly. It became apparent in the taping sessions that two problems were beginning to develop. The experimenter had collected responses from several small pilot groups who were functioning as an on-the-spot evaluative instrument. The quality of the responses in these pilot sessions dropped noticably after the viewing of the second role. The re- spondents indicated that the program had become overly- 1ong and, after the second role, was beginning to be irritat- ingly repetitious. It was concluded that the variable of time and the variable of repetition were beginning at affect the nature of the responses. The original program, including the initial instruc- tions and the inserted belief statements, ran for fifty min- utes. Roles one and four were judged to more clearly ex- hibit the desired behaviors and to more efficiently elicit the criterion responses than roles two and three. Roles one and four were the segments which exhibited pnly behav— ioral and organismic tendencies with randomly mixed state- ments which agreed and disagreed with each role. 40 The pilot groups were of the opinion that the at— tempt to blend behavioral tendencies from both perspectives was not asconvincing as the straight roles. Both roles two and three were subsequently dropped from the instrument and roles one and four were slightly lengthened so that more response items could be included. The adjusted instrument elicited sixteen response items from the behavioral role and eighteen response items from the organismic role. The finished video tape came out to thirty-one minutes in length, including time for initial instructions and inser- tion of thirty-four belief statements. Additional pilot trials revealed that the response quality remained more constant due to the deletion of many repetitious behavioral acts in the performance roles and the shortened overall Show- ing time of the video tape. It must be admitted that this adjustment was dif— ficult for the experimenter to make because it involved dis- carding much preparation and work for the sake of a more highly controlled eXperimental situation having tWo less variables. The results proved to be worth the ambivalent apprehension on his part. Description.pf Technical Equipment and Specifications An Ampex 5100 helical scan one-inch tape mono- chrome video recorder-playback machine was used to both record and edit the role segments. 41 The video camera was a Sony model VCK 2100 vidicon tube equipped with a Sony model VOL 20, 20-80 millimeter zoom lens. The video tape used was Scotch brand one-inch 357- 1-300. The microphone used was a Shure model 579 SB low impedance lavalier type equipped with a twenty-foot cable. A low impedance microphone permitted use of a much longer cable enabling the performer to more naturally move about the set. The lavalier style was used because it enabled very close placement to the throat of the performer. This permitted an extremely high fidelity imprint of the voice and almost totally excluded unwanted background noise. The minimization of unwanted and/or undetected variables was accomplished in the following ways: 1. The highest possible level of television pro- duction techniques with the available equip- ment was used. 2. The effects of non-relevant background "noise”* which may cause response variance was minimized. 3. The highest possible enhancement of a convincing stereotype performance was sought. *noise....any interference with the transmission of the desired message, aural or visual, caused by the intro- duction of irrelevant variables 42 4. Television, a medium which is a first-level abstraction rather than a written instrument which is a second-level abstraction, was ‘ * used. * levels of abstraction....steps or levels involved in the process of developing successively broader general- izations (abstraction proceeds from more specific levels to less detailed levels by successively omitting particular characteristics).17 Description.p£ the EXperiment The criterion group viewed the taped video segments and responded to the belief statements. Any modifications of the belief statements were made at this time on the basis of their recommendations. The experimental group members responded to the list of belief statements during the viewing of each sepa- rate segment. Each group member made an agree-disagree choice response for each belief statement in terms of whether or not he perceived the statement to be reflecting the behavior being displayed. These responses indicated the beliefs to which the observer was making inference while viewing the role-played segments. The degree of variance in comparison to the criterion group, as detected by the 17Good, Carter V., Dictionar pf Education, (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 19595, p. 3 43 statistical analysis, was the amount of subjective inter— pretation perceived by the experimental group. A device was used to insure the anonymity of the experimental group members for the purpose of minimizing unwanted and unde- tected variables in the experiment and the statistical analysis. Description.p§ the Experimental Group The experimental group was composed of enrollees in a graduate-level education course offered by the College of Education at Michigan State University. The sampling technique for the experiment was justified in two ways: 1. A graduateelevel course was selected because the class population was composed largely of full-time teachers attending class during after-school hours. 2. A general education course was selected because the public school teachers in the immediate area receive special salary increments on the basis of continuing course work. Experimental Procedures Administration of the Belief Identification Instrument The experimental group members viewed each tape segment and, at precisely determined points in the segment, were asked to make a response choice to a specific belief statement. These statements were treated randomly in two 44 ways: behavioral and organismic statements were randomly mixed, and the particular statements chosen elicited agree or disagree responses randomly. Order in both cases was assigned from a standard table of random numbers.18 An overhead projector was used to display the state- ments on a screen placed directly above the television moniter and was unlighted except for the precise moment when each statement was displayed. This was done by means of a masking technique on the stage of the overhead projector. There were two reasons for employing this technique. The time given to read the statement and to respond was pre- cisely controlled and, the belief statement messages were minimally distracting from the video tape segment. Description 2: the Response Technique A punch-type answering key was used. This par- ticular device was selected because of the minimal response time needed and because of the simplicity of the response procedure. The key consists of two pressboard plates glued face-to-face and between which a pre-cut piece of paper is placed (like a sandwich). The front plate has two vertical rows of holes, each horizontal set of two holes corresponding to an agree or disagree response. The re- sponse to each item asked is made by punching a metal key 8 \ Senders, Virginia L., Measurement and Statistics, (New York: Oxford Universitquress, 1958), pp. 557-565 45 through one or the other of the pair of holes. The key is left in position while the observer is waiting to respond to the next item. This is done because the whereabouts of the key is always known and because the key is never more than a half-inch away from the horizontal pair of holes to be used for the next response. The routine becomes fixed after responding to one or two items. Upon com- pletion of the experiment the punched pieces of paper are either signed by the testee or coded in some way and col- lected for scoring and analysis. One piece of paper is used for each role segment. Tabulation is done by placing a scoring mask over the punched paper and by counting the number of punched holes visible through the mask. Various different masks lend themselves to either scoring the number "correct or incorrect" or to several forms of item analysis. Rationale for the Response Instrument Design The response instrument was designed to fulfill these considerations: 1. It is important that the time lapse between the observed behavior and the observer's response be minimal. 2. It is important that the reading of the belief statement and the recording of its response be minimally distracting from the video tape segment. 46 It is important that the time taken to per- form the following functions be minimal: a) read the statement b) comprehend the statement 0) make a response decision d) punch the desired response Rank Ordering pf Roles The experimental group members were asked to rank order the roles in terms of from more to less effective teaching situations. can Identification The experimental group members were asked to make the following selections: 1.) 2.) 3.) 4.) 5.) 6.) Which role do I think I resembled in my first- year teaching? Which role Which role if I could Which role when I was Which role when I was Which role do I think I most resemble presently? do I think I would like to resemble painlessly reshape my personality? most resembles my favorite teacher in school? resembles the teacher I liked least in school? do I think most students nowadays prefer to see in their teachers? 47 7.) Which role would my principal most likely think to be the epitome of a good teacher? Statistical Analysis Rationale Questions have been raised about the validity of indirect techniques, and relatively little research evidence is available to answer them. Actually, there is not much evidence of the validity of direct techniques depending on self-report, such as interviews and question- naires. The validity of such instruments is less less often questioned, however, probably be- cause of the "obvious" relevance of the ques- tions to thf characteristics they are intended to measure. 9 A measure of face validity was achieved to test the first hypothesis employing a selected criterion group. In studying the feasibility of the use of a selected crit- erion measure Forcier has found that two factors are im- portant: empathic skills of the judges and motivation to make accurate judgements. In an experimental study, whenever experts are employed rather than a randomly selected cri- terion group, a question concerning the accuracy of the expert' judgement is often raised. Regarding this pilot study, the eXperimenter felt that a reasonable degree of accuracy could be achieved by first, seeking close agreement~ among the experts, and second, devising a care- ful selection procedure. In selecting the ex- perts, the following factors were considered. Taft identified several variables related to empathic skill and concluded that probably the most important area of all is that of motivation: 19Selltiz, Claire, et al., Research Methods is Social Relations, (New York: .Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 19525: p. 311 48 if the judge is motivated to make accurate judgements about his subjects and if he him- self feels free to be objective, then he has a good chance of achieving his aim...20 On a theory of judgement, Bruner and Taguiri offer the following two conclusions: Taken from the point of a theory of judge- ment, relatively few firm conclusions can drawn. Tentatively, the most reasonable seem to be these: a) Accuracy is aided by similarity between judge and judged. To some extent this may be a function of 'resonance' be- tween judge and judged; to some ex- tent it may be a function of better ac- quaintance with people like oneself, with more intervening opportunities for observing their behavior. To some ex— tent it could be projection, which hap- pens to be accurate when the other per- son is like one's self. b) Accuracy depends upon having cues to work on. Traits with little behavior- al manifestation are poorly judged. Individuals whose expressivgness is damped are harder to judge. The second, third and the validity aspect of the fourth hypothesis were tested by means of percentage com- parisons. The comparisons were made with respect to the summation of response items across all experimental group 20Forcier, ”A Pilot Study", p. 19 21Bruner, Jerome S., and Taguiri, Renato, "The Perception of People", Handbook 2: Social Psychology, Lindzey, Gardner, editor, (Reading, Mass.: Addison- Wesley Publishing Co., 1954), p. 646 49 members and with respect to the summation of experimental group members across all item responses in combination with the criterion group responses. The reliability aspect of the fourth hypothesis was tested by treating the response items of the experiment- al group as dichotomous variables. The binomial population distribution is made up of only two points. The binomial variable Xi is a discrete variable which can take on only two values, 0 and 1. The development of statistical theory relating to the binomial distribution and descriptive measures of a binomial population is based on the treatment of the codes 1 and 0 as if they are true item values or scores. Therefore, regardless of the scale of measurement of the original pop- ulation data, after conversion to a binomial population, it is possible and meaningful to compute descriptive measures such as the mean and the standard deviation.22 Statistical Analysis To assess the content validity of the video tape, the criterion group read the Belief Identification List and judged whether the displayed behaviors on the video tape in fact did allow those beliefs to be inferred. Nec- eSsary adjustments in the video tape were made with the consultation and upon the recommendations of the criterion group. Comparison was made between each item response of 22Armore, Sidney J., Introduction 22 Statistical Analysis and Inference: For Psychology and Education, (New York; John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 19675, pp. 272-73 50 the criterion group and each respective item response for which each belief statement was designed. The Procedures Us_e_d_ in 13:13 St_udy indicates that agreement on each item response was reached between the criterion group and the experimenter using this method. This step also served to establish the validity of the video tape and the Belief Identification List as an effective measurement device. Inter-comparisons were made between each item re- sponse of the criterion group and the computed means (ft) of each aggregate respective item response of the experiment- al group. This again served to establish the validity of the video tape and the Belief Identification List as an instrument for the examination of teacher educational be- liefs. The mean aggregate score of the experimental group for each item was computed by: l. assigning an item response by the experimental group member which agreed with the respective item response of the criterion group a value of 1. 2. assigning an item response by an experimental group member which disagreed with the respective item response of the criterion group a value of 0. It is useful to assign the code 0 (zero) to each of the items in one category of a binom- ial population and the code 1 to each of the items in the other category. It is immaterial to which category each of these codes is as- signed. It is advantageous, however, to as- sign the code 1 to the category of primary 51 interest in an analysis.23 Each respective item response for the total exper- imental group was summed. The summation score was divided by the number of members in the experimental group and was thereafter labelled the mean.(/k) score for each respect- ive aggregate item response. V The means (A) and the standard deviations (0‘) of the respective item responses which were treated as dichotomous variables were computed for each eXperimental group member to determine and establish the reliability of the video tape and the Belief Identification List as a measurement device. An item analysis was performed on both the criter- ion group responses and the experimental group responses so that comparisons in percentages could be made. Intra- comparisons were made in the experimental group and inter- comparisons were made between the criterion group and the experimental group. The Rank Ordering pf Rplpp was studied in terms of transitivity logic.* This was done by comparing the Role Identification questions with the rated role perform- ances to ascertain whether the respondent's logic remained consistant. * . ) transitivity logic...e.g., if A) B, and B)C, then A C 23A‘rmore, "Statistical Analysis", p. 272 52 Glossary pf Terms Used in the Study Behavioral approach...used in this study as a method of teaching and learning as put forth by certain behav- ioral theorists which is highly goal-oriented and highly structured. Organismic approach...used in this study as a method of teaching and learning which is a process of self- actualization and adjustment and which is reflected in the writings of several personality theorists. Belief Comparison Chart...Items of educational concern (learning theory, teaching methods and approaches, motivation, importance of subject content) are de- fined from both the behavioral and organismic per- spective in the form of a comparative list. Belief Concept List...Each item on the Belief Comparison Chart is developed into a declarative statement of a specific educational belief reflecting the perspective of one or the other divergent psychological approaches. Belief Identification Statement and Belief Identification List...a specific statement(s) of belief inference to which an observer is asked to respond (agree-disagree) while viewing the teacher roles in the video tape segments. These are taken from the Belief Concept List pool of items. 53 Belief Identification Instrument...the "package" consist- ing of the video tape together with the included Belief Identification List and the response device. Teacher performance role...a composition of several specific behaviors performed and designed to infer specific Belief Identification Statements. Summary Two professors involved in teacher training were selected to serve as the criterion measure for the study. They assessed the validity of both the video tape and the Belief Identification List. The video taped roles displayed stereotypes of teaching approaches exhibited in the classroom and reflected examples of behavioral and organismic tendencies. The readings in the literature were used to syn- thesize the Belief Identification List using the behavioral and the organismic perspectives as poles and interpreting them in the light of selected educational concerns. The criterion group viewed the tape and responded to the Belief Identification List. Adjustments were made ac- cording to their recommendations. The experimental group viewed the tape and responded to the Belief Identification List during the viewing of each segment. The data was thus collected for analysis. CHAPTER IV FINDINGS OF THE STUDY Introduction It is the purpose of this chapter to present, analyze, and discuss the data collected in the experiment. 0f concern was the content validity of the Belief Identi— fication Instrument, i.e., the performance roles on the video tape and the accompanying belief statements. 0f further concern was the degree of positive correlation be- tween the criterion group members, between the criterion group and the experimenter, between the criterion group and the experimental group, and between the members of the ex- perimental group (and of the general population called teach- ers, over time). This last concern is defined as the relia- bility of the Belief Identification Instrument. Appropri— ate methods were designed and implemented to test these concerns. Data was programmed for the IBM 1130 computer by preparing punchcards in the APL programming language. Data output was in the form of a printout. 54 55 Presentation and Analysis 2: Data In designing the procedures for the statistical analysis the following six questions were considered and and solutions provided. The solutions at which the experi- menter arrived both answered the questions and tested the hypotheses stated earlier. 1. Can the belief statements be inferred from the displayed behaviors? Can the criterion group agree among themselves concerning the validity of the belief statements and the displayed behaviors? Can the criterion group agree with the experiment- er concerning the validity of the belief state- ments and the displayed behaviors? How does the criterion group agree with the exper- imental group with respect to: a. each experimental group member concerning all items? b. each item concerning all experimental group members? How do the individual members in the experimental group agree among themselves with respect to each item? Is each experimental group member's rank ordering and role identification logical with respect to transivity? 56 The criterion group viewed the video tape and re- sponded to the original Belief Identification Statements as developed by the experimenter. Ultimate agreement was reached on all items used in the Belief Statement List in the following manner. Those items on which agreement could not be reached were either modified so that agreement could be reached or they were discarded. Upon completion of this procedure the re— maining items were considered to be directly related to the behavioral acts on the video tape and were thereafter labeled the Belief Identification Instrument. There was disagree— ment between the criterion group members on three items. Two items were modified and one was discarded. The responses on the adjusted Belief Identification Instrument were compared to the responses as intended by the experimenter. Further adjustments were made on one more item so that agreement on all item responses was complete. Table 1 indicates the criterion group determin- ations of the agree-disagree response items on the adjusted Belief Statement List. In developing the master data sheet for the item analysis the experimenter was interested in analyzing the data in two ways: first, with respect to the summation of response items for each experimental group member and, sec- ondly, with respect to the summation of experimental group members for each item response. 57 TABLE 1 DISTRIBUTION OF AGREE-DISAGREE CHOICE DETERMINATIONS OF THE CRITERION GROUP item no. Behavioral Role item no. Organismic Role 1 Agree 17 Disagree 2 Disagree 18 Agree 3 Agree 19 Agree 4 Disagree 20 Agree 5 Disagree 21 Disagree 6 Agree 22 Disagree 7 Agree 23 Agree 8 Disagree 24 Disagree 9 Disagree 25 Agree 10 Agree 26 Agree 11 Agree 27 Disagree 12 Agree 28 Agree 13 Disagree 29 Agree 14 Agree 30 Disagree 15 Agree 31 Disagree 16 Agree 32 Agree 33 Disagree 34 Agree The percentage of agreement between each experi- mental group member's total responses and the responses of the criterion measure is taken to be positively correlated with that particular member's ability to perceive others' beliefs as manifested by their behavior. This subjective interpretative ability functions in close conjunction with 58 with each person's personal beliefs which, in turn, are synthesized from his own unique past experiences. Table 2 shows both the level of inferential skill of each experimental group member and the degree to which his personal beliefs influence his perceptive ability. TABLE 2 ITEM ANALYSIS-INTERCOMPARISON PERCENTAGE OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CRITERION GROUP AND EACH EXPERIMENTAL GROUP MEMBER ACROSS ALL ITEMS group member no. % agreement group member no. % agreement 1 100. 21 79.4 2 97. 22 88.2 3 100. 23 , 88.2 4 97. 24 91.1 5 94.1 25 91.1 6 73.5 26 97. 7 82.3 27 91.1 8 76.4 28 73.5 9 79.4 29 91.1 10 64.7 30 94.1 11 100. 31 88.2 12 100. 32 y 100. 13 91.1 33 85.2 14 91.1 34 ~ 91.1 15 97. 35 94.1 16 91.1 36 91.1 17 97. 37 100. 18 97. 38 97. 19 94.1 39 91.1 20 94.1 . 40 94.1 59 Examination of Table 2 reveals that 72% of the eXperimental group agreed with the criterion measure on 90% of the items. A large majority (93%) agreed with the criterion measure on 75% of the items. For purposes of classification, it is suggested that a person who agreed with the criterion measure in 90% or higher of the cases could be said to possess an above average degree of inferential skill, 75%-90% average skill, and less than 75% a below average degree of inferential skill. Using the above figures 72% of the experimental group can be rated as above average, 20.5% average and 7.5% below average. Table 3 presents a comparison of each criterion response item with the percentage of agreement for that re- spective item of the total experimental group. Examination of this table indicates that 97% of the total items on the belief statement list yield an agree- ment by 80% of the experimental group, 59% of the items by 90% of the group, and 44% of the total items yield an agree- ment by 95% of the experimental group. The percentage of disagreement between the cri— terion measure and the experimental group on each item re- sponse is interpreted to be the amount of subjective inter- pretation or perception on the part of the experimental group members. The validation measures taken in the design of the performance roles and the development of the belief statements minimize disagreement due to ambiguity and/or irrelevance between the roles and the statements. 60 TABLE 3 ITEM ANALYSIS-INTERCOMPARISON PERCENTAGE OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CRITERION GROUP AND EACH RESPECTIVE AGGREGATE ITEM ACROSS THE TOTAL EXPERIMENTAL GROUP item no. % of agreement item no. % of agreement 1 82.5 18 100. 2 95. 19 95. 3 82.5 20 95. 4 97.5 21 77.5 5 82.5 22 95. 6 92.5 23 95. 7 85. 24 97.5 8 97.5 25 92.5 9 87.5 26 87.5 10 85. 27 82.5 11 100. 28 97.5 12 82.5 29 87.5 13 92.5 30 85. 14 87.5 31 95. 15 92.5 32 92.5 16 97.5 33 82.5 17 95. 34 97.5 61 Table 4 presents the data used to predict the reliability of the Belief Identification Instrument. For this purpose the response items on the Belief Statement List are considered as a binomial or dichotomous distribu- tion of scores. The probability statement can now be made, for example, that given a mean of .82 and a standard deviation of .38, teachers of similar description to those used in the experimental group will make responses in agreement with the criterion group 82 times out of 100 on each of the thirty- four belief statements. The following table shows the computation of the mean (/&)*and the standard deviation (0')? for each item response. The mean is equivalent to the probability stat- istic (f7)*. The mean correlation statistic (73—)# of the entire set of scores is .905. ”VFW-PT 3% ll. =P # 211-. N 1 See Armore, Sidney J., Introduction to Statistical mlysis and Inference, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 19675, P0 2?!+ 62 TABLE 4 ITEM ANALYSIS-INTRACOMPARISON MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATION FOR EACH RESPECTIVE ITEM RESPONSE SHOWN AS A DICHOTOMOUS VARIABLE FOR THE ENTIRE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP item no. mean (M) standard deviation ( O”) 1 .825 .383 2 .950 .219 3 .825 .383 4 .975 .168 5 .825 .383 6 .925 .272 7 .850 .356 8 .975 .168 9 .875 .336 10 .850 .356 11 1.000 0.0 12 .825 .383 13 .925 .272 14 .875 .336 15 .925 .272 16 .975 .168 17 .950 .219 18 .000 0.0 19 .950 .219 20 .950 .219 21 .775 -422 22 .950 .219 23 .950 .219 24 .975 .168 25 .925 .272 63 TABLE 4 CONT'D item no. mean (/1.) standard deviation (0’) 26 .875 .336 27 .825 .383 28 .975 .168 29 .875 .336 30 .850 .356 31 .950 .219 32 .925 .272 33 .825 .383 34 .975 .168 Limitations of Statistical Inference Inferences from the data in Tables 2 and 3 can pnly apply to teachers or teacher populations similar to the experimental group sample defined in Chapter III. Inferences from Table 4 can be made pnly to members of the experimental group and ppp to Similar populations. Hayes' caution is repeated: The population is defined by the sample and the manner in which it is drawn. The only popula— tions to which the inferences strictly apply is that which individuals have equal likelihood of appearing in the sample.2 2 Hayes, William L., Statistics for Psychologists, (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1963), p. 216 Likewise, Ryans adds: Generalizations are appropriate only when made to populations which it seems reasonable to believe are not significantly different from the small group employed in the study. Con- clusions to be drawn are approximate, as are all inferences based on empirical data, which are by their very nature to some degree un- reliable. Table 5 presents the tabulation in percentages of the responses of the experimental group to the Role Identification section of the instrument. A small number did not respond to questions 1 and 7 because they felt that they had too little information and/or experience to make a meaningful choice. The majority of the group felt that they exhibited more behavioral tendencies when they first began their teaching career than presently. Almost all of the respondents who thought they resembled the organismic role presently also felt that they did so because of personal preference rather than because of social pressure or fortui- tous circumstance. A small majority remembered their fav- orite teacher as organismic while a large majority felt that their least-liked teacher exhibited numerous behavioral traits, especially those manifested in rigid structure and authori- tarianism. Ryans, David G., Characteristics pf Teacherp, (Washington, D. C.: American Council of Teachers, 1960), p. 398 65 TABLE 5 PERCENTAGES OF IDENTIFICATION OF THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP TO THE BEHAVIORAL OR ORGANISMIC ROLES question no.- Role #1 Role #2 no resp. 1. Which role did I most resemble in my first- year teaching? Which role do I think I most resemble presently? Which role do I think I would like to resemble if I could painlessly reshape my personality? Which role most resembles my favorite teacher when I was in school? Which role resembles the teacher I liked least when I was in school? Which role do I think most students nowadays would prefer to see in their teachers? Which role would my prin- cipal most likely think to be the epitome of a good teacher? 68 36 92 40 24 92 92 64 100 48 12 66 Of interest was the fact that all respondents without exception thought that students presently would prefer organismically-oriented teachers. A slight major- ity felt that their administrative superiors favored the organismic role as a more effective teacher role. Each experimental group member rated the perform- ance roles in terms of more and less effective teaching situations according to his individual perception. 88% of the group favored the organismic role while 12% preferred the behavioral role. All members responded to this question. Numerous respondents were anxious to explain the qualifying reasons for making their particular choices to this last question. The most common remark was that they were drawn to various elements from each role, but perhaps more from the organismic than the behavioral. Most also felt that the "ideal" teacher would be a composite of many organismic principals and some selected behavioral traits. Summary The criterion group viewed the video tape and responded to the Belief Identification List. Agreement by both members of the criterion group was reached on all items by modification or discarding questionable items. Using this method, two items were modified and one was dis- carded. Agreement with the criterion group on item re- sponses is interpreted to positively correlate both with 67 level of ability in inferential skill and degree of personal influence upon perceptive ability. Examination of data reveals that a large majority (93%) of the experimental group agreed with the criterion measure on 75% of the item responses. 80% of the experi— mental group agreed with the criterion measure on 97% of the total items. The average correlation of all item responses on the Belief Identification List is (.90). 88% of the experimental group favored the organ- ismic role as the more effective teaching Situation and, in general, most group members indicated that the most effect- ive teacher role, all things considered, would be a composite role including the best elements of each educational perspec- tive. CHAPTER V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Summary The main body of research concerning teacher be- liefs centers around observation and measurement of teacher classroom behavior. It is posited that a teacher will be more effective if he can scrutinize his beliefs with respect to various educational perspectives. This study was under- taken to afford the teacher the opportunity to organize and classify what he sees in other teachers and, through them, in himself. The purpose of the study was to design and develop a useful instrument in identifying and examining the teach- er's beliefs by comparing his actions with those of another person and making inferences as to that person's beliefs as manifested by those actions. Similarity of beliefs could then be considered in conjunction with the comparison of be- havioral traits. The instrument provides an efficient means to identify teacher educational beliefs and to examine them using a systematic procedure employing the indirect method of observation and inference. The observer views a video 68 69 tape of a simulated classroom situation in which a teacher- performer role-plays stereotypes of selected teacher be- havior. Inferences are made as to the beliefs held by the role-playing teacher on the basis of his displayed behavior. The observer then identifies with one of the educational perspectives by rating the roles as to effective classroom practices. The item responses were analyzed for percentages of agreement between the criterion measure and the experimen- tal group both with respect to each experimental group member across all items and with each item response across all group members. The criterion measure was selected from the faculty of the College of Education and the video tape performance roles were filled from the Department of Thgater Arts at Michigan State University. The experimental group was com- posed of teachers attending classes in graduate level edu- cation. The Belief Identification Instrument was designed and developed by synthesis of the professional material in the Review of the Literature into two divergent educational perspectives or teaching-learning approaches. These approach- es were then used to both develop the Belief Identification Statements and design the Behavioral and Organismic teacher- performance roles. 70 The experimental group viewed the tape and made agree-disagree response choices in terms of whether or not they perceived the belief statements to be reflecting the behaviors displayed. They then responded to seven questions designed to elicit role identification and were asked to choose the role they felt was generally more effective. An internal comparison of the item responses of the experimental group indicated that a high reliability was achieved from which a probability statement could be made predicting outcomes of future replications on similar statistical populations. The only population of teachers (to which these probabilities apply are those who have an equal likelihood of appearing in the sample and who are not significantly different from the sample group employed in this study. Conclusions Since it was evident that the item response choices were made as a result of personal preferences for and identification with one educational perspective or the other, it is concluded that the experimental group members were able to perceive parts of and gain insights into their own professional educational roles. They were able to "see themselves” in others' behavior thereby implying the aptitude to examine their own beliefs as suggested by their personal behavior. 71 The criterion group, selected on the basis of sensitivity to other people, agreed closely with each other and easily suggested adjustments to the few items on which they disagreed. The content of the performance roles and the Belief Identification Statements are therefore taken to possess a measure of face validity. As put forth in the Analysis of Data, a high positive correlation exists between the criterion measure and the experimental group's ability to perceive others' beliefs as manifested by their behavior. This same corel— lation is also present between the criterion measure and the experimental group's level of subjective influence upon these perceptive or inferential abilities. The validity of content of the Belief Identifi- cation Instrument has been demonstrated and a high positive correlation exists between the criterion group and the exper- imental group as shown by comparison of their respective item responses. It is submitted that the Belief Identification Instrument is in fact useful for identification and examin- ation of educational beliefs. The teacher's personal class- room behavior can be brought to conscious awareness thereby permitting inferences to beliefs to which he himself may subscribe. 72 Implications for Further Study The development of this study has suggested several possibilities for further research. The particular choices of a given respondent made in the Role Identification section of the instrument could be examined in terms of correlation to his educational his- tory and unique past experiences. Correlational studies could also be made between the item responses from the video tape portion of the instrument and those of the Role Identi— fication section in order to examine possible reasons or motives for personal identification with one or the other educational perspective. It could be hypothesized that the reasons for particular choices may be linked to present be- liefs, attitudes or values (derived from and based on past experiences) which have been now at least superficially ident- ified and examined. An additional possibility for further research is a comparison, possibly by analysis of variance, between pre- paring teachers and those already in the professional field. This might be done with two separate population samples at the same time or on the same sample, by means of the pretest and posttest method, over a given period of time. Recommendations The following recommendations are given to en- hance the effectiveness of the Belief Identification Instru- ment. 73 1. Construct the video tape in such a way that the eXper- imenter does not have to stop the tape manually or shift attention away from the television monitor to project a be- lief statement. A stop-time or stop-action feature could be built into the tape during its construction which would permit more precise control of the reading and response time and reduce possibilities of annoying technical "accidents” such as bulb burn-out, tape out of synchronization, etc. It would also permit the experimenter to vacate the front of the room thereby eliminating a distracting variable. Insertion of the belief statements onto the television picture by means of a superimposition slide would be a pre- ferable method to the use of transparencies. The video tape and the Belief Identification Statements would be a completely independent "package" with less moving parts, less variables and less potential "accidents”. It would also be more simple and convenient to administer. 2. Reduce or eliminate all possible background "noise" (See Chapter III) by using a more stylized classroom appear— ance rather than attempting to scrupulously copy a real one item for item. The camera should be kept on the teacher at all times with a minimum of distracting movements, such as from teacher to students and back. The children in the classroom need merely be suggested by the teacher's actions and dialogue and need not be seen by the viewer. 74 3. Add a "practice" section to the beginning of the video tape which would give the experimental group the opportunity to become more comfortable in the execution of their task before the actual measurement of their responses is begun. The quality of perception and the ability at inference of the group improved as each performance role developed and as more information was added to the group's knowledge of each performance role. The variable of "improvement of responses" should be kept at a minimum. 4. 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Ryans, David G. Characteristics 2; Teachers. Washing- ton, D. C.: American Council of Teachers, 1960. 79 Ryans, David G. "Teacher Behavior Theory and Research: Implications for Teacher Education." The Journal of Teacher Education, vol. XIV. Sept. 1953. Sargent, S. Stansfeld, and Williamson, Robert C. Social Psychology. New York: Ronald Press Co., 1958. Selltiz, Claire, et a1. Research Methods in Social Re- lations. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1962. Senders, Virginia L. Measurement and Statistics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1958. Shaw, M. E., and Wright, J. M. Scales for the Measure- ment of Attitude. New York: McGraw-Hill Co., 1959.— Simon, Herbert A., and Newell, Allen. "Models: Their Uses and Limitations." Current Perspectives in Social Psychology, Hollander, E., and Hunt, C., editors. New York: Oxford University Press, 1963. Skinner, B. F. Science and Human Behavior. New York: Macmillan Co., 195 . Smith, Wendell I., and Moore, J. William. Conditioning and Instrumental Learning. New York: McGraw- Hill: Book Co., 1966. ‘ Taft, Ronald. "The Ability to Judge People.” Psycho- logical Bulletin, vol. LII. 1965. Thurstone, L. L. "Attitudes Can Be Measured." Readings in Attitude Theory and Measurement, Fishbein, M., editor. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1967. Urick, Ronald, and Freymier, Jack R. "Personalities, Teachers and Curriculum Change." Supervision: Emerging Profession. Washington, D. C.: Association for Supervisors and Curriculum Devel- opment, National Education Association, 1969. 80 General Reference Allport, Gordon W. Becoming: Basic Considerations for a Psychology of Personality. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1955. Borg, Walter R. "Personality and Interest Measures as Re- lated to Criteria of Instructor Effectiveness." Journal pf Educational Research, 1957. Brown, J. S. The Motivation of Behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1951. Bruner, Jerome S. Toward a Theory pf Instruction. Cambridge, Mass.:— Harvard University Press, 1966. Bruner, Jerome S., and Krech, David, editors. Perception Lnd Personality: A Symposium. Durham, North Carolina: Durham University Press, 1950. Bruner, Jerome S., and Postman Leo. ”Perception, Cog- nition and Behavior." Journal 2; Personality, 1949. Cattell, Raymond B. Personality Lnd Motivation Structure and Measurement. New York: World Book, Inc., E57. Combs, Arthur W., and Snygg, Donald. Individual Behavior: A Perceptual Approach to Behavior. New York: Harper & Bros., Inc., 1959. Combs, Arthur W. The Professional Education 2: Teachers. Boston, Mass.: Allyn & Bacon, Inc., 19 Combs, Arthur W. "Seeing is Behaving." Educational Leadership, vol. XVI. 1958. Downie, N. M., and Heath, R. W. Basic Statistical Methods. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1965. Farquhar, William W. "Writing a Thesis Proposal." (Mimeo- graph), Michigan State University, 1969. Farquhar, William W. ”Directions for Thesis Preparation." (Mimeograph), Michigan State University, 1969. Flanders, Ned, et al. Helping Teachers Change Their EE- havior. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Mich- igan Press, 1963. 81 Freymier, Jack R. "Motivating Students to Learn." NEA Journal, vol. LVII. Feb., 1968. Griffiths, Daniel E. "Administration Theory and Change in Organizations.” Innovation,lp Education, Miles, M., editor. New York: Bureau of Pub- lications, Columbia University, 1964. Hebb, D. O. The Organization‘pg Behavior. New York: Science Editions, Inc., 1951. Lambert, William W. ”Stimulus Response Contiguity and Re— inforcement Theory in Social Psychology." Hand- book pg Social Psychology, Lindzey, Gardner, editor. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Pub- lishing Co., Inc., 1954. Maguire, Thomas 0. "Value Components of Teachers' Judge- ments of Educational Objectives." Audio-Visual Communications Review, vol. XVI. Spring, 1953. Maslow, Abraham H. New Knowledgelip Human values. New York: Harper & Bros., Inc., 1959. Porter, Andrew H. ”Guidelines for Formulating a Research Project.” (Mimeograph), Michigan State Univ- ersity, 1969. Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers 2: Term Pa ers, Theses, and Dissertations. Chicago: Univer- sity of Chicago Press, 1967. Wallen, Norman E., and Travers, Robert M. "Analysis and Investigation of Teaching Methods." Handbook 2: Research.pp Teaching. Chicago: Rand Mc- Nally & CO., 19 30 APPENDICES APPENDIX A 82 MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY EAST LANSING - MICHIGAN 1H2; INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA CENTER March 15, 1970 Dear Sir, Your assistance is requested in the selection of two of your collegues in the College of Education whom you feel are well-qualified to serve as members of a criterion group in an upcoming research project. These persons will be chosen on the basis of their sensitivity to other people. The purpose of the study is to develop an instrument which would be useful in identifying and examining teacher educational beliefs. The instrument would provide the teacher with a means to compare his classroom practices with his educational beliefs by identifying particular displayed behavior patterns and by inferring underlying educational beliefs which foster them. He would bring his personal classroom behavior to conscious awareness by observing a controlled situation displaying some stereotypes of teaching methods which inherently infer underlying be- liefs. Two professors currently involved in teacher train- ing in the Michigan State University College of Education will be selected and asked to serve as the criterion measure for the study. Their task will be to assess the validity of the content of both the video tape and the accompanying belief statement list by viewing the tape and by responding to the list. Please complete the enclosed form and return it to me in care of Dr. James L. Page, faculty sponsor of this research project. Instructional Resource Center, Erickson Hall. Thank you for your cooperation. Sincerely, Joseph S. Yanick, Jr. 83 Please return to: Joseph S. Yanick, Jr. Instructional Resource Center Erickson Hall I would like to suggest: and to serve as members of the criterion group in the research project you have described. 84 MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY EAST LANSING - MICHIGAN 13323 INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA CENTER March 20, 1970 Dear Dr. In a letter sent on March 15 to professors involved in teacher training in the College of Education, I requested assistance in the selection of two members of a criterion group in an upcoming research project under the sponsor- Ship Of Dr. James L. Page. You have been nominated by your collegues as being exceptionally well-qualified by reason of your demonstrated sensitivity to other people. I would like to ask you to serve as a member of the criterion measure on this project. Enclosed is a description of the purpose and the design of the proposed study. You would be asked to view a twenty-five minute video tape of professional actors engaging in the performance of stereotypes of teacher roles and to respond to a corre- sponding belief statement list. Your task would be to assess the validity of content of both the video tape and the belief statement list. Please contact me by responding to the tear-off stub below. I may be reached at 355-9892 for further information. If you are willing to honor my request I would be willing to meet with you personally to discuss this and to arrange further details at any time convenient to you. Thank you for your interest. Sincerely, Joseph S. Yanick, Jr. I would be happy to serve. Sorry, I will be unable to serve. I would like more information. Please contact me. APPENDIX B ITEM teaching technique environmental control goals motivation number of learners environ- mental structure punishment content content structure content limitations 85 Belief Comparison Chart BEHAVIORAL teaching techniques are based on the com- monality of certain learner character- istics environmental control is essential highly specified goals necessary to learning externally imposed possible to learn as a group authoritarian, i.e., highly structured en- vironment necessary avoidance of penalty used as reinforcer selection and arrange- ment extremely im- portant precise structure necessary highly specified limits ORGANISMIC teaching techniques are based on the unique characteristics of each learner environmental control may inhibit the de- sired process goals are personal and self-projected internally induced individual...1earning takes place different- ly in each learner learner suggests or passively imposes structure, if any non-relevant content is suggested by the process content is merely the vehicle for the learning process learner-imposed limits, if any ITEM content importance vis-a-vis orientation content vis-a—vis learning method Innueof goal statement of goal object of learning rmhmeof the learner teaching approach focus of the learning situation Immueof learning 86 Belief Comparison Chart BEHAVIORAL goal oriented...suggest new or more content as goal rote learning response sets important with re- spect to subject con- tent goal is a product change of behavior) goal is clearly de- scribed to the learner before the learning commences change of behavior (skill, mastery of content) structure of the en- vironment and the con- tent is as important as the nature of the learner stimulus-response- reinforcement instructor-centered mass learning is a desired goal...greater efficiency of existant resources ORGANISMIC content important only in the sense of process orientation practice in conceptual development important with respect to sub- ject content goal is a process which fosters self- adjustment which, in turn, is a process nonerelevant...as some goals are long- range and others are difficult to verbalize healthy self-image ease of self-adjust- ment, self-actualiz- ation nature of the learner is of prime importance and environment and content is of second- ary importance self-actualization learner-centered each learner's unique characteristics pre- clude mass learning ITEM content importance orientation self-concept inter- changability of learner failure ability anxiety answer) 87 Belief Comparison Chart BEHAVIORAL knowledge of factual content is necessary to the nature of the structure to be de- signed but not nec- essary for achieve- ment of goal, i.e., the product goal oriented non-relevant non-selective learner is inter- changable (wrong answer or no failure is important in the sense that the struc- ture is designed so as to avoid it ability to learn is fixed certain amount of anxiety enhances learning ORGANISMIC content is important only in that it is meaningful process oriented positive self-concept very important out- come highly selective learner is unique and nonrinterchangable (lack of self-adjust- ment) failure is im- portant in that it is an absence of adjust- ment to the situation ability to learn is capable of being influenced low anxiety is con- ducive to learning APPENDIX C l. 5. 88 Belief Concept List BEHAVIORAL The learning situation should be based on successful experiences. The sequencing of materials is an important factor in the design of the instructional environment. The learning eXperience should contain an orderly arrangement of subjects representing the best of our heritage. The subject content in a learning situation is the facts to be learned and the skills to be acquired. Practice is an essential element in learning. Because human nature is flexible and adaptive the learner can easily conform to a well-designed lesson. Teachers should keep in mind that pupils have to be made to work. What we need in education is respect for the authority of the teacher, such as when I was in school. 9. 10. ll. 12. 13. l4. 15. 89 Belief Concept List BEHAVIORAL To sacrifice discipline, even to the interests of the learners, is to allow the educational environment to exceed the control of the teacher. The learning situation should always present attain- able goals, both short and long-range. The best way to measure a learner's progress is to measure his academic achievement. Subjects that sharpen the mind, like math and Latin, should be stressed. Learners need and want more supervision and disci- pline than they usually get from teachers. They don't admit it because they are afraid of being ridiculed. Subject content is composed of factual material and skills. One product in learning is an increase in the learner's fund of knowledge. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 9O Belief Concept List BEHAVIORAL The teacher is the supreme authority in the class- room. A teacher's status as a professional guaran- tees this and the privilege is rarely abused. The learner's capacity to gain knowledge is fixed at birth. Learning is most effective if stimuli are presented which call for reinforceable responses. Learning is increased by immediate knowledge of results. Each subject taught should develop an area of the learner's physical and mental discipline. Learning is building a fund of knowledge for use in the future. The basic task of education is, as it has always been, to teach reading, writing and arithmetic. A good teacher will more effectively attain course objectives by careful organization of course content and class time. 24. 25. 26. l. 3. 5. 91 Belief Concept List BEHAVIORAL A learner will feel more secure if he knows precisely what is expected of him at all times. Learners are flexible and readily adapt to different classroom situations. A well-organized classroom is a sign of a well-organ- ized teacher. ORGANISMIC Knowledge of the learning process is more important than knowledge of subject content. Learning must be experimental if we are going to dis- cover and develop better teaching and learning methods. All learners are unique and different. The needs and demands of our society should be the basis of the learner's school experience. Standards of work shouldn't be the same for all learners. They should vary with each individual. 7. 9. 10. ll. 12. 13. 92 Belief Concept List ORGANISMIC It is not essential to stay within subject matter lines. A learner should know how to test all available alter— natives before accepting any of them. The inquiry method is highly suited to teaching children because of their innate curiosity. Interaction between pupil and teacher and between pupil and pupil is more important than the learning of subject content. Motivation is more important than classroom control. Learning will occur most efficiently when the learner himself develops the desire to learn. All learners have physical, intellectual, social, moral and spiritual needs which the school should reach out to meet. subject content is composed of concepts, constructs, and ability in analysis, synthesis and critical thinking. l4. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 93 Belief Concept List ORGANISMIC The learner's goals should be suggested by his interests and needs. It is more important to be able to view all manner of problems in a critical and objective way than it is to memorize correct answers. A primary aim of education is the encouragement of the learner to analyze and constructively criticize his own and other peoples' ways of doing things. Learning is most effective when the learner is actively engaged in the process. A learner should be taught starting at his own individ- ual level, not at the level of the grade in which he happens to be. If a learner is interested, motivated and involved, there will be no discipline problems. Some learners are more highly motivated when they are producing ideas than when they are consuming them. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 94 Belief Concept List ORGANISMIC A learner's progress should be measured in terms of emotional and social development. Not all positively motivated students move toward teacher or peer approval. The instructional experience can strengthen the learn- er's self-concept. Learning is most effective when the pupil shares in structuring the learning experience. Learning should be organized around life, not around academic subjects. Learning will take place most efficiently when the learn- er perceives it as meaningful to him. We should design the learning experience around the child, somewhat like a doctor's perscription. The formation of attitudes is more important than the ingestion and regurgitation of facts. 95 Belief Concept List ORGANISMIC 29. The less time spent on non-learning activities, the more learning will occur. APPENDIX D 96 BELIEF IDENTIFICATION INSTRUMENT Belief statements Behavioral role statement no. 1. A good teacher will more efficiently attain course objectives by careful organization of class time. The less time spent on non-learning activities, the more learning is bound to occur. A learner will feel more secure if he knows precisely what is expected of him at all times. Standards of work shouldn't be the same for all learners. They should vary with the individual. Knowledge of the learning process is more important than knowledge of subject content. Learners need and want more supervision and discipline than they usually get. The learning eXperience should contain an orderly array of the best of our heritage. A learner's progress should be measured in terms of emotional and social development. 97 BELIEF IDENTIFICATION INSTRUMENT Belief statements Behavioral Role...cont'd statement no. 90 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. The instructional experience can strengthen the learn- er's self-concept. Learners are flexible and readily adapt to different classroom situations. Learning is building a fund of knowledge for use in the future. The learning situation should always present attainable goals, both short and long-range. A learner should be taught at his level...not at the level of the grade he is in. Learning is increased by immediate knowledge of the results. The sequencing of materials is an important factor in the design of the instructional situation. A well-organized classroom is a sign of a well—orga- nized teacher. 98 BELIEF IDENTIFICATION INSTRUMENT Belief statements Organismic role statement no. 1. 7. 9o 10. The best way to measure a learner's progress is to measure his academic achievement. Learning will take place most efficiently when the learner perceives it as meaningful to him. Our society and the real world should be the basis of the learner's school experience. It is not essential to stay within subject content lines. The learning experience should contain an orderly array of the best of our heritage. The sequencing of materials is an important factor in the design of the instructional eXperience. Learning is most effective when the learner is actively engaged in the process. Subjects that sharpen the mind, like math and languages, should be stressed. The instructional experience can strengthen the learn- er's self-concept. Interaction of pupil-teacher is more important than the learning of subject content. 99 BELIEF IDENTIFICATION INSTRUMENT Belief statements Organismic role...cont'd statement no. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. The subject content in a learning situation is the facts to be learned and the skills to be acquired. The instructional experience should train the learner's ability in analysis, synthesis and critical thinking. A learner should know how to test all available alter- natives before accepting any of them. A primary product in learning is an increase in the learner's fund of knowledge. The learner's capacity to gain knowledge is fixed at birth. Some learners are more highly motivated when they are producing ideas than when they are consuming them. The teacher is the supreme authority in the classroom. Chaos is the alternative. We should design the learning experience around the child, somewhat like a doctor's perscription. APPENDIX E 100 General Instructions for Performance Roles Extreme care must be taken to assure that over- emphasis or "overacting" do not lend unwanted shadings to. the roles. It is particularly important that the Behav- ioral role does not become curt, stand-offish or abrupt. It is similarly important that the Organismic role does not become shaded with lack of direction, indifference or overpermissiveness. Give the general feeling that you are confident in yourself both as a person and as a teacher of this class. 1. 3. Behavioral Role Description Make reference to the fact that you run a well- structured class with the teacher in command at all times. There are to be nice straight rows, no talking unless called upon, and raised hands to be acknowledged. Outline exactly what is to be learned in this lesson. Indicate the specific reward to be given if the lesson is successful and the specific penalty if it isn't. Give a simple definition. Let it come out of the subject you are dealing with in this scene. Have 7. 101 the class copy it word for word in their notebooks. Be very specific about exact wording. Indicate that you want it memorized by everyone for tomorrow's class. You will ask each pupil to recite it letter perfect for a grade in your gradebook. Lecture on a point. Insist that notebooks and pencils be ready to take notes. Instruct the note- books to be collected at the end of class so that you may check them for completeness and neatness. Make an issue of the fact that a child has tried to speak without having either raised his hand or having been acknowledged by the teacher. Make a statement about the importance of getting a high grade on an upcoming test. Read off one or two names with the highest grades and one or two names with the lowest grades on the last test. Praise the top children and sincerely encourage the low ones. Make every effort not to be nasty or pedantic. Criticize a pupil in a way which is just a bit sar- castic. Rationalize to him and the rest of the class that a little embarrassment is good for him. 9. 10. 11. 102 Answer a pupil's question concerning why they have to learn a certain subject anyway by explaining that they will understand better later on...when they are older. Give the class a list of something to memorize. Indicate that everyone who gets the entire list correct on a quiz will have no homework for the following day. Those who get any wrong will have to turn in each item they missed written out ten times for the next day's class. Create an incident where a pupil makes a non-relevant interjection to the topic with which you are dealing. Bring the stream of thought quickly back strictly to your original topic. In a sincere manner, ex- plain that such deviance wastes class time. You have much more to cover before the six—week period ends and you must finish covering what is on your daily lesson plan before the bell rings. Pass out a ditto list you have prepared for the class. Indicate that the list will have to be recited letter perfect by every member of the class...for a grade. Assign this for homework to be completed by tomorrow morning. 1. 2. 3. 5. 103 Organismic Role Description You are making a point pertinent to the lesson you are teaching. Someone in the class interjects with an item which has happened to him or about something which he has just read. It has some commonality with your point. "Spontaneously" tie his point in with yours, thank him for his contribution, and go on with your point. Give the general feeling that you believe in running a democratic classroom. At some point in the scene create a specific incident which will show this point clearly. Take a topic or an issue spontaneously brought up in the classroom by a pupil and use it as a means to teach something you want them to learn. Suggest and encourage the initiation of a group project. It is to be completely governed by the interested pupils in the class. Your assistance and advice will be available to them. They need only ask for it. Create an incident to show that a particular pupil's goal(s), or that the personal goals of all the pupils in the class, are important to you as their teacher. 9. 10. 104 Invent a situation in which you show the viewer that the specific subject content is merely a means to demonstrate a process and that the process is the important lesson...not the factual material. Correct someone in a positive way. Don't use any negative words or references. Mention some strong point about the pupil and give him some specific word of encouragement. Refer to the fact that the students will be able to use the fact, technique or skill you just taught them in other areas outside the classroom and outside of school. Devise a way to make the point that it is more im— portant to learn the technique of analysis than it is to memorize factual material for one specific case. Generate this point out of the lesson you are teaching. Announce a topic you would like to treat in class in the near future. Ask and encourage the pupils to bring in acticles, pictures, personal effects or anything that they feel would enhance your topic. Make it clear that both you and they will explore the subject together rather than your talking and their listening. 11. 12. 105 Refer to the fact that the students will be able to use a technique you have just taught them over a wider range of contexts than merely the classroom situation. Give a book to a pupil to read so that he may delve a bit deeper into a topic he's shown interest in. Get someone started on a self—instructional program to spurt ahead on a topic he finds easy to grasp. Tell a new pupil who has been having a difficult time reading that he can catch up with the rest of the class by listening to a pre-recorded tape. Give it to him and send him to a carrel in the rear of the room to continue on his own. APPENDIX F 106 Video Script Opening Statement This instrument has been developed as an attempt to aid you as a teacher in examining your beliefs concerning education. It will give you the opportunity to compare your classroom behavior with that of another teacher and to infer what that teacher might believe as a result of viewing his behavior. This could be a point of departure...a place to begin introspection by providing a means of classifying and orga- nizing what you see in other teachers and, as a result, per- haps in yourself. You will observe teaching in a simulated classroom situation. At several points in each scene statements of belief will be made. You are to decide whether or not the teacher being viewed holds those statements to be true. Here is an example: teacher: ”I want to talk about last week's assignment be- fore I pass them back. Mary, I had to take ten points off because I simply couldn't read your writing. Alice, you received five extra points because you typed your report. Tony, you forgot to rule margins on your paper and your work is just too messy to read. You'll just have to do it over if you want any credit for the assignment." 107 On the basis of what you have just seen, mark a plus if you feel that ppg teacher, not you, but the teacher, believes that statement. Do you believe that the teacher before you holds the following belief to be true, as inferred by his actions in the scene? Conversly, mark a minus if you feel that his actions show that he does App hold this statement to be true. statement: Children feel more secure if they know exactly what is expected of them at all times. Role fl Behavioral 1. teacher: "O.K., let's have it quiet...you two, in the back...settle down, will you please? We've got a lot to cover. Look, if we could just get this class in the room and in your seats, so that when the last bell rings I can get right to it, we could get a lot more accomplished in here...you know...all the jabbering...get all the talking out of your system during the five-minute break...that's what it's for." 2. teacher: "Now, let's get these rows straightened out. It's very sloppy in here...I don't know where the aisles are and where they're not. Just line up your desk behind the front person in the row...that's all it takes. I want to see nice 3. 108 straight aisles and nice straight rows. It doesn't take that much to keep the room looking nice." teacher: ”All right, now, what we're going to be doing today are two things. We're going to start the unit today on the first fifteen amendments to the Constitution. This is on page forty- three of your text, so before I say anything else, turn to page forty-three and just have it ready. The other thing we're going to do today is start to talk about the Supreme Court. It's become very important lately...in the newspaper, on TV, everywhere you look. In fact, the president's nominating a new person to fill the vacant seat is hot stuff right now. So I think you peOple should know what the Supreme Court is all about and who's on it." teacher: "You'll notice on the board behind me an explanation of what the first fifteen amendments mean. The amendments themselves are listed on page forty-three in front of you. I also have some auxiliary notes on the board here that I also want you to know. So while I'm talking I want you to be taking down the notes on the board. You'll be responsible for not only what's in the book, but also the notes on the board, for the 109 next test. Now, I want you to get your note— books in shape because I'm going to collect them as usual on Friday and read them over for com- pleteness and neatness. I repeat, your notebooks in this course are ten percent of your grade so get caught up if you've missed anything, or if they're sloppy. No sense in losing points you don't have to lose." teacher: ”You see the comments on the board par- allel the book like this: here you see that, in general, the Constitutional Convention was held in 1787. That's the first thing you'll have to remember. Specifically, the thirteenth amendment abolished slavery, the fourteenth forbade the abridgement of the privileges and immunities of U. S. citizens and the denial of their equal protection under the law. We'll get into what each of these phrases mean later. The fifteenth gives the ex- slaves sufferage...that means the right to vote. So that's what we'll be dealing with; the first fif- teen amendments and what they mean." teacher: "Then in 1788 the Constitution was drawn up and ratified by nine states out of the original thirteen." A student begins to speak to the teacher from the 110 back of the room. teacher: "Tom, I told you I have a rule in here, that you raise your hand. If I don't acknowledge you that means that I want to go on so that I don't forget what I'm saying. If it's that important it'll wait until the end of the class, won't it? As a matter of fact, if you peOple have any ques- tions about the Bill of Rights I'd kind of like you to wait until we deal with them further after tomorrow's class because we're going to take them one at a time." teacher: "Now, concerning the Supreme Court jus- tices, I've taken the time to type up a ditto list of the present justices. Would you please pass these out? Now, the list has nine names. You see that each name is followed by a year. O.K., everybody got one now? Good. I also want you to know that the chief justice here is Warren Bur- ger. He was appointed chief justice in June of 1969. There is going to be a quiz Thursday morn- ing and I want you to take this list and memorize it. Memorize it in order from Black in 1937 to Marshall in 1967. There's no sense in knowing the names unless you can spell them correctly so spelling counts. That's why I gave you the list." 8. 9. 111 teacher: Yes, Ruth, what is it?" Ruth asks if the quiz will count for a grade. teacher: "Yes, this will be given the same weight as a regular test as far as a grade is concerned, so let's do a good job on it. The usual rules: if you get them all right you won't have any home- work for the next day. Those of you who get any wrong will automatically turn in each one you got wrong written out ten times as an assignment for Friday morning. And don't take these assignments lightly. I don't give them for my health. If you don't know the answers, this is the way you're going to learn them." The teacher has just asked a question of a student and has received a satisfactory answer. teacher: "That's correct, Sheila." The teacher notices that a boy in the back of the room obviously has other interests than the lesson at hand. teacher: "When Larry is through looking at Susan back there, you tell him what the answer is, Sheila." This brings about general giggling and laughter around the classroom. Larry is obviously em- barrassed by the remark. teacher: "Larry, don't forget how to blush like that when you get older. The girls will really 11. 12.- 13. 112 like that. A little embarrassment's good for you. It keeps the color in your cheeks. Now, class, you've got your assignment about the Supreme Court justices. We can't get into the subject of how they work until you know who they are so I'll be waiting for you to get this list memorized." A raised hand is acknowledged and the student asks why it is important to learn about the Supreme Court justices. It doesn't seem relevant to the interests of junior high students and that it seems remote and non-affecting to them. teacher: "What you're really asking is, 'Why do I have to learn this, anyway?‘ isn't it? Well, I guess you're right. I guess it wouldn't seem terribly important at your age. Later on though, you're going to be very interested in things of this sort...you know...what's going on in Washington, and things like that, because you'll be more di- rectly affected by them." teacher: "I want to get this straight, now. The assignments you have from me for the rest of the week are: memorize the list, quiz on Thursday on the Supreme Court justices, correct spelling and the right order. No homework if you get them right and ten times apiece if you get any wrong, due 113 Friday morning. And the other topic we started today: read the first fifteen amendments to the Constitution and have down pat the things you copied off the board in your notebooks. Have your notebooks ready Friday to hand in to be checked. Grades will be given for the quiz and for your notes. I don't want any complaints that you don't know what's expected of you in this class." 14. teacher: "I want to say something about these quizzes. We're still early in the semester and I'd like to see you get off to a good start as far as grades are concerned. Don't start loafing in the first part of the semester and then come run- ning up two weeks before school's over for extra work to push up your grade. Grades are important all the time so let's get a good start here in the beginning. The way to get along with me is to get your work done and everything will be fine." 15. A raised hand is acknowledged. The student asks if they might talk about the recent Chicago riots. teacher: "Well, we've got a lot to cover between now and the end of the semester. I'm not trying to dodge the issue...it might be interesting. But we've got to keep up with the other three jun- ior highs in the system so you'll all have had the same background when you go up to the high school. l6. 1. 114 One thing I like to do as a teacher is to do every- thing we started out to do. But if we get all our work done before the end of the semester, I'd be glad to talk about the Chicago riots, or any- thing else you might want to bring in." teacher: "The bell is going to ring in a few sec- onds. Let's get these rows straightened up. Everybody line up your desk exectly behind the first person in each row and you'll have a nice straight row. If anybody comes in here I want them to see a classroom and not a pigpen. Get all the paper picked up off the floor around your desks. That's all...see you tomorrow." Role fig Organismic A student in this Civics class has just asked the teacher what is to be learned in this class. teacher: "Well, John, it might be three hundred facts out of that book in front of you. It might be a lot of right answers on a test I may give you at the end of the semester. When I began teaching I thought of it as more or less that I knew more about Civics than you did and that the book and I would teach you some of what we 2. 3. 115 had to offer. So that if you could tell me back what the book said and if you could tell me back what I said that you'd at least know more about Civics than when you came in. And if you could do this on a test, then we'd both know that we'd succeeded.” teacher: "But I don't see it that way any more. If I had to define it for you now, this class, I mean, I would say that it's what is happening to us every day. It's how we operate as a society; it's how we treat each other as citizens; how we're treated by the people we elect. These things change every day. I'm not denying that we have to know something about what's gone on before us. I suppose I would call this the history of this government, or the history of this country looking at its government. It's how the people brought it into being, how the people are affected by it, how the people change it when they feel that it needs to be changed. O.K.? Does that answer your ques- tion about this class?" teacher: "What I'd like to deal with today are some notions on how our federal court system works; how it's the top rung on a ladder or system of justice that starts in our own municipal court 116 houses, goes up through county, state, regional and finally to the federal Supreme Courts. I think that it would be a good topic to talk about in class because it's an important issue out in the street right now. All you get through the media these days are items having to do with court proceedings and judgements, or appeals made by people who don't feel they've been given a fair shake in court.. I guess the first place, or the logical place to start, would be right here in our own local municipal courts." A student asks, "Does this federal court business we're going to talk about have anything to do with the Chicago riots...you know...the Conspiracy Seven?" teacher: "It certainly does.” student: "What laws did they break? It seems to me that the papers and a lot of people are saying that they shouldn't be persecuted...you know...that they're innocent.” teacher: ”Would you be surprised to hear that you made those laws? Not directly, but, because of the way our courts operate, we elect people to Congress to represent us. Supposedly we elect them because we trust them to make laws which will be good for us. It's those laws that they've enacted, in our behalf, that the seven people in Chicago are accused 117 of breaking. So I guess if you can follow the circle we've been going around what we're really talking about is that these seven peOple are accused of breaking laws which we, the people, have set up for our own protection and the pro- tection of our rights." teacher: "Would you people like to continue this discussion? I'd be glad to spend as much time as you want on it because it seems to me that it's happening to us right now. If we're reading news- papers and looking at TV newscasts concerning the trial it should be more interesting to all of us if we know a little more about it. It's my hunch that if we do, you're going to know more about the federal court system, and the entire legal court system for that matter, than if we read it out of a book." student: "Does it make any difference whether we start with the federal courts and work our way down or the other way around?" teacher: "You could start in the middle if you wanted to, I suppose. I think what's important is that we tie the things we talk about in here to real life. Its not just something you have be- tween the covers of that book in front of you. 7. 118 Civics is real and if it can't be real, if it's going to be a subject that we just learn a few hundred facts about, then I expect that we should have a different way to go about learning it." teacher: "Tell you what: those of you who want to, why don't you stick around for a few minutes be- fore you go home and organize a way to go about this. I'll be here if you need any help but let's see if you can't get something together. You know, one use for this project when it's done would be to submit it to the school paper. Come to think of it, the suburban paper would be sure to use it if it were well-organized. It would make a good feature article for them." teacher: "Before we get into this any further, let me ask a question. What's been happening right here in our own city that has to do with our muni- cipal courts?” student: "There was an item on last night's news. It said that a clerk in city hall was accused by the city law director of embezzling city funds and the man said he was only borrowing it for awhile. Is that what you're getting at?" teacher: "Exactly. You know, it would be fun to follow this issue and the Chicago incident in par- 9. 10. 119 allel for the next few weeks and draw similarities between them as they happen. As a matter of fact, would some of you like to try this as a group project?" teacher: "My question is: what's the difference between the federal judges on the Supreme Court and the federal judges in the various federal court districts around the country?" student: "The federal district judges are elected by popular vote and the federal judges on the Supreme Court are political appointments by the President of the United States." teacher: "Let me hear the reasoning behind your answer, Rosemary." Rosemary replies that she thinks it's this be- cause the district judges sit in large cities all around the country and it seems fair that they should be elected by the people who live in those areas. Since the federal judges on the Supreme Court all live in washington they should be close to the president and it makes sense that they should be appointed by him. teacher: "That's a good line of reasoning, Rose- mary. It does make good sense because that's pre- cisely how municipal judges are elected at the 11.- 12. 120 local level. When we get to the federal level we find that they're all appointed positions rather than by popular election. That was good thinking though, Rosemary, because you just described the reasons that municipal and county judicial officers are elected.” teacher: "Justice is a process by which you can take your case to other courts until you've ex- hausted all the available courts or until one of them reverses your decision. It seems to me that its a basic idea that if all the courts along the line reaffirm the fact that you're guilty, then maybe they're right and you're wrong. What I'm saying is another matter we might take up some other time. What's more important is that I could care less whether you memorize a list of municipal court, county court, this court, that court, fed- eral court... I suppose that's useful information to some people but if you do nothing else but get the idea that one has the right to appeal, and that you have alternatives, I'll be a very happy Civics teacher. And this is not something you're simply going to pack into your heads and spit back to me on a test and then forget it, at least I hope you you don't." 13. 14.- 15. 121 teacher: "It would be nice if one of the things that would happen in this room would be that when we bounce ideas off each other that we always test what we hear in here. Is it true or not? Is it good for us or not? Does it only apply to us in this room or to everybody outside as well? This to me is how you learn Civics or at least this is the most interesting way to get something out of a topic like Civics. The Civics I learned when I was your age was a lot different. A lot of the things that come up in this class didn't even exist fifteen years ago.” teacher: "I'd like to ask a question of someone. Tom, take a second to think about this. Tell me what it is that you want to get out of this course. You know what I mean, as a result of the interaction of thirty of us in here. What do you want out of this personally? I don't mean a 'nice' answer you think I'd like to hear as a teacher. I mean, what would really help ypp, as an individual?" Tom answers that his father is a police officer and that he doesn't understand some of the prob- lems his father brings home with him from work. It seems that his father feels that the public doesn't understand what law enforcement is all 16. 122 about and which is a source of irritation to him. Tom therefore wants to better understand some of the problems his father brings home with him. teacher: "Any ideas, anyone? How Tom can get what he's looking for? Yes, Kathy?” Kathy asks whether the class could explore what the police really do in their community and may- be develop it into a unit in class. teacher: "You know how I feel about things like this so let's do it. But we're going to need some background." teacher: "I'm sure we could get lots of things. We could start with the police department itself. I could make the initial contact if you'd like or you can do it yourself. We might even get a patrolman's manual and read what it says. I've let you people develop units before so I know what you're capable of. So bring it in...features, articles, pictures, you-name-it. Tom, you can be a big help here with your father being a policeman. Could you bring in some of his personal effects and things? After we get this all together and after your interviews are done and everything's collected we can start to organize it into something that makes sense, both to us and to anybody else that wants to look at it. It's a good assembly idea..." 17. 18. 123 teacher: "Our class could take over a whole as- sembly if we could pull this off in a nice, tight manner. The deal I'll make is this. It'll be your assembly. I'll push from behind if and when you need it but you'll be out front from beginning to end. What do you think? Come on, let's get a discussion going." teacher: "A couple of things before we break up. George, I got that article I said I'd bring in about military law...the one you said you'd be interested in reading. Pick it up on the way out...it'll be right here on the desk. And Marilyn, I just got a note from the media center. They have a number of tapes of speeches of great people. This would be a good place to pursue it if you're still interested in comparing the last three or four presidents' speech-making techniques. All you have to do is go in and sign out the tapes. You can listen to them right there or bring them back here. O.K., that's all. See you tomorrow."