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76-5542
DAANE, Cathy J . , 1946ATTITUDINAL CHANGES TOWARD TEACHING OF PRE-SERVICE
ELEMENTARY TEACHERS BEFORE AND AFTER TWO REQUIRED
FIELD-BASED COURSES AT MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY.
Michigan State U niversity, Ph.D., 1975
Education, elementary

Xerox University Microfilms t

Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106

T

ATTITUDINAL CHANGES TOWARD TEACHING OF PRE-SERVICE
ELEMENTARY TEACHERS BEFORE AND AFTER TWO REQUIRED
FIELD-BASED COURSES AT MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
By
Cathy U. Daane

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in p a rtia l fu lfillm e n t of the requirements
fo r the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department of Elementary and Special Education
College of Education

|
I

1975

ABSTRACT
ATTITUDINAL CHANGES TOWARD TEACHING OF PRE-SERVICE
ELEMENTARY TEACHERS BEFORE AND AFTER TWO REQUIRED
FIELD-BASED COURSES AT MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
By
Cathy J. Daane

The purpose of th is study was to determine the attitud es
toward teaching of pre-service elementary education majors enrolled
in one of two required field-based courses a t Michigan State Univer­
s ity , Spring Term, 1975.

S p e c ific a lly , the study examined the changes

in the students' a ttitu d es over the term and compared the f i r s t course
to the second, in terms of a ttitu d e changes.

The students were en­

ro lle d in one of two courses; Exploring Elementary Teaching (101A) or
Curriculum Methods in Elementary Education (321A).
A random sampling o f 45 students per course was done.

The

subjects were chosen from a population of 213 (101A) and 168 (321A)
students.
To determine the students' a ttitu d e s , the Minnesota Teacher
A ttitud e Inventory was administered.

Each student in the sample was

given the measure twice; f i r s t as a p re-te st during the f i r s t week of
the course, then as a posttest during the la s t week of the course.
In addition to the MTAI, interviews were conducted with twelve
students; six from each course.

These students were selected on the

Cathy J . Daane
basis o f the differences in th e ir scores from p re-test to posttest.
Included in the group were two students who had changed the most in
a po sitive d ire c tio n , two who had changed the most in a negative d i­
rec tio n , and two who had no change, in each course.
Both groups of students were involved in local elementary
schools.

In 101A the students were assigned to classrooms in a co­

operating public school d is t r ic t fo r observation/participation.

In

321A the students were assigned to classrooms in a second cooperating
public school d is t r ic t fo r ob servation/participation.

There were

some major differences between the two school systems in terms of
socio-economic status and educational practices.
Using the p re -te st and posttest scores

in the analysis of

the data, a repeated measures design was employed.

From th is analysis

i t was concluded th at there were no differences in e ith e r course be­
tween the p re -te s t and posttest scores on the MTAI.

However, there

was a s ig n ific a n t difference in attitu d es between the two courses.
The students in the second course (321A ), had more positive attitud es
toward teaching than the students in the f i r s t course (101A ).
On the basis of the interview s, the 321A students seemed
more anxious to begin th e ir professional careers than the 101A students.
Students in 101A f e l t they needed more experience, more time and more
techniques fo r classroom management.
This study indicates th at students in the second required
field-based course have more, positive attitu d es toward teaching than
students in the f i r s t required field-based course at Michigan State

Cathy J . Daane
U niversity.

Field-based experiences seem to provide the students with

a more r e a lis tic view of the elementary classroom.

Dedicated to
Homer and P h yllis

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The w rite r wishes to express her gratitude to the members of
her advisory committee:

Dr. Norman B e ll, Dr. Bruce Cheney, Dr. Calhoun

C o llie r, and Dr. Timothy L it t le fo r th e ir assistance, in te re s t and
professional advice during th is study.
Special thanks is extended to Dr. James Snoddy who served
as chairman fo r this study, fo r his patience, guidance and continued
support.
Her fam ily also deserves conmendation fo r th e ir support and
encouragement.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TA BLES.........................................................................................

vi

CHAPTER
I.

II.

III.

IV.

THE PROBLEM.................................................................................

1

Need fo r the S tu d y .................................................................
Purpose o f the Study .............................................................
Hypotheses .................................................................................
Minor Hypotheses.................................................................
Major Hypotheses.................................................................
Assumptions .............................................................................
Lim itations .............................................................................
Overview .....................................................................................

1
6
7
7
7
8
8
9

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE.........................................................

10

A ttitude and A ttitud e Change Toward Teaching . . . .
Field-Based Teaching Experiences .....................................
Minnesota Teacher A ttitu d e Inventory .............................

10
17
22

DESIGN OF THE STUDY

........................

.

28

P o p u la tio n .................................................................................
Sam ple.........................................................................................
Sampling Procedure .................................................................
Phase I —P r e - T e s t .............................................................
Phase I I - - P o s t t e s t .........................................................
Phase I I I - - I n t e r v i e w s .....................................................
Measures.....................................................................................
Hypotheses.................................................................................
Minor Hypotheses.................................................................
Major Hypotheses.................................................................
D e s ig n .........................................................................................
Sum m ary.....................................................................................

28
28
29
30
31
32
32
35
36
36
37
41

ANALYSIS OF DATA.........................................................................

42

Minor Hypotheses . . . . .
.................................................
Minor Hypothesis 1 .............................................................
Minor Hypotheses 2 .............................................................

42
42
43

iv

Page
Minor Hypothesis 3 ....................................
Minor Hypothesis 4 .........................................................
Major H y p o th e s e s .................................................................
Major Hypothesis I .........................................................
Major Hypothesis I I .........................................................
Major Hypothesis I I I .....................................................
Major Hypothesis I V .........................................................
I n t e r v i e w s .............................................................................
By C ourse.............................................................................
By A ttitud e C h a n g e .........................................................
Summary.....................................................................................

45
46
47
48
48
49
49
50
50
53
53

V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS..........................................................

54

Summary.....................................................................................
Conclusions.............................................................................
D is c u s s io n .............................................................................
Recommendations fo r Future Research ............................

54
57
59
61

APPENDICES
A.

Course Description, Checklist of A c tiv itie s , and
Meeting Outline fo r Education101A ...................................

63

Course Objectives and Guidelines and Seminar Outline
fo r Education 3 2 1 A .................................................................

69

Interview Questions

................................................................

73

BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................

74

B.
C.

LIST OF TABLES
Table
1.

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Page
S ta tis tic s on Population, Elementary School
Enrollment, Mean Income, and Tax Rate fo r
D is tric t A and D is tric t B ........................................................

5

Repeated Measures Design fo r Analysis of
Hypotheses I - I V ............................................................................

39

t-T e s t and F-Test fo r Pre-Test MTAI Scores
of Groups One and Two in 101A ................................................

43

t-T e s t and F-Test fo r Posttest MTAI Scores
of Groups One and Two in 101A ................................................

44

t-T e s t and F-Test fo r Pre-Test MTAI Scores
of Groups One and Two in 3 2 1 A ................................................

45

t-T e s t and F-Test fo r Posttest MTAI Scores
of Groups One and Two in 321A .................................................

46

Pre-Test and Posttest Group Mean Scores fo r
101A and 3 2 1 A .................................................................................

47

Repeated Measures Significance fo r Pre-Test
and Posttest Scores of 101A and 321A ....................................

48

Pre-Test, Posttest and Gain Scores fo r 101A
and 321A Students In t e r v ie w e d ................................................

51

CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM
Need fo r the Study
In the la s t few years there has been considerable discussion
regarding the d e s ira b ility of providing pre-service teachers with ex­
perience in elementary or secondary schools as part of th e ir college
career.

Many teacher train in g programs have in itia te d field-based

courses that allow the students to work a ctiv e ly in public school
classrooms.

One of the reasons th a t field-based courses are being

offered is that beginning classroom teachers have f e l t th e ir college
tra in in g in education was not based on the r e a litie s of the classroom.
Metzner, Nelson and Sharp^ have called th is phenomenon " r e a lity shock."
They have stated there is not ju s t one reason fo r i t , but ". . . a
number of possible reasons varying with each in d ivid u a l." In a study,
2
Lane found that beginning teachers cited the major reason fo r th e ir
teaching d if f ic u ltie s to be inadequate college preparation fo r teaching.
They tended to feel that much o f teacher education was in e ffe c tiv e when
they attempted to deal with teaching problems in the f ie ld .

^Seymour Metzner, Walter A. Nelson and Richard M. Sharp,
"On-Site Teaching: Antidote fo r R eality Shock?" Journal of Teacher
Education, 23:195, Summer, 1972.
2

Frank Lane, "A Study of the Professional Problems Recognized
by Beginning Teachers and Their Im plication fo r a Program of Teacher
Education a t State University o f New York Teachers College at Brockpo rt," (Unpublished Doctoral d is se rta tio n , New York U niversity, 1954).

1

Ornstein^ supports th is view o f lack of r e a lit y tra in in g .
He states, "In the eyes of most prospective and experienced teachers,
school adm inistrators, professors of lib e ra l arts and candid profes­
sors of education, teacher train in g has fa ile d fo r the most part to
prepare teachers fo r the r e a litie s of the classroom."

He subscribes

to the view that field-based courses w ill enable students to better
understand the r e a litie s of teaching.

This experience does not neces­

s a rily preclude a positive a ttitu d e toward teaching.

I t is the intent

of many educators that prospective teachers acquire a positive a ttitu d e
toward teaching during th e ir college tra in in g .

Jacobs4 feels that

attitu d es are an important dimension of teacher education.
Since a ttitu d es show an in c lin a tio n or predisposition to
act in certain ways in given situ a tio n s , i t should be the purpose
of a teacher education program to mold attitu d es th at w ill equip
the prospective teacher to deal with the teaching role in a way
that w ill bring the greatest ben efit to his students in terms of
th e ir individual growth toward liv in g in a free and democratic
society.
Studies have shown that the attitud es toward teaching of
elementary education undergraduates change considerably between the
time they enter the program and the time they graduate.

Claycomb's

study showed a s ig n ific a n t increase in positive a ttitu d es toward teach­
ing between beginning education students and those students finishing
th e ir education program.
3Allan C. Ornstein, "Some Possible Hazards Inherent in Eval­
uating Teacher Education Programs," Journal o f Teacher Education, 23:
294, F a ll, 1972.
4Elmer B. Jacobs, "A ttitude Change in Teacher Education:
Inquiry into the Role of Attitudes in Changing Teacher Behavior,"
Journal o f Teacher Education, 19:410, W inter, 1968.
5Clyde M. Claycomb, "An Exploratory Study of Attitudes To­
ward Children Expressed by Undergraduate Teacher Candidates" (Unpub­
lished Doctoral d issertatio n , Michigan State U n iversity, 1970).

An

3

Field-based courses should concern themselves not only with
the r e a litie s of the classroom, but also with helping students change
th e ir attitu d es toward teaching in a positive directio n .

According

to recent lite r a tu r e there appear to be reasons to examine what happens
to the attitu d es toward teaching of students in teacher education
courses, especially those courses that provide field-based experiences.
At Michigan State University two field-based courses have
been required of a ll undergraduate elementary education majors since
1972.

The f i r s t course is e n title d Exploring Elementary Teaching,

hereafter referred to by the course number, 101A.

I t is offered as

the beginning education course to freshmen and sophomores, with some
upper classmen enrolled.

The second course is called Curriculum

Methods in Elementary Education, hereafter referred to by its course
number, 321A.

This course is offered to juniors and seniors who have

successfully completed or waived 101A.
The two field-based courses have certain differences.

I t is

possible that these differences may e ffe c t attitud es in the two courses.
Therefore, a description and setting fo r each course is provided.
In 101A the structure of the course is one day (six hours)
per week observation/participation in an elementary classroom in a
cooperating school system (D is tr ic t A).

An assumption is made that

the students who enroll in the course have had l i t t l e or no contact
in an elementary school since th e ir own attendance.

This course pro­

vides the opportunity fo r students to determine i f they actu ally want
to pursue a teaching career in elementary education.

In order to be

admitted to the College of Education, students must pass 101A.

Students

in the course are divided into two sections.

The students in each

section are required to attend a group meeting once a week on campus
fo r f i f t y minutes.

The subjects of the meetings are based on a general

introduction to the f ie ld of elementary education, with special empha­
sis on the employment situation in teaching.

At the end of the term

the students are evaluated by the supervising classroom teacher.

The

course description and checklist of a c tiv itie s can be found in Appendix
A.
For 321A the structure is somewhat the same in regard to the
ob servation/participation.

The students are assigned to an elementary

classroom in another public school system (D is tr ic t B).
course two assumptions are made.

For this

The f i r s t is that the students en­

ro lle d have had some p rio r experience in an elementary classroom s itu ­
a tio n .

The second assumption is that the students w ill do more

stand-up teaching in 321A than they did in 101 A.

The students are

required to attend a seminar session on campus one day a week for
f i f t y minutes.

Each seminar section contains approximately one-eighth

of the to ta l enrollment of the course.

The seminars are based on the

assumption th at within a calendar year these students w ill be student
teachers.

The seminars deal with topics pertinent to student teaching

and a subsequent professional career in an elementary classroom.
is also a special emphasis on seeking employment as a teacher.

There
At the

end of the term there is a lim ited evaluation by the supervising class­
room teacher.

The course objectives and guidelines, and the outline

of the topics fo r the seminars can be found in Appendix B.

5

In addition to the structural differences between the two
courses, there are differences between the two c itie s which contain
the school d is tr ic ts .

Although the two c itie s share one common bound­

ary, Table 1 shows some of the apparent s ta tis tic a l differences.

Table 1
S ta tis tic s on Population, Elementary School
Enrollment, Mean Income, and Tax Rate fo r
D is tric t A and D is tric t B.

Population

Elementary
Enrollment

Mean
Income

(1)

(2)

(3)

D is tric t A

48,468

2,248

14,973

$69.74/$!,000
assessed
valuation

D is tr ic t B

134,926

17,019

12,768

$55.87

Tax
Rate
(4)

The information used to compile the above table was provided by v a riour public agencies in the cooperating school d is tr ic ts .

The population of D is tric t B is nearly three times th at of
D is tric t A.

The mean income of D is tr ic t A is considerably higher than

that of D is tric t B.

Also the tax rate is appreciably higher fo r Dis­

tra c t A.
S ta tis tic a l differences are not the only differences between
the two c itie s th at comprise the school d is tr ic ts .

The following are

descriptions of D is tr ic t A and D is tr ic t B.
(D is tr ic t A) is one of Michigan's fin e s t resid ential com­
munities. The community is 'home' to professors, students, mer­
chants, government workers and in d u s tria lis ts of the Lansing
Metropolitan area. One o f the most s ig n ific a n t factors of this

6

reputation is the community's highly-rated educational system.
(The) schools provide the children with a complete and progressive
education. The dynamic, p lu r a lis tic and cultural r e a litie s of the
community are reflected in a va rie ty of innovative and imaginative
programs . . . . °
D is tr ic t A can be considered progressive in its approach to education.
There is considerable interaction between parents, th e ir children and
the schools.

The system is responsive to innovative cu rricu lar pro­

grams and is continually experimenting with new educational develop­
ments, attempting to in te re s t as many students as possible.

D is tric t

A has many d iv e rs ifie d educational programs in both the secondary and
elementary schools.
D is tr ic t B is ". . . also a community of fin e homes and
ind u strial plants whose products are known throughout the world and a
great educational center as w e ll." 7

I t is interested in providing

the best education possible to the m ajority of its students.

New

programs th at have proven e ffe c tiv e are incorporated into the system
in a gradual manner.
There appear to be some major differences between the two
c itie s which are the sites of the two MSU field-based courses, 101A
and 321A.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of th is study was to examine the attitud es of
those students enrolled in the two required elementary education f ie ld based courses, Spring Term, 1975, at MSU.

The instrument used to

^Polk's Lansing (Ingham County, Michigan) City Directory
(Taylor, M ich .: Polk and Company, 1974), p. XIX.
7I b i d . , P. X I.

7

measure the a ttitu d es was Minnesota Teacher A ttitu d e Inventory (MTAI).
A ttitudes were compared on scores obtained both at the beginning and
at the end of the term fo r each student in the sample.

Hypotheses
There are eight hypotheses that w ill be tested in th is study.
The f i r s t four are minor hypotheses.

I t is necessary to te s t these

four f i r s t , in order to provide the necessary assumptions and informa­
tion fo r testing the four major hypotheses which follow .

Minor Hypotheses
1.

Students who enroll in one section of 101A w ill have

s im ilar attitu d es toward teaching as those enrolled in the other sec­
tio n , a t the beginning of the course.
2.

Students who enroll in one section of 101A w ill have

s im ila r a ttitu d es toward teaching as those enrolled in the other sec­
tio n , a t the end of the term.
3.

Students who enroll in one section of 321A w ill have

s im ila r a ttitu d es toward teaching as those enrolled in the other sec­
tio n , a t the beginning of the term.
4.

Students who enroll in one section of 321A w ill have

s im ila r attitu d es toward teaching as those enrolled in the other sec­
tio n , a t the end of the term.
Major Hypotheses
I.

Students enrolled in 101A w ill have no a ttitu d e change

toward teaching from the beginning to the end of the course.

8

II.

Students enrolled in 321A w ill have no a ttitu d e change

toward teaching from the beginning to the end of the course.
III.

Students enrolled in 321A w ill have more positive a t t i ­

tudes toward teaching at the beginning of th e ir course than those
students enrolled in 101A w ill have at the end of th e ir course.
IV.

Students enrolled in 321A w ill have a more positive a t t i ­

tude toward teaching than those students enrolled in 101A, both at
the beginning and at the end of the courses.

Assumptions
The following assumptions were made in this study.
1.

The MTAI adequately measures pre-service teachers' a t t i ­

tudes toward teaching.
2.

Pre-service teachers w ill evaluate themselves accurately

on a s e lf-re p o rtin g instrument.
3.

The setting and population fo r th is study were not un­

usual so th at the findings could be generalized to other s im ila r
populations.

Lim itations
The assumptions in the previous section o u tlin e the frame­
work of the lim ita tio n s .

The following statements provide the major

lim ita tio n s of th is study.
1.

This study of attitu d es toward teaching has the problem

th at a ll a ttitu d in a l studies possess.

The problem is that of making

9

judgments and classifying a ttitu d e s .

The use o f paper and pencil

tests fu rth e r complicates the process of obtaining accurate information
concerning a ttitu d e s .
2.

Since 101A and 321A are the only required field-based

courses fo r elementary education majors, with the exception of student
teaching, the generalizations can only be applied to those two groups
of students.
3.

This study has the same lim ita tio n s found in most survey

research studies.

Overview
In Chapter I is a description of the problem under consid­
eration .

The chapter is organized under the following headings:

need,

purpose, hypotheses, assumptions, lim ita tio n s and overview.
In Chapter I I is a presentation of the review of the l i t e r a ­
ture pertinent to the study.
In Chapter I I I is the contents of the design of the study.
In th is chapter can be found the population, sample, sampling procedure,
measures, design, hypotheses and summary.
In Chapter IV an analysis of the results is provided.
In Chapter V a summary of the theses along with a discussion
of the conclusions and recommendations fo r future research are consid­
ered.

CHAPTER I I
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
A review of the lite r a tu r e pertinent to this study is found
in th is chapter.

The chapter is divided into three segments; 1) a t t i ­

tude and a ttitu d e change toward teaching, 2) field-based teaching
experiences, and 3) the Minnesota Teacher A ttitude Inventory.

A ttitud e and A ttitud e Change Toward Teaching
Katz^ has defined general a ttitu d e and a ttitu d e change in
the following manner:
A ttitud e is the predisposition of the individual to evaluate
some symbol or object or aspect of his world in a favorable or un­
favorable manner. At the psychological level the reasons fo r
holding or fo r changing a ttitu d es are found in the functions they
perform fo r the in d iv id u a l, s p e c ific a lly the functions of adjust­
ment, ego defense, value expression and knowledge. The conditions
necessary to arouse or modify an a ttitu d e vary according to the
motivational basis o f the a ttitu d e .
I t is th is d e fin itio n of a ttitu d e and a ttitu d e change that
w ill be used throughout th is study.
Attitudes toward teaching and the changes in these attitudes
have been the focus of numerous studies.

Since 1951 the most widely

used instrument fo r measuring attitu d es has been the Minnesota Teacher

^Daniel Katz, "The Functional Approach to the Study of A t t i­
tudes," Public Opinion Q uarterly, 24:163-204, Summer, 1960.

10

11

A ttitud e Inventory—MTAI, which was published in that year.

Most of

the studies reported in this section on attitud es toward teaching in ­
volved the use of the MTAI.
In the past twenty years, teacher education has seen numer2
ous trends. According to Buchanan , an area of concern that appears
to have been neglected is that of teacher a ttitu d e .

She states, "In

the past, teacher attitud es have scarcely been considered in teacher
p rep aratio n courses.

Schools of education assume that because an in ­

dividual elects to go into the teaching profession, he already pos­
sesses the necessary attitud es to make him successful in his dealings
with students."
In the following three studies the authors found sim ilar re ­
sults concerning what happens to students' attitud es toward teaching
as they progress from beginning education courses to th e ir fin a l edu­
cation course.
Brim3 used 250 undergraduate teacher education students at
the University of Denver fo r his sample.

He administered the MTAI at

the beginning of the quarter and a t the end of the quarter.

Then he

held taped interviews with those students who demonstrated the greatest
difference between p re -te st and posttest scores.

The students were

placed in fiv e groups, ranging from beginning course enrollees to
students enrolled in the fin a l education course.

Brim found that the

^Marcia M. Buchanan, "Preparing Teachers to be Persons,"
Phi Delta Kappan, 52:614-617, June, 1971.
3Burl J. Brim, "Attitude Changes in Teacher Education Stu­
dents," Journal of Educational Research, 59:441-445, July-August, 1966.

12

students' mean scores of the MTAI were "higher with each level of pro­
gression through the undergraduate program."

He also found that the

greatest change occurred in the groups that were in the beginning
stages of th e ir educational course work.

In addition he concluded

that "laboratory experience was perceived to be most e ffe c tiv e in
changing a ttitu d e s ."
4

Jacobs , in his study of a ttitu d e change in teacher educa­
tio n , states that ". . . i t should be the purpose of a teacher educa­
tion program to mold attitud es th at w ill equip the prospective teacher
to deal with the teaching role in a way th at w ill bring the greatest
benefit to his students."

He found a positive change in attitud es

among students enrolled in fiv e teacher education in s titu tio n s during
a beginning professional education course.

Using the same instrument,

Survey of Teaching Practices, and the same in s titu tio n s , he found a
negative change in attitud es during student teaching.

Because of the

negative change, Jacobs suggests th at a lte rn a te programs be considered.
"Exposure to social situations encountered in the teaching role needs
to occur more often in the teacher education program p rio r to the
student-teaching experience."
In Claycomb's

study concerning attitu d es he found that

"those people about to graduate from the un iversity in education seem
to have more positive a ttitu d es toward children than those now entering
^Elmer B. Jacobs, "A ttitude Change in Teacher Education: An
Inquiry into the Role of Attitudes in Changing Teacher Behavior,"
Journal of Teacher Education, 19:410-415, W inter, 1968.
5
Clyde M. Claycomb, "An Exploratory Study of Attitudes Toward
Children Expressed by Undergraduate Teacher Candidates" (Unpublished
Doctoral d is s e rta tio n , Michigan State U n iversity, 1970), p. 84.

13

th e ir preparation fo r teaching."

Then he suggests that there is a

need fo r planned rather than chance experiences to help pre-service
teachers develop more positive a ttitu d e s .

The instrument Claycomb

used in his study was the MTAI.
The studies cited above indicate that as students progress
through th e ir pre-student teaching professional education courses th e ir
attitu d es toward teaching tend to become more po sitive.

Time and

m aturity would also be d e fin ite factors in th is occurrence. In support
fi
7
of th is position, studies by S ickm iller , and S in c la ir have indicated
no s ig n ific a n t change in student attitud es between the beginning and
the ending of an individual professional education course.
In his study o f attitu d es in early c lin ic a l education experiO

ences, S ickm iller

found no s ig n ific a n t differences between the enter­

ing and e x itin g a ttitu d es of prospective elementary teachers.
measuring device was the MTAI.

His

He concluded that "an early c lin ic a l

course is not lik e ly to be accompanied by a change of students' a t t i ­
tudes toward teaching."
In S in c la ir's

g

study, he found no a ttitu d e difference between

three groups of pre-student teachers, as measured by the MTAI.
groups were:

These

1) an observation group, 2) an independent reading group,

^Edwin R. S ic k m ille r, "Confidence, A ttitu d e , Desire to Teach,
and an Early C lin ic a l Experience" (Unpublished Doctoral d iss erta tio n ,
Michigan State U n iversity, 1973).
^William W. S in c la ir, "An Analysis of Three Pre-Student
Teaching Experiences in the Preparation of Elementary School Teachers"
(Unpublished Doctoral d is s e rta tio n , Michigan State U niversity, 1961).
^S ickm iller, op. c i t . , p. 97.
Q

S in c la ir, loc. c i t .

and 3) a tra d itio n a l course group.

A fte r personal interviews were

conducted, S in c la ir found that the students in the observation group
unanimously f e l t better prepared to begin student teaching than did
the other two groups.
Some studies have investigated the results of field-based
experiences by comparing attitud es of groups of students particip atin g
in schools with groups of non-participating students.

Most of the

studies have shown that attitud es do not d if f e r s ig n ific a n tly on any
a ttitu d in a l measuring device.
Cox^ conducted a study to determine the a ttitu d e changes of
pre-service teachers as a res u lt of a professional laboratory course
p rio r to student teaching.

He used the MTAI as his measuring device.

His subjects were juniors and seniors a t a state teachers' college.
He found that there was no s ig n ific a n t difference on the MTAI between
those students who had interacted with children as part of the course
and those students who only had college classroom instru ctio n.

How­

ever, on an empirical measure he found "participants of the study
indicated that there was considerable personal value in th e ir labora­
tory experiences."

Cox concluded that the experience seemed to help

the students understand children and make them more enthusiastic fo r
more work with children.

Dan Cox, "An Objective and Empirical Study of the Effects
of Laboratory Experience in a Professional Education Course Prior to
Student Teaching," Journal of Experimental Education, 29:89-94,
September, 1960.

15

Other studies have shown that a ttitu d es toward teaching
have gone in a negative d irec tio n .

Day^ found th at attitu d es of

teachers changed in a negative directio n a fte r i n i t i a l teaching con­
ta c t.

His subjects included 196 college seniors who took the p re -te s t,

which was the MTAI.
same instrument.

One year la te r he again tested the group with the

Those subjects who had not entered teaching had

l i t t l e a ttitu d e change, but those who had entered teaching showed a
s ig n ific a n t negative change.

He concluded:

Unless the extreme point of view is adopted that young
teachers should be 'shocked' on f i r s t gaining experience as a means
of c u llin g out the u n fit, then i t would seem appropriate to in tro ­
duce some kind of i n i t ia l contact with a teaching situ atio n early
in the program before the student has advanced very fa r with an
u n re a lis tic picture of what lie s ahead in the classroom.
In a study to determine what happens to teachers' attitu d es
a fte r they have been teaching fo r several years, Rabinowitz and
12

Rosenbaum

collected data from 1,628 student teachers in New York C ity.

They used the MTAI as the measuring device.

Three years la te r those

subjects who were then employed in elementary schools were again given
the MTAI.

The authors acknowledged that i f the manual fo r the MTAI

was correct, the only possible in te rp re tatio n of the decrease in
scores would be that a deterio ration in teacher attitu d es had occurred,
associated with the a b ilit y to establish rapport with pupils.
concluded that there was another possible explanation:

They

"change may be

11

Harry P. Day, "Attitude Changes of Beginning Teachers
A fter In i t i a l Teaching Experience," Journal of Teacher Education,
10:326-328, September, 1959.
12

William Rabinowitz and Ira Rosenbaum, "Teaching Experience
and Teachers' A ttitu d e s ," Elementary School Journal, 60:313-319,
March, 1960.

16

seen as a sign of the more mature, tempered judgment that experience
may be expected to bring.

. . . ( i t ) may indicate a r e a lis tic adaption

to the demands of classroom l i f e . "
The studies cited so fa r have a ll focused on the idea that
a positive a ttitu d e toward teaching is a desirable ch a rac teristic of
prospective and in-service teachers.

Piana and Gage's

13

study was

based on the assumption th at teachers' attitu d es have an influence on
pupils.

The subjects were in-service teachers.

They were given the

MTAI while th e ir pupils were given a measure e n title d "My Teacher"
constructed by Leeds.
the two measures.

14

There was a s ig n ific a n t correlation between

Piana and Gage concluded, "the MTAI w ill vary in

v a lid ity fo r teacher effectiveness according to the values of the
pupils in teracting with the teacher."

They f e l t the study supported

the v a lid ity of the interaction between pupil and teacher.

"Attitudes

and s im ila r ch aracteristics of teachers depend fo r th e ir significance
on the values, needs and other characteristics of th e ir pupils."

This

study seemd to support th e ir assumption that teachers' attitu d es do
indeed influence th e ir pupils.
In an a r t ic le by Lehmann, Sinha and Hartnett

15

, they warn:

^3G. M. D. Piana and N. L. Gage, "Pupils' Values and the
V a lid ity of the Minnesota Teacher A ttitud e Inventory," Journal of Edu­
cational Psychology, 46:167-178, 1955.
^ C . H. Leeds, "The Construction and D iffe re n tia l Value of
a Scale fo r Determining Pupil A ttitudes" (Unpublished Doctoral disser­
ta tio n , U niversity of Minnesota, 1946).
15

Irv in J. Lehmann, Birenda K. Sinha and Rodney T. H artn ett,
"Changes in A ttitudes and Values Associated with College Attendance,"
Journal of Educational Psychology, 57:89-98, A p ril, 1966.

17

Although attitu d es and values are in s tille d early in l i f e
and are most e a s ily modifiable in infancy and adolescence, i t is
rea d ily evident that changes do take place from ages 18-22, or
older. I t is therefore imperative th at our colleges
and univer­
s itie s recognize these facts and discard the notion that behavior
characteristics are not th e ir concern because i t is too la te to do
anything about them.
The above review of the lite r a tu r e on attitud es toward
teaching indicates th at attitu d es can be and are changed during pre­
service teachers' college years.
to

Teacher education in s titu tio n s need

be aware of th is fa c t and do a ll they can to help the students'

attitu d es toward teaching grow in a positive d irectio n .
Smith

1 fi

states that the lite r a tu r e of the past twenty years

shows no consistency from one study to another in terms of a ttitu d e
measures.

Many studies show an a ttitu d e change, but the direction

and magnitude o f the changes are ambiguous.
Most of the studies reviewed used the Minnesota Teacher
A ttitu d e Inventory as the measuring device on attitudes and a ttitu d e
change.

The m ajority of the studies indicated th at there were positive

a ttitu d e changes in pre-service teachers during th e ir professional
pre-student teaching courses.
Field-Based Teaching Experiences
Goodlad's^ d e fin itio n of professional laboratory experiences
is , "those a c tiv itie s of the teacher in train in g which bring him into
*1 / r

Martha L. Smith, "A Study of Elementary Student Teaching
Confidence in and A ttitud e Toward Music and Changes that Occur in a
Student Teaching Experience" (Unpublished Doctoral d issertatio n ,
Michigan State U n iversity, 1969).
^John I . Good!ad, "An Analysis of Professional Laboratory
Experiences in the Education of Teachers," Journal of Teacher Educa­
tio n , 16:263-270, September, 1965.

18

d ire c t involvement with the practice of teaching."
experiences are designed to achieve two purposes:

He feels th at these
"1) the development

of teaching technique and 2) the understanding of principles of edu­
cation upon which practice should be based."
Field-based experiences provide pre-service teachers with
an opportunity to observe/participate in an actual classroom se ttin g .
Such experiences help to give students a more r e a lis tic idea of what
goes on in classrooms to supplement a theoretical approach often found
in textbooks and college classes.
Bidna and Hahn

18

indicate a need fo r the incorporation of

theory and practice in teacher education programs.

They state that

college students say, 'th is is a ll theory and we accept i t , but how
do we know i t w ill work when we face students in the classroom?'

In

a program launched at Los Angeles State College the students were
placed in classrooms fo r participation/observation experience.

An

evaluation revealed that the "college students p rofited greatly (a t
least 90 percent of them reported th at the observation was the most
valuable p a rt)."
When Reynard

19

conducted his study in 1963 he f e l t that

laboratory experience was the least challenging area in teacher edu­
cation.

He found that in the in s titu tio n s studied, c le a rly the

1ft
David B. Bidna and Robert 0. Hahn, "P articip atin g and Ob­
serving," Journal of Teacher Education, 10:319-322, September, 1959.
19

Harold E. Reynard, "Pre-Service and In-Service Education
of Teachers," Review of Educational Research, 33:369-380, October, 1963.

19

implications were that "p articip atio n and observation were considered
e ffe c tiv e and essential fo r students p rio r to student teaching."
However, l i t t l e was being done about th is fa c t.
In a s im ila r study Estes

20

studied 110 in s titu tio n s that

prepared students fo r teaching in the elementary school.

He developed

a questionnaire and sent i t to the randomly selected in s titu tio n s .
A fte r analyzing the data he concluded:
L i t t le has been done in the fie ld of education which provides
basis fo r c la s s ify in g , by educational a u th o rity, professional lab­
oratory experiences as being suggested, necessary or e ffe c tiv e ,
nor has there been development of a set of c r ite r ia which measures
the effectiveness of specific laboratory experiences.
Hunter and Amidon

21

reported that there seems to be strong

evidence to support the idea of involving pre-service teachers in
d ire c t experience with children.

They state:

There should be continuous contact with children throughout
the education sequence. This should consist at times of 'manage­
able p a rtic ip a tio n '—teaching one child or a very small group of
children in a school se ttin g . Direct experiences in the schools
need not be isolated from foundations courses but can begin with
the f i r s t course in education.
Metzner, Nelson and Sharp

22

reported several studies have

shown that:

20

Sidney Harrison Estes, "A Status Study of Pre-Student
Teaching Laboratory Experiences in Elementary Teacher Education,"
Dissertation Abstracts, 28:4022A, 1967.
21

Elizabeth Hunter and Edmund Ami don, "Direct Experience in
Teacher Education: Innovation and Experimentation," Journal of Teacher
Education, 17:282-289, F a ll, 1966.
22

Seymour Metzner, Walter A. Nelson and Richard M. Sharp,
"On-Site Teaching: Antidote fo r R eality Shock?" Journal of Teacher
Education, 23:194-198, Summer, 1972.

20

New teachers want college experiences that are more r e a lity oriented, emphasizing specific classroom procedures and providing
fo r greater involvement with children at e a rlie r stages of teacher
preparation.
Lucma

23

suggests that there are certain readiness charac­

te ris tic s th at are necessary fo r a ll students enrolled in teachereducation programs.

The students must be able to recognize, in terp ret

and report th e ir professional laboratory experiences.
acquire these s k ills the students must have:

In order to

"(1) the a b ilit y to

observe and comprehend the relationships between princip le and action
expressed in the behaviors of children, (2) the possession of a s u it­
able vocabulary fo r self-expression and communication of the observa­
tion and reaction and (3) the acquisition of desirable attitud es toward
the learning s itu a tio n ."
In a study concerning the attitud es of pre-service elementary
teachers, Funk

24

concluded that the laboratory experiences, "seem to

have a positive e ffe c t on elementary education students expressed
attitud es toward child ren , the curriculum and the role of the teacher."
Colvin

25

found that through field-based experiences prior to

student teaching the students "became less anxious about teaching,
more eager to assume resp o n sib ility fo r guiding children and more able
to id e n tify factors involved in e ffe c tiv e teaching."
23

S is te r Mary Lucina, "Readiness fo r Professional Laboratory
Experiences," Journal of Teacher Education, 10:310-314, September, 1959.
2^Haldon D. Funk, "The E ffect of Pre-Student Teaching Pro­
fessional Laboratory Experiences on Selected A ttitud e and Concepts of
Prospective Elementary Teachers," Dissertation Abstracts, 19:3020A, 1968.
pr

Cynthia Colvin, "Achieving Readiness fo r Student Teaching
Through Direct Experience," Dissertation Abstracts, 19:3229A, 1958.

21

Edualino

26

found that the more hours of experience a student

has had with children p rio r to student teaching the easier i t is fo r
him to solve problems on school d isc ip lin e when student teaching.

He

also found that th is type of student had a less frequent occurrence
of problems related to instructional methods and understanding of
educational objectives.
Fehl

27

studied on observation/participation program a t the

University of Cincinnati and reached this conclusion:
The pre-student teaching laboratory experience is a valuable
and necessary component of the teacher education cu rric u la . I t
acts to smooth the tra n s itio n from novice to student teacher by
building r e a lis tic attitud es and by reducing unnecessary emotional
anxiety.
The lite r a tu re suggests th at field-based courses in teacher
education are d e fin ite ly important experiences fo r undergraduates.
These courses help students gain an awareness into the r e a litie s of
the classroom.

However, there are very few studies done on evaluating

these courses.

Most of the evaluating has been by one of two methods.

The f i r s t is to determine the a ttitu d e change toward teaching of the
students enrolled in the field-based courses.

The second method is

to em pirically determine the value of the course via an interview with
the students.

Both methods have been employed with increasing regu­

la r it y .

26

Emilia Quia! Edualino, "The Relationship Between Success­
ful Student Teaching and Pre-Student Teaching Experiences with Chi 1dren," Dissertation Abstracts, 19:486, 1958.
^ P a tr ic ia K. Fehl, "The Effects of an Observation-Participation Program on Attitudes and on Concepts," Dissertation Abstracts,
27:3338A, 1967.

22

Minnesota Teacher A ttitud e Inventory
The Minnesota Teacher A ttitud e Inventory (MTAI), was designed
by Cook, Leeds and Call is

28

to measure "those attitud es of a teacher

which predict how well he w ill get along with pupils in interpersonal
relation ship s, and in d ire c tly how well s a tis fie d he w ill be with
teaching as a vocation."
The MTAI contains 150 items.

These items are statements of

b e liefs about teaching, teachers, and pupils.

The key to the items

is as follows:
SA = strongly agree
A = agree
N = undecided or uncertain
D = disagree
SD = strongly disagree

29

The respondent is asked to mark one and only one response to each item,
based on his own p a rtic u la r b e lie fs .

The scoring is done by determin­

ing how many "right" and "wrong" answers the respondent has.
"wrongs" are then subtracted from the "rig h ts ."
from +150 to -150.

The

The scores range

The higher the score, the more positive the

respondent's a ttitu d e toward teaching is assumed to be.
The instrument was o rig in a lly intended to be fo r use with
in-service teachers.

The i n i t i a l studies done between in-service

^ W a lte r W. Cook, C arroll H. Leeds, and Robert Call is ,
Minnesota Teacher A ttitud e Inventory—Manual (New York: Psychological
Corporation, 1951), p. 3.
29

Walter W. Cook, Carroll H. Leeds, and Robert Call is ,
Minnesota Teacher A ttitu d e Inventory—Form A (New York: Psychological
Corporation, 1951), p. 1.

23

teachers' MTAI scores and the combined c r it e r ia o f p u p ils ', princip als'
and experts' ratings of teachers yielded a positive correlation (r =
.6 0 ).

Sim ilar studies done between 1951 and 1975 have also netted

high correlations between teachers' MTAI scores and other teacher
rating devices.
Although the instrument was designed fo r use with in-service
teachers, i t has been used with pre-service teachers fo r predictive
purposes.

Information can be found in the manual fo r the MTAI about

scores fo r various education majors.

Early childhood majors tend to

score higher than elementary majors.

In turn the elementary majors

tend to score higher than secondary majors.
Giebink

30

states th at the most popular instrument fo r asses­

sing teacher attitu d es is the MTAI.

I t can be used fo r the selection

of potential teachers and fo r th e ir preparation.

He feels that those

teachers who rank high on the MTAI are expected to be capable of es­
tablishing cooperative and mutual relationships with th e ir students;
those who rank low are lik e ly to be more dominating and au th o ritative
in th e ir behavior.

These low-scoring teachers would also be more

subject- and s e lf-o rie n te d than the high-scoring teachers, who should
be more concerned with the pupils themselves and th e ir particip atio n
in the classroom experience.
Leeds

31

did a longitudinal study concerning the predictive

v a lid ity of the MTAI over a fifte e n year span.

He f e l t that because

30

John W. Giebink, "A Failure of the Minnesota Teacher A t t i­
tude Inventory to Relate to Teacher Behavior," Journal of Teacher
Education, 18:233-239, Summer, 1967.
31

C. H. Leeds, "Predictive V a lid ity of the 'Minnesota Teacher
A ttitud e Inven to ry'," Journal of Teacher Education, 20:53, Spring, 1969.

24

the instrument was used extensively, there was a need to obtain an
indication of predictive v a lid ity and also to "provide empirical data
fo r the study of response s t a b ility and/or change fo r the Inventory
items as a res u lt of train in g and experience."

He studied 100 subjects

and obtained three MTAI scores fo r them, (1) at the beginning of
teacher tra in in g , (2) at college graduation, and (3) a fte r one or more
years of teaching experience.

These scores were correlated with eval­

uations done on the teachers a fte r they had had at least one year of
teaching experience.

Leeds concluded th at " i t is f e l t th at as one

measure o f teacher acceptance of pupils and children, the MTAI performs
an important function in the prediction of teaching p o te n tia l."
Scott and Brinkley
student teachers.

32

did a study on a ttitu d e changes of

Their study showed a reason to place student

teachers with teachers who had positive attitud es toward teaching.
Eighty two student teachers were given the MTAI as were th e ir super­
vising teachers.

At the end of the quarter they were again given the

same instrument.

Those student teachers who had supervising teachers

with high MTAI scores showed a s ig n ific a n t increase in scores on the
MTAI.

Those student teachers with

supervising teachers who had low

MTAI scores, showed no s ig n ific a n t differences in MTAI scores.
Most a ttitu d e studies involve the assumption on the part of
the researcher that the respondents w ill answer the questions "cor­
re c tly ."

Stemming from th is assumption, some studies have been done

3?
Owen Scott and S terlin g B. Brinkley, "Attitude Changes of
Student Teachers and the V a lid ity of the Minnesota Teacher A ttitud e
Inventory," Journal of Educational Psychology, 51:76-81, A p ril, 1960.

25

on the " fa k a b ility " of the MTAI.

Cook, Leeds and Call is

33

studied

three groups o f undergraduates at the University of Minnesota.

They

were each given the MTAI as a p re -te s t and then as a posttest at a
la te r date.

Some students were asked to fake the te s t in order "to

get as high a score as possible."
faking instructions.

Other students were not given the

On the basis o f the means and standard deviations

fo r the groups, the authors concluded that "the MTAI is only s lig h tly
susceptible to attempts to 'fake good'."
Rabinowitz
previous study.

OA

tended to disagree with the assumptions in the

He states:

I t seems lik e ly th a t from the student's frame of reference
his own attitu d es and good a ttitu d es are id e n tic a l. Indeed, fo r
the test-conscious college student i t may be almost impossible to
d iffe r e n tia te his 'tru e ' attitu d es from the attitu d es which he
feels w ill earn him the highest score.
Therefore, Rabinowitz conducted another study in fa k a b ility .

In this

study he used 56 female undergraduate education majors as his subjects.
They were divided into three groups and given pre-tests and.posttests
with the MTAI.

On the posttests there were three separate directions

given, one fo r each group.
on the p re -te s t.

The f i r s t group got the same directions as

Group two was to ld to take the te s t according to

Permissive instructions given by the researcher.

The th ird group was

told to take the te s t according to A uthoritarian instructions.

A fter

^Cook, Leeds and Call is , op c i t . , p. 13.
^ W illia m Rabinowitz, "The F a k a b ility of the Minnesota Teacher
A ttitud e Inventory," Educational and Psychological Measurement, 14:658,
Winter, 1954 ^

26

the analysis of the means and standard deviations of the the three
groups i t was concluded th at the authors' assertion th at the MTAI was
only s lig h tly susceptible to faking was not le g itim a te .

"Instead,"

states Rabinowitz, "when these subjects were given e x p lic it instruc­
tions to simulate the a ttitu d in a l orientations of p a rtic u la r types of
teachers, they were able to a lte r th e ir MTAI scores to a marked extent."
Sorenson33 also found th at students could "fake" th e ir
answers and a lte r th e ir scores to a great extent.

When he asked some

students to sign th e ir names to the MTAI and others not to , he found
the scores of the signed answer sheets to be s ig n ific a n tly higher
than the scores on the unsigned sheets.
Another problem associated with responses on the MTAI is that
o f bias.

Budd and Blakely3** hypothesized that scores would be higher

fo r those persons who stated extreme responses on the instrument.
A fte r conducting a study with 225 college students and scoring the
answers in three separate ways, they found evidence to support th is
hypothesis.

They concluded, "high scores on the MTAI are associated

with the tendency to prefer extreme response positions to moderate
response positions when taking th is inventory."
The MTAI has been used extensively with pre-service as well
as in-service teachers to determine a ttitu d e changes toward teaching.

35A. Garth Sorenson, "A Note on the 'F a k a b ility ' of the
Minnesota Teacher A ttitu d e Inventory," Journal of Applied Psychology,,
40:192-194, June, 1956.
36W illiam C. Budd and Lynda S. Blakely, "Response Bias in
the Minnesota Teacher A ttitu d e Inventory," Journal of Educational
Research, 51:707-709, May, 1958.

27

In 1963, Getzels and Jackson

37

o f the lite r a tu r e on the MTAI.
o f the instrument.

found over 50 studies in th e ir review
Most of the lite r a tu re is supportive

There are a few studies that have declared that

the MTAI is not a re lia b le measure when used to predict how well a
teacher w ill get along with pupils.

Also, as with any instrument that

requires s e lf-re p o rtin g , i t is susceptible to faking.

Even with these

c ritic is m s , current lite r a tu re is s t i l l supportive, fo r the most p a rt,
of using the Minnesota Teacher A ttitu d e Inventory to measure attitud es
and a ttitu d e change toward teaching o f pre-service and in-service
teachers.

^ J . W. Getzels and P. W. Jackson, "The Teacher's Person­
a l i t y and C h aracteristics," in Handbook of Research on Teaching, ed.
by N. L. Gage (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1963), pp. 506-582.

CHAPTER I I I
DESIGN OF THE STUDY
This chapter contains a description of the design of the
study concerning the a ttitu d e changes of pre-service elementary educa­
tion undergraduates enrolled in two required field-based courses at
Michigan State U n iversity, Spring Term, 1975.

Population
The population fo r th is study was the 213 students who were
enrolled in Education 101A (Exploring Elementary Teaching) and the
168 students who were enrolled in Education 321A (Curriculum Methods
in Elementary Education) a t Michigan State U n iversity, Spring Term, 1975.

Sample
A random sampling of 50 students per course was conducted
via a random numbers assignment to alphabetical class l is t s .
lis ts were obtained at the close o f regular re g is tra tio n .

These

For con­

venience, the sampling was done in the larg er of the two sections in
which each student was enrolled.

In 101A th is meant th at selection

was based on the meeting class l i s t .

In 321A the selection was based

on the school observation assignment l i s t .

Since a ll students in both

101A and 321A were enrolled in a meeting/seminar and a school observa­
tion section, there was no reason to assume th is sampling procedure
would e ffe c t the outcome of the study.

28

29

In 101A the students were enrolled in one of two large
meeting sections.

Section one contained 40 percent and section two

contained 60 percent of the enrollment.

Therefore, to insure that

each student had the same chance o f being selected, twenty students
in section one and t h ir t y students in section two were chosen.
In the 321A group, the students were enrolled in one of two
large school observation groups.

The composition was 60 percent in

section one and 40 percent in section two.

Thus 30 students from

section one and 20 students from section two were chosen.
Also fiv e alternates were randomly selected from both 101A
and 321A fo r pre-testing purposes.

This was to insure that there

would be a sample of f i f t y from each course a t the end of the term.
I f a ll those students o rig in a lly selected and pre-tested in the study
were posttested, then there would be no need fo r the altern ates.
Since the class lis t s were compiled a t the close of regular
re g is tra tio n , there was a problem with la te additions.

In 101A there

were eight and in 321A there were seven la te enrollees.

Thus these

students were not included in the origin al sample selection.

Since

there were no other availab le class lis t s u n til several weeks a fte r
the pre-testin g was done, i t was necessary to exclude the la te adds.

Sampling Procedure
This study was conducted in three phases.
was adm inistration of the p re -te s t.
week o f classes.

The f i r s t phase

I t was given during the f i r s t

The p re-te st consisted of the Minnesota Teacher

A ttitud e Inventory—MTAI.

I t was used to measure the students'

30

a ttitu d es toward teaching.
given.

In the second phase, the posttest was

Again i t was the MTAI.

class sessions of the term.

I t was administered at one of the fin a l

The fin a l phase consisted of personal

interviews with six students from each course.

The interviews were

held with those students who had e ith e r greatly changed th e ir attitudes
in a positive or negative direction or had displayed no a ttitu d e change
at a l l , based on score differences from p re-test to posttest on the
MTAI.

Phase I —P re-test
The procedures fo r sampling the two groups were d iffe re n t
due to the structure of the two courses.

For the sake of convenience,

administration of the instrument was done on campus rather than in
the elementary schools.
room in Erickson H a ll.

Section one of 101A met in a large lecture
Those students in section one, selected fo r

the study were asked to leave the lecture room and go to a smaller
room fo r te s t adm inistration.

They were told that they had been ran­

domly selected and could ea sily obtain any m aterial missed in the
meeting, that taking the p re-te st was not mandatory and that there
would be a follow-up posttest a t the end of the term.
students selected agreed to p a rtic ip a te .

A ll of the

In section two, there was

no smaller room availab le fo r te st adm inistration.

Therefore, the

students took the MTAI in one secluded section of the lecture room.
Again the same instructions were given.
to p a rtic ip a te .

A ll selected students agreed

31

In 321A the on-campus portion of the course consisted of
assignment to one of eight seminar sections.

Since there were between

14-26 students in each seminar, the instructors fo r the course f e l t
i t would be very d i f f ic u l t to ask those randomly selected students to
leave to take the p re -te s t.
te s t adm inistration.
to take the p re -te s t.

Also there were no rooms availab le fo r

I t was decided that a ll students would be asked
They were to ld that i t was not mandatory to

take the p re-test and that there would be a follow-up posttest.

Phase I I —Posttest
The instrument used to obtain posttest data was the MTAI.
In 101A a ll selected students were seated in a corner o f the lecture
room fo r posttest adm inistration.

Due to conditions beyond the control

of the researcher, the sample was reduced to 45.
In 321A i t was thought desirable to posttest in the same way
the p re -te s t was administered.

However, the instructors fo r the course

f e l t that they could not give up another session solely fo r data c o l­
lection and would allow only those students randomly selected to
p a rtic ip a te in the posttest.

Those students were asked to go to an

available room at the la s t seminar session and take the posttest.
These students were told that they had been randomly selected, could
obtain any missed seminar material and were not required to take the
posttest.

A ll selected students in attendance participated at one of

the eight seminar sessions the la s t week of classes.

Again, due to

conditions beyond the control of the researcher, the sample was
reduced to 45.

32

Phase I I I — Interviews
A fte r the p re -te s t and posttest scores had been computed,
gain scores were determined.

Based on a comparison of these gain

scores, six students from each course were interviewed.

Those in te r ­

viewed were the two with the highest gain scores, two with no change,
and two with the greatest negative gain scores from each course.
Since time did not permit the interviewing of a ll students involved
in the study, i t was decided that those students who showed the greatest
deviations and those who showed no change at a ll on the MTAI, would be
selected fo r interview s.

These students would represent the most ex­

treme changes i t was thought that these students might be more aware
of what caused th e ir a ttitu d e change than those students who did not
have such extreme changes in a ttitu d e s .
The interviews were conducted by the researcher at the stu­
dents' assigned observation school.
15-20 minutes.

Each interview took approximately

The questions used in the interviews were designed

using guidelines from BabbieJ

They were open-ended questions to

encourage the students to ta lk about aspects of the course that might
have influenced them and ultim ately have caused an a ttitu d e change
toward teaching. (See Appendix C fo r interview questions.)
Measures
The instrument used fo r data c o llectio n in th is study was
the Minnesota Teacher A ttitu d e Inventory—MTAI.

I t was chosen because

^Earl R. Babbie, Survey Research Methods (Belmont, C a lifo rn ia :
Wadsworth, 1973), pp. 140-149.

33

i t is a well-known and widely used instrument fo r measuring teacher
a ttitu d e s .

I t is designed to measure teachers' attitu d es th at w ill

predict to what extent the teachers w ill favorably in te ra c t with
pupils in a teaching s itu a tio n .
The MTAI assumes th at teachers scoring high on the in stru ­
ment w ill have a harmonious teaching atmosphere in th e ir classrooms.
In describing a harmonious teaching atmosphere the MTAI manual states:
I t is assumed th at a teacher ranking at the high end of the
scale should be able to maintain a state of harmonious relation s
with his pupils characterized by mutual affectio n and sympathetic
understanding. The pupils should lik e the teacher and enjoy
school work. The teacher should lik e the children and enjoy teach­
ing. Situations requiring d is c ip lin a ry action should ra re ly occur.
The teacher and pupils should work together in a social atmosphere
of cooperative endeavor, of intense in teres t in the work of the
day, and with a feelin g of security growing from a permissive a t­
mosphere o f freedom to th in k , act and speak one's mind with mutual
respect fo r the fe e lin g s , rights and a b ilit ie s of o th ers.2
Those persons scoring at the low end of the instrument are
characterized in a d iffe re n t manner.
At the other extreme of the scale is the teacher who attempts
to dominate the classroom. He may be successful and ru le with an
iron hand, creating an atmosphere of tension, fear and submission;
or he may be unsuccessful and become nervous, fe a rfu l and distraught
in a classroom characterized by fru s tra tio n , restlessness, in a t­
te n tio n , lack of respect, and numerous d isc ip lin ary problems. In
e ith e r case both teacher and pupils d is lik e school work; there is
a fe elin g o f mutual d is tru s t and h o s tility . Both teacher and
pupils attempt to hide th e ir inadequacies from each other. R id i­
cule, sarcasm and sharp-tempered remarks are common. The teacher
tends to think in terms of his status, the correctness of the
position he takes on classroom m atters, and the subject matter to
be covered rather than in terms of what the pupil needs, fe e ls ,
knows, and can do.3

p
Walter W. Cook, Carroll H. Leeds, and Robert C a llis , Minne­
sota Teacher A ttitu d e Inventory—Manual (New York: Psychological
Corporation, 1951), p. 3.
3Ib id .

34

The construction of the preliminary items on the MTAI in ­
volved a canvassing of fiv e areas of socio-educational lite r a tu r e about
children.

I t was assumed that th is would give an adequate sampling

about teacher a ttitu d e s .

The fiv e areas selected were:

1. Moral status of children in the opinion of adults, es­
p e c ia lly as concerns th e ir adherence to adult-imposed standards,
moral or otherwise.
2. D iscipline and problems of conduct in the> classroom and
elsewhere, and methods employed in dealing with such problems.
3. Principles of child development and behavior related to
a b ilit y , achievement, learning, m otivation, and personality
development.
4. Principles of education related to philosophy, curricu­
lum and administration*
5. Personal reactions of the teacher, likes and d is lik e s ,
sources of ir r it a t io n , e tc .4
The instrument consisted of 756 items.
to 200 teachers in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

I t was administered

Of these 200 teachers, 100

were judged in fe rio r teachers and 100 were judged as superior teachers.
The principals of the teachers acted as the judges who were rating the
teachers on the c r ite r ia of working relation s with pupils.

The

teachers were given Form A of the te s t, then a week la te r , Form B.
Chi-square was computed to determine the extent to which each item
discriminated between the two groups of teachers.
chosen fo r th e ir discrim inating power was 164.
selecting these items were:

"(1) Is

the two groups of teachers? (2) Is

The number of items

The c r it e r ia used in

the item adequate in d iffe re n tia tin g
the item unambiguous in meaning?

(3) Does the content of the item duplicate th at of another item?
(4) Is the response pattern
4Ib id . , p. 10.
5I b i d . , p. 11.

logical and easy to interpret?"

35

In validating the items, 100 teachers were chosen, without
p rio r judgement by th e ir principals as to th e ir working relations with
pupils.

The MTAI was administered to these 100 teachers.

Then sepa­

rate ratings were done on the teachers by pupils, p rin cip a ls, and
teaching sp e c ia lis ts .

The instruments used in the ratings had high

r e lia b ilit ie s of .93, .87, and .92, respectively before administration
to the teachers.
Correlations were then made between the teachers' MTAI scores
and the three separate rating s.

The results showed correlations of

.43, .45, .49, and .60 fo r the MTAI scores and p rin cip als' rating s,
MTAI scores and pupils' ratin g s, MTAI scores and s p e c ia lis ts ' ratings
and MTAI scores and combined ratin g s , respectively.
were selected fo r publication.

F in a lly , 150 items

Two fu rth er validation studies on the

items were done in South Carolina and Missouri, with r e l i a b i li t y co­
e ffic ie n ts of .63 and .46.
As a resu lt of these studies i t is reasonable to conclude
that the authors of the MTAI have provided ample evidence, to the
extent indicated, that the te s t items discrim inate between "in fe rio r"
and "superior" teachers, as judged by th e ir p rin cip als.
A review of the lite r a tu r e on the Minnesota Teacher A ttitude
Inventory was reported in Chapter I I .
Hypotheses
The hypotheses fo r th is study are stated here in the null
form.

There are two sets of hypotheses; minor and major.

The emphasis

of the study is on the major hypotheses, however i t is necessary to

36

te s t the minor hypotheses in order to increase the v a lid ity of the
study.

The minor hypotheses are lis te d f i r s t since they must be

tested before the major hypotheses can be tested.

Minor Hypotheses
1.

In 101A no differences w ill be found between pre-test

scores of group one and group two on average performance or v a r ia b ility
in performance.
2.

In 101A no differences w ill be found between posttest

scores of group one and group two on average performance or v a r ia b ility
in performance.
3.

In 321A no differences w ill be found between pre-test

scores of group one and group two on average performance or v a r ia b ility
in performance.
4.

In 321A no differences w ill be found between posttest

scores of group one and group two on average performance or v a r ia b ility
in performance.

Major Hypotheses
I.

No differences w ill be found between the p re-te st and

posttest scores, as measured by the MTAI, fo r those students enrolled
in 101A.
II.

No differences w ill be found between p re-te st and post­

te s t scores, as measured by the MTAI, fo r those students enrolled in
321A.

37

III.

The group mean on the MTAI p re-test fo r 321A w ill exceed

that of the MTAI posttest fo r 101A.
IV.

The combined scores of the p re-test and posttests fo r

321A w ill exceed that of 101A.

Des i gn
The design consists of two parts.

The f i r s t part is a two

independent group design and the second is a repeated measures design.
In the f i r s t p a rt, a fte r two scorers, working independently,
had scored both the pre-tests and posttests (MTAI), and found 100 per­
cent agreement, the minor hypotheses were tested by "t-te s ts " to de­
termine i f there were any differences in the group means.

Then cor­

responding "F-tests" were run to determine i f there were any differences
in the variances of the groups being compared.

These tests were done

to insure that there were no differences in the sections of the course
that were being compared so they could be combined to form the desired
group.
In the second p a rt, a repeated measures design was used.
£
This design can best be shown by Porter's representation:
R 0 X1 0
R 0 X2 0
This is a design over time.

The notation is as follows:

R indicates

that the subjects were randomly selected in th e ir groups, 0 indicates
c

Andrew C. Porter, "Analysis Strategies fo r Some Common Evalu­
ation Paradigms" (paper presented at the meeting of the American Educa­
tional Research Association, New Orleans, February, 1973).

38

an observation of the subjects, which is the score obtained on the
MTAI, X-j is the treatment of being in 101A, X2 is the treatment of
being in 321A.

The dotted lin e denotes th at the subjects were not

randomly assigned to treatment groups.

Table 2 shows a graphic repre­

sentation of the model used in testing the major hypotheses.

The

dependent variable is the measure, the independent variable is the
treatment.
The students in both 101A and 321A were pre-tested and post­
tested with the MTAI.

The time lapse between the two tests was ap­

proximately eight weeks.
group.

No individual was in more than one treatment

The s ta tis tic used in the design was the score obtained on the

MTAI, p re -te s t and posttest.
7
Kirk has described some of the advantages of using the
repeated measures design.

Since the design matches the same subjects

in the p re-test and the posttest, this helps control subject hetero­
geneity.

In turn, the effects of the treatment are not obscured.

Another advantage is that the design is "useful in assessing certain
types of treatment e ffe c ts ."

In th is study the treatment is the

particip atio n in one of the two required field-based courses.
A lim ita tio n of th is design is that the students were not
randomly assigned to the treatment groups.

Therefore i t cannot be

assumed that the groups were equal on a ll possible variables.

Another

lim ita tio n according to Kirk is that the error portion of the scores

^Roger E. Kirk, Experimental Design: Procedures fo r the
Behavioral Sciences (Belmont: Brooks/Cole, 1968), p. 247.

39

Table 2
Repeated Measures Design fo r
Analysis of Hypotheses I-IV

mg

ml
S1

S45
S46

t2

S90
M = Measure; m-| = p re-te st MTAI, m = posttest MTAI
2

T = Treatment; t-| = 101A, t

2

= 321A

S = Subjects nested within groups

40

"must be independent of each other and the treatment e ffe c ts .

There

is ample reason to believe th at in repeated measures experiments the
O

error components of the scores are not independent."
In an attempt to ra tio n a liz e th is design, Harnquist

g

states:

Even i f the i n it ia l standing of the subjects is controlled
by means o f a number of relevant variab les, there w ill always be
room fo r uncontrolled differences that may be important. The in ­
v estig ato r, who because of the nature of his problem cannot use
random or systematic assignment of subjects to treatments, has to
liv e with an insecurity in th a t respect--and try to behave in t e l­
lig e n tly w ithin the lim ita tio n s of his design.
In part three of the design the results of the interviews
were analyzed by pooling the responses to each o f the fiv e questions
and reporting these responses.

The main in te re s t of this was to find

the patterns th a t might ex ist among the answers.
There were some lim ita tio n s to th is type of design.

One of

them was the problem of subjectively categorizing the responses to
find the patterns in the answers.

Another lim ita tio n was that of

asking s im ila r questions to a ll respondents in order to e l i c i t more
specific answers to the questions.

Interviews involve the problem

of the s u b je c tiv ity of the interviewer and the s u b je c tiv ity of the
person who analyzes the data.

8Ib id .
9
K. Harnquist, "Relative changes in In te llig e n ce from 13 to
18," Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 9:50-82, 1968, cited by
Andrew C. Porter, "Analysis Strategies fo r Some Common Evaluation
Paradigms," (paper presented a t the meeting of the American Educational
Research Association, New Orleans, February, 1973).

41

Summary
This chapter contains the basic design elements of the study.
The population and sample were id e n tifie d .
with its three phases was described.

The sampling procedure,

The measures used in the study

were described and background information of the measures was provided.
The hypotheses, minor and major, were lis te d .

The la s t section of

the chapter contains the design fo r the study with lim ita tio n s and
assumptions.

CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS OF DATA
This chapter includes an analysis of the major and minor
hypothesis fo r the study.
also provided.

An empirical analysis of the interviews is

The la s t section of the chapter contains a summary.

The purpose of th is study was to determine the attitud es
toward teaching of pre-service teachers enrolled in Education 101A
and in Education 321A.

Their attitud es were measured by the Minnesota

Teacher A ttitu d e Inventory.

This inventory consisted of 150 items.

Scores could range from -150 to +150.

The hypotheses were a ll based

pn the scores obtained with the MTAI.

Minor Hypotheses
Each minor hypothesis is presented, along with a description
of the type of significance te s tin g , a tabulation of the re s u lts , and
a significance statement.

The minor hypotheses are presented f i r s t

since i t was necessary to te s t them before testing the major hypotheses.

Minor Hypothesis 1
In 101A no differences w ill be found between p re -tes t scores
of group one and group two on average performance or v a r ia b ility
in performance.
A tw o -tailed " t-te s t" was performed between group one and
group two of 101A to determine i f there were any differences in the
42

group means.

Then a corresponding "F-test" was run to determine i f

any differences existed in the group variances.
a t the .05 level fo r both te sts.

Significance was set

Table 3 presents the data fo r these

tests; the number in each group, the means fo r the p re -te s t, the
standard deviations, the "t" ra tio and the "F" r a tio .

Table 3
t-T e s t and F-Test fo r Pre-Test MTAI
Scores of Groups One and Two in 101A

N

X

SD

Group 1

22

48.3

23.7

Group 2

23

40.6

26.8

F

t

1.02

.78

A t value of 2.021 was needed to demonstrate significance
a t the .05 le v e l.

Since the value was 1.02 there is no reason to

assume that there are s ig n ific a n t differences in the means of the two
groups.

In addition, an F value < .41 was required to demonstrate

significance at the .05 le v e l.

The F value in th is te s t was .78.

Thus there is no reason to suspect s ig n ific a n t differences in the
variances of the two groups.

Since there was no s ta tis tic a l evidence

to support the rejectio n of the hypothesis, i t was accepted.

Minor Hypothesis 2
In 101A no differences w ill be found between posttest scores
of group one and group two on average performance or v a r ia b ility
in performance.

44

A tw o -tailed " t-te s t" was performed between group one and
group two of 101A to determine i f there were any differences in the
group means on the posttest.

A corresponding "F-test" was run to

determine i f any differences existed in the group variances.
cance was set at the .05 level fo r both te sts.

S ig n ifi­

Table 4 illu s tra te s

the data fo r these tests; the number in each group, the means fo r the
posttest, the standard deviations, the "t" ra tio and the "F" ra tio .

Table 4
t-T e s t and F-Test fo r Posttest MTAI
Scores of Groups One and Two in 101A

N

X

SD

Group 1

22

43.2

30.0

Group 2

23

42.8

25.8

t

F

.05

1.36

A t value of 2.021 was required to demonstrate significance
at the .05 le v e l.

The value obtained was .05.

Thus there is no

reason to assume that there are s ig n ific a n t differences in the means
of the two groups.

An F value less than .41 was needed to demonstrate

significance a t the .05 le v e l.

The value obtained was 1.36.

There

is no reason to assume s ig n ific a n t differences in the variances of
the two groups.

Since the s ta tis tic a l evidence did not support re­

jectio n of the hypothesis, i t was accepted.

45

Minor Hypothesis 3
In 321A no differences w ill be found between p re-test scores
of group one and group two on average performance or v a r ia b ility
in performance,
A tw o -tailed " t-te s t" was done between group one and group
two of 321A on the p re-test scores on the MTAI.
differences in the group means.

This was to test fo r

A corresponding "F-test" was done to

determine i f any differences existed in the group variances.
cance was set at the .05 level fo r both te sts.

S ig n ifi­

Table 5 shows the

data fo r these te sts ; the number in each group, the group means fo r
the p re -te s t, the standard deviations, the "t" ra tio and the "F" ra tio
obtained.

Table 5
t-T e s t and F-Test fo r Pre-Test MTAI
Scores of Groups One and Two in 321A

N

X

SD

Group 1

27

60.6

20.4

Group 2

18

61.6

24.3

t

F

.15

.71

A t value of 2.021 was needed to demonstrate significance
at the .05 le v e l.

The t value obtained was .15, therefore, there is

no reason to assume that s ig n ific a n t differences exist between the
means of groups one and two on the p re -te s t.
needed to show significance at the .05 le v e l.

An F value < .41 was
The F value obtained

v. .

r

was .71.
t
i

I'.
k

Thus there is no reason to assume that there are sig n ific a n t

46

differences between the variances of the two groups on the p re-test
measure.

Since there was no s ta tis tic a l evidence to support rejection

of the hypothesis, i t was accepted.

Minor Hypothesis 4
In 321A no differences w ill be found between posttest scores
o f group one and group two on average performance or v a r ia b ility
in performance.
A tw o -tailed " t-te s t" was run between group one and group
two of 321A on the posttest scores on the MTAI.
differences in the group means.

This was to te s t fo r

A corresponding "F-test" was done to

determine i f any differences existed in the group variances.
cance was set a t the .05 level fo r both te sts.

S ig n ifi­

Table 6 shows the

data fo r these tests; the number in each group, the group means fo r
the posttest, the standard deviations, the "t" ra tio and the "F" ra tio
obtained.

Table 6
t-T e s t and F-Test fo r Posttest MTAI
Scores of Groups One and Two in 321A

Group 1

N

X

SD

27

62

24.7

t

.16
Group 2

18

63.2

F

1.13

23.2

A t value of 2.021 was needed to demonstrate significance
at the .05 le v e l.

The t value obtained was .16, thus i t is reasonable

47

to conclude that there are no s ig n ific a n t differences between the means
of groups one and two o f 321A on the MTAI posttest.

An F value less

th at .41 was needed to show significance at the .05 le v e l.
obtained was 1.13.

The F value

Therefore, there is no reason to assume that sig­

n ific a n t differences e x is t between the variances of group one and
group two of 321A on the posttest measure.

Since there was no s ta tis ­

tic a l evidence to support rejection of the hypothesis, i t was accepted.

Major Hypotheses
In analyzing the major hypotheses, i t was f i r s t necessary to
determine i f the two groups of 101A were equivalent.

Also, i t was

necessary to determine i f the two groups of 321A were equivalent.

The

analyses of the four minor hypotheses indicate th at the necessary
equivalences e x is t.

Therefore, since there are no s ig n ific a n t d i f ­

ferences in the groups, the two groups of 101A can be combined to
form one group and the two groups of 321A can be combined to form one
group.
Using the results of the tests on the minor hypotheses, the
following table provides the data on group means fo r the four groups
now being tested; 101A p re -te s t, 101A posttest, 321A p re -te s t, and
321A posttest.
Table 7
Pre-Test and Posttest Group Mean
Scores fo r 101A and 321A
Pre-Test

Posttest

101A

44.35

43.0

321A

61.04

62.49

48

A repeated measures te s t was done on the p re -tes t and post­
te s t scores of 101A and 321A.

This te s t combined each student's

scores to determine i f there was a treatment e ffe c t (being in a certain
course), a measures e ffe c t, (differences on p re -tes t and posttest
scores), or an interaction e ffe c t (treatment and measures).

The f o l ­

lowing results were obtained:

Table 8
Repeated Measures Significance fo r
Pre-Test and Posttest Scores
of 101A and 321A

Effect

Significance

Treatment E ffect

P < .0004

Measures E ffect

P < .9799

Interaction E ffect

P < .4266

Using the information from Table 8, the four major hypothe­
ses can now be examined.

Major Hypothesis I
No differences w ill be found between the p re -tes t and post­
te s t scores fo r those students enrolled in 101A.

Major Hypothesis U
No differences w ill be found between the p re-test and post­
te s t scores fo r those students enrolled in 321A.

49

Analysis of the f i r s t two hypotheses consists of combining
the measures e ffe c t and the interaction e ffe c t.
combines a ll students, regardless of course.

The measures e ffe c t

Table 8 indicates that

significance was at the .9799 level fo r th is e ffe c t.
was no measures e ffe c t.
there

Therefore, there

The interaction e ffe c t indicates whether

was significance between the measures and the treatment (the

course in which each student was en ro lled ).

Since the level of

significance fo r the interaction e ffe c t was .4266, there was no in te r ­
action e ffe c t.

Combining these two facts shows that there was no d i f ­

ference in p re -te s t and posttest scores fo r e ith e r 101A or 321A.
Therefore, the f i r s t two hypotheses do not need to be subjected to
fu rth e r analysis.

Major Hypothesis I I I
The group mean on the MTAI p re -tes t fo r 321A w ill exceed
that of the MTAI posttest fo r 101A.
The treatment e ffe c t showed significance a t the .0004 le v e l.
This indicated th at there are s ig n ific a n t differences between 101A
and 321A.

Since the measures e ffe c t showed no differences, i t is

reasonable to conclude th at the posttest fo r 101A and the p re-test
fo r 321A re s u lt in s ig n ific a n tly d iffe re n t scores.

By examining

Table 7, the indications are that the 321A p re -te s t scores are sig ­
n ific a n tly higher than the 101A posttest scores.

Major Hypothesis IV
The combined scores of the pre-tests and posttests fo r 321A
w ill exceed that of 101A.

50

The combined scores of the pre-tests and the posttests is
the treatment e ffe c t.

This e ffe c t was s ig n ific a n t at the .0004 le v e l.

This indicates th at there were s ig n ific a n t score differences between
101A and 321A.

Table 7 illu s tra te s the differences in the mean scores

between the two courses.

The scores from 321A were s ig n ific a n tly

higher than the scores of 101A, both on the p re -te st and on the post­
te s t.

Interviews
The interviews were conducted with twelve students, six
from 101A and six from 321A.

They were chosen from the sample for

one of two reasons, extreme differences in p re -tes t and posttest
scores or no differences in p re -tes t and posttest scores.
illu s tra te s the students' scores.

Table 9

(See Appendix C fo r interview

questions.)
In analyzing the information obtained in the interviews,
the responses are noted by course, then by a ttitu d e change.

The course

information presented indicates that at least 4 out of 6 of the stu­
dents gave those responses indicated.

The a ttitu d e information in ­

dicates that at le a s t 3 out of 4 of the students in a specific
a ttitu d e change category gave those responses indicated.

By Course
The students in 101A indicated that they had learned a lo t
about teachers and teaching.

They liked the children and the teachers.

There were mixed emotions about the classrooms.

Some comments were:

51

Table 9
Pre-Test, Posttest and Gain
Scores fo r 101A and 321A
Students Interviewed

101A

321A

Legend:

P re-test

Posttest

Gain

23

48

+25

P

8

38

+30

P

47

47

0

S

63

60

- 3

S

58

16

-42

N

40

- 6

-46

N

61

85

+24

P

69

93

+24

P

63

66

+ 3

S

26

28

+ 2

S

68

33

-35

N

34

- 4

-38

N

P Positive a ttitu d e change
S No a ttitu d e change o f significance
N Negative a ttitu d e change

A ttitude
Change

52

1) "there's too much freedom," 2) " i t was ra d ic a lly d iffe re n t from my
own elementary experience," 3) "I don't know how I'd handle that much
confusion."

More experience was regarded as absolutely essential.

The students indicated th at they eventually wanted th e ir own class­
rooms, but that they were not ready y e t.
because of the experience i t s e lf .

Attitudes were changed "just

I t helped me to re a liz e that I

re a lly did want to become a teacher."

Most of the comments were in

terms of teaching and organizing classrooms.

There were very few

comments about th e ir own interaction with the children.

One of the

six students decided th at as a res u lt of her experience she did not
want to become a teacher.
In 321A the students responded that the experience in Dis­
t r i c t B schools was quite d iffe re n t from D is tric t A.

"My school this

term is very tr a d itio n a l, not lik e my school in 101A," was a typical
response.

The students tended to lik e the classrooms and the teachers.

There were mixed emotions about the children.

Some comments were:

1)

"They were d i f f ic u l t to co n tro l," 2) "I liked some of the children,
but not a ll of them."

The students were excited about having th e ir

own classrooms and looked forward to soon graduating.

They f e l t

th e ir a ttitu d es changed because, "the experience in D is tr ic t B re a lly
showed what the classroom was lik e ."

These students responded to the

questions in terms of getting along with the children, providing fo r
individual differences, and the social-emotional climate of the class­
room.

A ll six of the 321A students d e fin ite ly want to become class­

room teachers.

53

By A ttitud e Change
Those students with a positive a ttitu d e change indicated
that they enjoyed the f ie ld experience.
the teacher and the children.

They liked the classroom,

They wanted to eventually be teachers.

A ll of them f e l t that th e ir attitu d es had become more d e fin ite as a
re s u lt of the experience.
The students whose attitu d es did not change used the word
"worthwhile" to describe the experience.

They tended not to lik e the

classroom they were placed in , nor the teacher, but they did lik e the
children.

Three of them wanted to eventually become teachers.

They

f e l t th e ir attitu d es seemed more defined a fte r the experience.
Those students with a negative a ttitu d e change indicated
th at d is c ip lin e was a problem.

The experience was "O.K."

They d id n 't

lik e the classroom, but they liked the teacher and the children.
four eventually wanted th e ir own classrooms.
tudes changed because of the children.

A ll

They f e l t th e ir a t t i ­

The students indicated the

children did not act as expected.

Summary
In th is chapter, the analysis of the data was presented.
The minor and major hypotheses were examined.

In addition an empiri­

cal analysis of the interviews was included.
Chapter V contains the findings and conclusions from the
data analyzed in th is chapter.

CHAPTER V
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This chapter contains a summary o f the study, the conclusions
drawn from the data, a discussion of the findings and recommendations
fo r future research.

Summary
The purpose of th is study was to determine the attitud es
toward teaching of pre-service elementary education majors who were
enrolled in one of two required field-based courses at Michigan State
U niversity, Spring Term, 1975.

These students were e ith e r enrolled

in Education 101A (Exploring Elementary Teaching) or Education 321A
(Curriculum Methods in Elementary Education).
S p e c ific a lly , th is study examined the students' attitud es
at the beginning of th e ir course and at the end.

The instrument used

to measure th e ir attitud es was the Minnesota Teacher A ttitu d e Invento D '-

The population of 101A was 213 students.
168 students.

In 321A there were

The students were enrolled in one of two sections in

th e ir respective course.

A random numbers assignment to alphabetical

class li s t s , obtained at the close of regular re g is tra tio n , provided
the 55 students desired from each course fo r the sample.

54

These students

55

took the pre-test (MTAI) on campus in a meeting/seminar session of
th e ir course, during the f i r s t week o f the term.

A fter eight weeks

of participation/observation, the students were again administered
the MTAI as a posttest in th e ir on-campus session of the course.

At

th is time not a ll of the o rig in a lly selected students were present,
so the sample size was reduced to 45 from each course.
During the time between the p re -te s t and the posttest, the
students in 101A were assigned to elementary classrooms in D is tric t A.
This is a high socio-economic d is t r ic t and experiments with several
innovative programs concurrently.
The students went to th e ir assigned classrooms once a week
(6 hours) fo r eight weeks of o b servation /participation .

Appendix A

provides a description of the a c tiv itie s in which the students were
presumably involved.

The students were also required to attend a

meeting once a week on campus.

The purpose of the meetings was to

discuss general topics of concern in elementary education.
The students in 321A were assigned to elementary classrooms
in D is tr ic t B.

The students assigned to these schools attended

one day a week (6 hours) fo r eight weeks of observation /participation .
Appendix B provides a description of classroom a c tiv itie s in which
the students were apt to be involved.

The students were also required

to attend a seminar once a week on campus.

These seminars dealt with

topics relevant to student teaching and subsequent employment as an
elementary school teacher.
A fte r the posttest scores were computed, gain scores were
determined fo r each student.

On the basis of the gain scores, twelve

56

students, six from each course, were selected fo r interviews.

The

students chosen were those whose scores from the p re-tes t to the post­
te s t had changed the most or not at a l l .

Included in the group were

two who had changed the most in a negative d ire c tio n , two who had
changed the most in a positive d ire c tio n , and two who had no change
in each course.

They were each interviewed by the researcher at th e ir

assigned school.

Their responses were then combined to determine what

patterns of response existed.
and then by a ttitu d e change.

These patterns were reported by course
Appendix C contains the interview ques­

tions.
The lite r a tu r e reviewed indicates that the students enrolled
in most courses in teacher education, e ith e r field-based or college
classroom s itu a tio n s , do not s ig n ific a n tly change th e ir attitudes
during the time of the course.

Major changes in attitu d es toward

teaching seem to occur between the time the student begins the f i r s t
course in teacher education and the time of his/her la s t course in
teacher education.

Usually th is is a span of 3-4 years.

The a t t i ­

tudes appear to go in a more positive directio n as the student pro­
gresses through the teacher education program.

Many variables other

than the teacher education program may also contribute to th is a t t i ­
tude change.
The instrument used in th is study to measure the students'
attitu d es toward teaching was the Minnesota Teacher A ttitud e Inventory.
I t is one of the most widely used a ttitu d e measures.

I t was construc­

ted in 1951 and the o rig in al version, Form A, is s t i l l the only version
in p rin t.

57

This study involved the testing of eight hypotheses.

These

were separated equally into two categories; minor hypotheses and major
hypotheses.

The minor hypotheses involved determining i f the two

groups in each course were essen tially equal in a ttitu d es on the pre­
te st and on the posttest,

t-te s ts and corresponding F-tests yielded

no s ig n ific a n t differences in the groups.

Thus the two groups of

101A were combined to form one group and the two groups of 321A were
combined to form one group.

Next, a repeated measures design, using

the information obtained from testing the minor hypotheses, was em­
ployed to te s t the major hypotheses.

These hypotheses centered around

finding differences between the p re -tes t and posttest scores in each
course, and finding differences between 101A and 321A, in terms of
a ttitu d e s .

There was no s ig n ific a n t difference found between the pre­

te s t and posttest scores of e ith e r group.

There was, however, a sig ­

n ific a n t difference between the two courses.

Significance was reported

at the .0004 le v e l.
On the basis of the interviews the 321A students seemed
more anxious to begin th e ir professional careers than 101A students.
The students in 101A f e l t they needed more experience, more time and
more techniques fo r classroom management.

The students in 321A f e l t

that D is tric t B schools had given them a more r e a lis tic view o f the
typical elementary school classroom.

They f e l t they had more r e a lis ­

t ic attitu d es toward teaching and toward children.
Conclusions
Using the results of the t-te s ts and F-tests conducted on
the minor hypotheses, the following conclusions were reached.

1.

There wereno s ig n ific a n t (.0 5 ) differences

toward teaching between

in attitu d es

the students enrolled in section one and sec­

tion two of 101A.
2.

There were no s ig n ific a n t (.0 5 ) differences in attitud es

toward teaching between

the students enrolled in section one and sec­

tion two of 321A.
Using the results of the repeated measures te s t on the major
hypotheses, the following conclusions were reached.
3.
(.0 5 )

change th e ir attitud es toward teaching during the term.
4.

(.0 5 )

The students enrolled in 101A did not s ig n ific a n tly

The students enrolled in 321A did not s ig n ific a n tly

change th e ir attitud es toward teaching during the term.
5.

In 321A, the students' p re -te s t attitu d es toward teach­

ing were more positive than 101A students' posttest attitu d es toward
teaching, as determined by observation of the group mean scores.
6.

Students enrolled in 321A had more positive attitu d es

toward teaching at the beginning and at the end o f the term, than
those students enrolled in 101A (s ig n ific a n t a t the .0004 le v e l).
Using the information obtained in the lim ited number of
interviews, the following conclusions seem warranted.
1.

Students reported more problems with d is c ip lin e in 321A

than students in 101A.
2.

Students in 321A indicated th at they f e l t more prepared

to teach th e ir own classroom than those students in 101A.
3.

Students in both 321A and 101A expressed the b e lie f that

the experience helped them better understand the r e a litie s of the
classroom.

59

4.

Students in 101A indicated more concern with the organi­

zation of the classroom; students in 321A more concern with the pupils'
mental and social growth.

Discussion
Attention should be drawn to certain factors in th is study.
F ir s t, the length and ambiguity of the MTAI should be noted.

Adminis­

tra tio n of the instrument "usually takes from 20 to 30 minutes,"^ is
stated in the manual.
administer the te s t.
MTAI.

In th is study i t took from 35-55 minutes to
Some students seemed restless and upset by the

There were complaints that i t was too d i f f ic u l t to understand

the questions and put an exact answer.

The students f e l t th at some­

times they would answer one way, but a t other times they would answer
with a completely d iffe re n t answer, depending on the circumstances.
By hand scoring the answer sheets i t was obvious th at those students
who made extreme responses (strongly agree/strongly disagree) tended
to score higher than those who made neutral responses (undecided/un­
c e rta in ).

The MTAI was f i r s t published in 1951 and the origin al version

is s t i l l the only one in p rin t today.
Secondly, although the students in 101A and in 321A showed
no s ig n ific a n t differences from p re -te s t to posttest scores, i t is
worth noting the following information.

In 101A the mean scores went

in a negative direction from p re-te st to posttest.

i

In 321A the mean

Walter W. Cook, Carroll H. Leeds, and Robert Call is , Minne­
sota Teacher A ttitud e Inventory—Manual (New York: Psychological
Corporation, 1951), p. 5.

60

scores went in a positive direction from p re -tes t to posttest.

In

closer examination of the scores, 50 percent of the 101A students had
an increase in scores while 60 percent of the 321A students had an
increase in scores.

Possibly the MTAI has its items based on the

r e a litie s of the classroom.

As the students become more aware of the

actual classroom se ttin g , they tend to make more d e fin ite commitments
w ithin themselves regarding teaching.

This fa c t, coupled with the

extreme response tendency of influence on the MTAI, as reported by
Budd and Blakely , could account fo r the higher scores on the part of
the 321A students.
This study adds support to other studies done on attitud es
of pre-service elementary teachers.

The students, sampled are repre­

sentative o f the population of 101A and 321A students.

There is no

reason to believe that Spring Term, 1975, was any d iffe re n t than other
terms, except Summer when there is no field-based experience connected
with the courses.
The second field-based course, 321A, was represented by
more positive attitud es than the f i r s t field-based course, 101A, on
both p re -te s t and posttest o f the MTAI.

As the students progress

through th e ir course work at Michigan State U niversity, they tend to
become more positive in th e ir attitu d es toward teaching, as defined
by the MTAI.

2

William C. Budd and Lynda S. Blakely, "Response Bias in
the Minnesota Teacher A ttitu d e Inventory,!' Journal of Educational
Research, 51:707-709, May, 1958.

61

Recommendations fo r Future Research
This study was centered around pre-service teachers' attitud es
toward teaching.

S p e c ific a lly , i t dealt with two field-based courses

required of elementary education majors a t Michigan State University.
There are a number of other considerations, in addition to attitudes
th at should be explored.
1.

Studies have indicated that students feel they have a

more r e a lis tic view of the classroom as a resu lt of field-based courses.
Are there certain experiences that should be included in field-based
courses, in order fo r students to gain a more r e a lis tic view of the
classroom?
2.

Research has shown that student teachers' attitud es

have been influenced by th e ir supervising teacher.

Do the teachers

who supervise the students in field-based courses, influence the a t t i ­
tudes of those students?
3.

Since the MTAI is 24 years old and has not been revised

since its inception, i t might prove f r u it f u l to develop a d iffe re n t
approach to assessing attitud es toward teaching using constructs and
concepts related to teaching, commonly used today.
4.
tio n al le v e l.

Attitudes toward teaching d if f e r according to educa­
How do a ttitu d es d if f e r according to specialization

w ithin elementary education?
5.

Field-based courses usually have some input from the

teacher tra in in g in s titu tio n .

Does the amount of college supervision

in the classroom of the field-based course e ffe c t the attitud es
toward teaching of the students enrolled?

62

6.

Since studies have reported that students' attitu d es

toward teaching increase as they progress through the teacher educa­
tion program, at what stage do th e ir a ttitu d es show the most s ig n if i­
cant increase?
7.

Are there certain courses in teacher education that

cause more of an a ttitu d e change than others?

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A
COURSE DESCRIPTION, CHECKLIST OF ACTIVITIES,
AND MEETING OUTLINE FOR EDUCATION 101A

APPENDIX A
EXPLORING TEACHING
ED 101A
Michigan State University
INTRODUCTION
Exploring Teaching (ED 101A) is the f i r s t professional course
in the M.S.U. teacher c e rtific a tio n programs fo r students majoring in
Elementary and Special Education or Family and Child Sciences.

I t is

a f ie ld course made possible by cooperative arrangements between Dis­
t r i c t A and Michigan State U niversity.

Students enrolled in the course

are obligated to spend a f u ll school day in an elementary school each
week throughout an academic term (usually nine weeks).

The classroom

ro le of the student approximates that of a teacher's aide.

In th is

role the student is expected to be a c tive ly involved in the proceed­
ings of the classroom and not a passive observer.

OBJECTIVES
There are two major objectives fo r the course:
1.

To provide an authentic classroom experience which
w ill enable students to assess th e ir own interests
and aptitudes fo r teaching.

2.

To provide a screening and selection mechanism which
w ill enable experienced educators to evaluate the
c a p a b ilitie s and commitment of students who seek ad­
mission to elementary school teacher c e rtific a tio n
programs a t Michigan State U niversity.

Successful completion of Exploring Teaching is prerequisite to e n ro ll­
ment in professional education courses.

63

64

THE BASIC EXPERIENCE
I t is hoped that each student enrolled in Exploring Teaching
w ill have school experiences which provide a broad sampling of teaching
tasks and re s p o n s ib ilitie s .

We seek a balance among those tasks which

are routine, menial, and non-instructional and those tasks which in volve interpersonal relationships with children, instructional decisions,
and re s p o n s ib ilitie s for the supervision and care of children.

Because

of the re la tiv e inexperience of the students and the lack of educational
preparation in teaching techniques, the work of the students must a l­
ways be done under the d ire c t supervision of le g a lly responsible edu­
cators.

The relationship between cooperating school a u th o rities and

the Exploring Teaching students whould be one of mutual benefit in
which the assistance of the student volunteers is traded fo r the ric h ­
est possible introduction to the r e a litie s of a teaching career.

To

assist students and teachers in planning a wide va rie ty o f experiences,
a l i s t of appropriate tasks is attached.

This l i s t is not exhaustive,

of course, and is to be used fo r guidance only.
When and where i t is possible to extend the students' ex­
perience beyond a single classroom setting without seriously in te r fe r ­
i n g with the basic relationship already described i t is desirable to
do so.

A complete sampling of the curriculum fo r children— including

a c tiv itie s in other classrooms, the gym, f ie ld t r ip s , and outdoors-would be beneficial fo r most students.

Opportunities to converse with

a variety of school s ta ff members should help students understand other
roles and the relationships among people which are developed to achieve

65

a smooth running school.

Occasional meetings with teachers and the

school principal in which child management, professional, cu rricu lar
and operational matters could be discussed would enlighten students
and help them understand facets of an educational career th at are some­
times obscure at f i r s t .

I t would also be useful to inform students of

school po licies on safety, conditions of employment and other matters
close to the interests of teachers.

The university supervisors w ill be

happy to cooperate in arranging such a c tiv itie s when th e ir assistance
is desired.

66

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SPECIAL EDUCATION
CHECKLIST OF EXPLORING TEACHING ACTIVITIES
I.

OBSERVING AND INTERACTING WITH CHILDREN
Maintain observational log of behavior of 1 or 2 children.
Help supervise children o n /o ff bus.
Accompanied children on school bus rid e .
Help children with c lo th in g --zip p e r, shoes, e t c ., especially in
kindergarten.
Assist with a r t , music, dramatic presentations.
Read story to child or children.
Arrange and supervise games/rainy day a c tiv itie s .
Give directions fo r a classroom a c tiv ity .
Converse with children.
Listen to children in conversations.
Tutor child or children.
Work with groups of 3-5 children.
Listen to oral reading of individual children.
Assist individuals in correcting w ritten work.
D irect work or pupils on a teacher-introduced project.
Assist p u p il(s) locate resources.
Assist in lunch room supervision.
Assist in playground supervision or in auditorium.
Assist with f ie ld trip s .
Assist with medical exams, innoculations, vision te s ts , etc.
Take children to lib r a r y , playground, o ffic e , nurse, etc.

II.

ASSIST TEACHER WITH INSTRUCTION
Correct papers.
Put lessons fo r the next day on the chalk board.
Arrange science corner, reading corner, etc.
Prepare transparencies as directed.
Prepare charts as directed.
Prepare teaching aids: f l i p charts, covered boxes fo r storage,
etc.
Procure and operate A-V equipment.
Act as a proctor fo r the classroom teacher in te s t situ atio n s.
Record data in cumulative fo ld e r, reading cards, etc.
D is trib u te
reading m aterials according to the
results of tests.
Contribute a special s k ill to the work o f the
classroom.
Develop an instructional or resource un it fo r
classroom teacher.

III.

ASSIST TEACHER WITH ORGANIZATION OF CLASSROOM
Make seating charts.
Assist in keeping room neat and orderly.

67

ASSIST TEACHER WITH ORGANIZATION OF CLASSROOM (Cont.)
Do various housekeeping chores--cleaning closets, sorting
m aterials, etc.
Assist in the collection and f ilin g of pictures.
Operate duplicating equipment.
Collect money from children as directed.
Help arrange room fo r special a c tiv ity .
F i l l paint ja rs .
Help with c le ric a l duties in school
Check attendance, lunch counts, etc.
Pass out routine notices, information, b u lle tin s , etc.
Arrange b u lle tin board.
C o lle c t, mount, f i l e picture.
Make name tags fo r children.
F ile instructional m aterials fo r the teacher.
Type masters of reading forms, questionnaires, and testing
p ro file forms.
IV.

ASSIST IN ADMINISTRATION
Work in p rin c ip a l's o ffic e .
Work in lib ra ry .
Assist school secretaries in student reg is tratio n and w ith­
drawals, typing d itto s , answering the telephone and other
types of o ffic e work.
Score and p ro file achievement & diagnostic tests.

V.

ASSIST WITH PUBLIC RELATIONS.
Attend parent-teacher conference.
Attend PTA meetings.
Attend teachers' meeting.
Maintain professional readings about teaching.
Attend professional meeting.
Call parents fo r teacher.
Converse with custodian, special teachers, volunteers, etc.

68

Schedule fo r Exploring Teaching
ED 101A - Spring, 1975
Wed or Mon
(1)

3/26 or 3/31

Exploring Teaching overview.
School assignments: Begin Mon 4/7 - End Mon 6/2

(2)

4/2

or 4/7

Maintaining a d a ily jo u rn al.
Becoming a group.
What do teacher-aides do?
Assignment: Select a book to read th is term from
the l i s t provided.

or 4/14

Meet your hosts— principals and teachers from
your schools.

(3)

4/9

(4)

4/16 or 4/21

Your contribution to the classroom.
What are you reading?
Dealing with classroom situ atio ns.

(5)

4/23 or 4/28

Cognitive mapping fo r more e ffe c tiv e learning.

(6)

4/30 or 5/5

The Elementary Intern Program—Dr. Cooper and
Interns.
Child management principles you can apply.

(7)

5/7

or 5/12

Occupational prospects fo r teachers— Dr. Pat
Scheetz,
Placement O ffic e .

(8)

5/14

or 5/19

Where do you go from here?
To teach or not to teach?
What do you need to learn?

5/21 or 5/26

(No class on e ith e r date. Final conferences in
school during week beginning Tues 5 /2 7 .)

School Calendar:
M

Week
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)

*4 /7
4/14
4/21
4/28
5/5
5/12
5/19
**
* *

Tu

W

Th

F

4/8
4/15
4/22
4/29
5/6
5/13
5/20
5/27

4/9
4/16
*4/23
4/30
*5 /7
5/14
*5/21
5/28

4/10
4/17
4/24
5/1
5/8
5/15
5/22
5/29

4/11
4/18
4/25
5/2
5/9
5/16
5/23
5/30

6/2

* Professional A c tiv ity day fo r teachers
**To make up fo r Memorial Day holiday

APPENDIX B
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND GUIDELINES AND
SEMINAR OUTLINE FOR EDUCATION 321A

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SPECIAL EDUCATION

Spring Term 1975

EDUCATION 321A - ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
Course A c tiv itie s :
1)

Required:
a) Tuesday or Thursday p articip a tio n in an elementary school
b)
c)

2)

S e lf-in s tru c tio n a l program in educational media
P articip atio n in re c ita tio n sections

Optional:
I . R. C. Graphics Production Lab

Course Objectives:
1)

Our primary purpose fo r the classroom experience is tq enable
you to work with children in the school setting . The classroom
a c tiv itie s we suggest are in te n tio n a lly l e f t r e la tiv e ly open
to allow you to gain as much as you can and to allow the teacher
the necessary la titu d e to f i t you into the classroom program.
S p e c ific a lly , we an ticip ate that you w ill gain the following
from th is experience:
a) Through observation and discussion with the teacher you
w ill begin to develop a valid perception of the teacher's
ro le .
b) Your work in the classroom w ill provide you with a back­
ground of experience which w ill add meaning to your methods
courses.
c) Your tutoring experiences w ill provide an opportunity fo r
insight into the learning process.
d) You w ill gain some i n it ia l ideas as to how you can be most
e ffe c tiv e in working with small groups of children.

2)

The s e lf-in s tru c tio n a l media program is designed to acquaint
you with the basic educational hardware found in most schools.
You should be able to operate fiv e of the most common pieces
of equipment upon completion.

3)

Recitation sections w ill provide an arena fo r the exchange of
ideas and information. In addition, instructors w ill provide
input in a number of areas including planning fo r instru ctio n ,
class and room management and school organization.

Course Evaluation:
Education 321A is on the Pass - No Credit basis.
Pass grade you must:

69

To receive the

70

a)
b)
c)

complete the s e lf-in s tru c tio n a l program in education media,
p a rtic ip a te in the Tuesday or Thursday in-school experience
fo r 8 f u ll days, or the equivalent,
attend and p artic ip ate in rec ita tio n sections

71
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SPECIAL EDUCATION

Spring Term 1975

EDUCATION 321A
GUIDELINES FOR TUESDAY - THURSDAY PARTICIPATION
I.

Your teacher has been given the following l i s t of a c tiv itie s fo r
methods students. There are only suggested, and the l i s t is not
inclusive of a ll the a c tiv itie s you might be asked to undertake
in the classroom.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)

Take ro ll
Read a story
Tutor
Work with small groups
Help with make-up work
Teach an a r t , science,
or math, e t c ., enrich­
ment lesson
Help with gym or play­
ground groups
Help with b u lle tin
boards

9)
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
15)

Help with wraps and boots
Check papers (This can be a
learning experience, but i t can
be overused.)
Help with fie ld trip s
Produce m aterials and supplies
Help with AV materials
D istribu te m aterials
Prepare seat work

In addition to these a c t iv it ie s , the students may have an assign­
ment from one or more of her methods instructors fo r which he may
need to observe a group of your children or work with a small
(3 -5) group of them in an enrichment lesson.
II.

Crucial Guidelines fo r You
a)

Keep in mind you are anindividual guest in the school.
The
f i r s t res p o n s ib ility of the teacher youwork with is to her
pupils. Your learning experience must always f i t into the
program planned fo r the pupils. Most teachersare sensitive
about th e ir teaching. Adverse comments in thecoffee lounge
or elsewhere serve no positive purpose. I f you have a problem,
bring i t to your ED 321A supervisor,

b)

Keep the information you learn aboutspecific children
in the
school s t r ic t ly c o n fid e n tia l. This is absolutely c r i t i c a l .

c)

Your hours are 8:00 to 3:50 (the teacher's f u ll day). Please
be prompt. This w ill allow time fo r you to ta lk with your
teacher. On the f i r s t day, report to the p rin c ip a l's o ffic e .

d)

I f you are i l l , or in the event o f an emergency which keeps
you from attending, please c a ll the school o ffic e between 7:50
and 8:15. Once you become a part o f the human resources of
the school, the teacher and the pupils are counting on you.

e)

Dress appropriately. On the f i r s t day, dress on the conserva­
tiv e side, then le t the dress of the regular teachers in the
building be your guide.

321A SEMINAR OUTLINE
For the
Week of:

Session

3/27 & 4/3

I

4/10

II

4/17

III

4/24

IV

5/1

V

5/8

VI

5/15

V II

5/22

V III

5/29
6/5

Topic

Written
Assignments

Introduction to the Course
The School and the University
Sub-Culture

Introduction to Assignment A:
Management Observation

Classroom Management ( I )

Management Observation A-l
due

Classroom Management ( I I )

Management Observation A-2
due

The Teacher and the Law

Introduction to Assignment B:
School board Observation or
Teaching Episode Reaction or
Motivation Observation

Individualizing Instruction

Assignment B due

Techniques fo r Evaluation
Tooling up to Look fo r a Job ( I )

Introduction to Assignment C:
Model Resume

IX

Tooling up to Look fo r a Job:
(II)

Assignment C due

X

Emerging Trends in Elementary
Education

?o

APPENDIX C
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Interview Questions

1.

How would you characterize your f ie ld experience th is term in
101A/321A?

2.

How did you feel about your classroom?

the children?

the teacher?

3,

How do you feel about eventually having your own classroom?

4.

How did your attitu d es toward teaching change during th is term?

5.

What caused your a ttitu d es to change?

73

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81

Dissertations
C a rro ll, Raymond A. "Teacher Education: Trends in Concepts of the
Professional Preparation of Teachers 1940-1968.," Unpublished
Doctoral d issertatio n , Michigan State U niversity, 1969o
Claycomb, Clyde M. "An Exploratory Study of Attitudes Toward Children
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Doctoral d issertatio n , Michigan State U niversity, 1970.
Colvin, Cynthia. "Achieving Readiness fo r Student Teaching Through
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Edualino, Emilio Quial. "The Relationship Between Successful Student
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Estes, Sidney Harrison. "A Status Study of Pre-Student Teaching
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Fehl, P a tric ia K. "The Effects of an Observation-Participation Program
on Attitudes and on Concepts." Dissertation Abstracts,
27:3338A, 1967.
Funk, Haldon Dean. "The E ffect of Pre-Student Teaching Professional
Laboratory Experiences on Selected Attitudes and Concepts
of Prospective Elementary Teachers." Dissertation Abstracts,
29:3020A, 1968.
Jones, Isabel Fleming. "A Study of the Relationship of Various Types
of Pre-Student Teaching Experiences to Success in Student
Teaching." Dissertation Abstracts, 16:709, 1955.
Lane, Frank T. "A Study of the Professional Problems Recognized by
Beginning Teachers and Their Implications fo r a Program of
Teacher Education (a t State University of New York Teachers
College at Brockport)." Unpublished Doctoral d iss erta tio n ,
New York U niversity, 1954.
Leeds, C. H. "The Construction and D iffe re n tia l Value of a Scale fo r
Determining Pupil A ttitu d es." Unpublished Doctoral disser­
ta tio n , University of Minnesota, 1946.
Marino, Ronald J. "The Effects of a Concentrated In-Service Program
Designed to Improve Elementary Teachers' Attitudes Toward
Children." Unpublished Doctoral d is s erta tio n , Michigan
State U n iversity, 1971.

82

Quinn, Mary E llen. "An Investigation of Undergraduate Field Study
Experiences a t Michigan State U n iversity." Unpublished
Doctoral d is s erta tio n , Michigan State U n iversity, 1972.
Schneck, George Robert. "An Investigation of V is ita tio n Experiences
in an Education Program fo r Prospective Elementary Teachers."
Unpublished Doctoral d issertatio n , Michigan State U niversity,
1972.
Schrag, Marie Carol. "An Assessment of Selected A ttitu d in a l Changes
in Secondary Vocational Teachers." Unpublished Doctoral
d is s e rta tio n , Michigan State U niversity, 1972.
S ic k m ille r, Edwin R. "Confidence, A ttitu d e , Desire to Teach, and an
Early C lin ical Experience." Unpublished Doctoral disserta­
tio n , Michigan State U niversity, 1973.
S in c la ir, William W. "An Analysis of Three Pre-Student Teaching Ex­
periences in the Preparation of Elementary School Teachers."
Unpublished Doctoral d iss ertatio n , Michigan State Univer­
s ity , 1961.
Smith, Martha L. "A Study of Elementary Student Teaching Confidence
in and A ttitud e Toward Music and Changes th at Occur in a
Student Teaching Experience." Unpublished Doctoral disser­
ta tio n , Michigan State U niversity, 1969.

Other Materials
Cook, Walter A ., Carroll H. Leeds, and Robert Call is . Minnesota
Teacher A ttitud e Inventory--Form A. New York: Psychologi­
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Cook, Walter A ., Carroll H. Leeds, and Robert Call is . Minnesota
Teacher A ttitud e Inventory--Manual. New York: Psychologi­
cal Corporation, 1951.
Porter, Andrew C. "Analysis Strategies fo r Some Common Evaluation
Paradigms." Paper presented at the meeting of the American
Educational Research Association, New Orleans, February,
1973.