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University Microfilms International 300 N. Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 8400642 YOUATT, JUNE PIERCE I NFORMAL A C T I V I T I E S I DE N T I F I E D AS C ON T R I B U T I N G TO THE P R O F E S S I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T O F S E L E C T E D M I C H I G A N HOME E C O NO M IC S T EACHERS Michigan State University University Microfilms International 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 PH.D. 1983 INFORMAL ACTIVITIES IDENTIFIED AS CONTRIBUTING T O THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF SELECTED MICHIGAN HOME ECONOMICS TEACHERS By June Pierce Youatt A DISSERTATION Submitted to Mi chigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCT OR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Ad mi nis tr ati on and Curriculum 1983 ABSTRACT INFORMAL ACTIVITIES IDENTIFIED AS CONTRIBUTING TO THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF SELECTED MICHIGAN HOME ECONOMICS TEACHERS By June Pierce Youatt The purpose of this study was to identify the types of informal experiences and activities which contribute to the professional development of selected Michigan home economics teachers and to determine how these experiences and activities influence them in their roles as classroom teachers. Informal activities are defined as those activities in which individuals voluntarily engage that foster learning and professional growth, necessarily designed for that purpose. but are not Selected professional characteristics of the teachers who found informal experiences to be of most value were also studied. Data for this study were collected in two phases; teachers in the sample met with the researcher group interviews. first for small This initial meeting also served as an orientation to the written questionnaire that followed. Data from the interviews and written questionnaires were content analyzed. Fourteen categories of informal activities and experiences were identified. The most frequently mentioned growth-producing experiences were those related to home and family. Interaction with resource June Pierce Youatt people, colleagues, and use of the popular media were categories also frequently cited. Informal activites and experiences were found to have four areas of impact on the classroom teacher. activities were beneficial in acquiring content knowledge and new teaching methods and materials. credited with Informal They were also influencing the teacher's views of students and of self as teacher. Data indicate that teachers found most valuable those activities and experiences which influenced their view of self as teacher. Differences were found in the types of informal activities and experiences engaged in by teachers with more than six and six-or-less years teaching experience. More experienced teachers reported valuing different outcomes from informal activities than less experienced teachers. There was also an indication that teachers from schools with fewer resources to support participation in formal professional development activities valued different outcomes from informal activities and experiences than teachers from schools with greater resources. To Ma r ily n Parkhurst, Ph.D. whose com mit men t to home econommics lives on through those whose lives she touched. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special thanks to my committee members Charles Blackman, George Ferns, Richard Gardner, Joanne Keith and Mary Louise Holly for their kind assistance to me throughout this project. Each contributed in a very special way. Mary Louise Holly must be especially recognized for her generous contributions of time and ideas. extended to Charles Blackman. patience were invaluable, Special appreciation is His insight, guidance and and working with him was as pleasurable as it was rewarding. Finally, I must affectionately acknowledge the assistance of my husband, Bill, iii the "wind beneath my wings." TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF T A B L E S ....................................... LIST OF FIGURES ..................................... vi vii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE P R O B L E M ................ Purpose ................................... 4 ........................ 6 Research Questions Importance 2. 3. 1 .................................. 7 A s s u m p t i o n s .................................. 9 Limitations and S c o p e ....................... 11 Definition of T e r m s ....................... 13 P r o c e d u r e s .................................. 14 Summary and O v e r v i e w ....................... 15 REVIEW OF SELECTED LITERATURE .............. 16 Professional Development vs Inservice Ed u c a t i o n .................................. 16 The Teacher as Adult L e a r n e r .............. 28 Processing Information 34 ..................... Professional Development and the Home Economics Teacher ......................... 38 PR OC EDU RES ..................................... 42 Population arid Sample Selection........... 42 v Data C o l l e c t i o n ........................ 1+8 Data Analysis Techniques............... 57 4. DATA ANALYSIS............................... 59 5. F I N D I N G S ................................... 91 Introduction............................... 91 Summary of F i n d i n g s ...................... 92 Review of Significant Findings........... 99 Conclusions and Implications............. 101 R e f l e c t i o n s ............................... 109 Recommendations for Further Research. Ill . . APPENDIX............................................ 113 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................ 116 v LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Respondent’s Teaching Location.................... 44 3.2 Sample by Years Teaching Experience, Degree Held and Teaching Location ............... 45 Sample in Relationship to School Size and Resources Available to Support Participation in Formal Professional Development Activities............................ 47 Informal Activities Identified by Teachers as Contributing to Their Professional Development, Ranked According to Frequency. ... 61 Example of a Response in Each of the Categories of Influence of Participation in Informal Activities on Teaching............................. 67 Mean Values of Informal Activities and Experiences Grouped According toTheir Effect 72 3.3 4.1 4.2 4.3 . . Sample by Years of Teaching Experience 4.5 Activities Cited by Teachers with Six-orr-Less and More^-than^-Six Years Teaching Experience, in Rank Order by Frequency of M e n t i o n ........... 79 Rating Sheet - Degree of Informality .............. 83 4.6 VI ........... 7 ft 4.4 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Plotting of the Categories of Activities and Experiences by "Degree of Informality". vn . . 87 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM For at least the last 135 years teachers have engaged in some form of inservice education. "teacher The earliest form, institutes," was designed for teachers who may have had little or no formal pre-service training. summers, In the teachers might attend special summer courses offered by the normal schools.^ By the early twentieth century the university became the dominant force in inservice education.3 In the late 1930s inservice activities began to be initiated at the local level. These post-depression inservice programs grew out of a wave of curriculum development projects aimed at creating educational programs 3 designed to better serve the youth of that day. ■'■Ralph W. Tyler, "In-Service Education of Teachers," in Improving In-Service E d u c a t i o n , ed. Louis J. Rubin (Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1975), pp. 5-15. 2 Roy A. Edelfelt and Margo Johnson, "A History of the Professional Development of Teachers," in The 1981 Report on Educational Personnel D ev e l o p m e n t , e d . , Emily Feistritzer (Washington, D.C.: Feistritzer Publication, 1980), p. 6. 3Tyler, p. 11. 2 In time, state departments of education and teacher unions made their way into the finally, inservice arena. And the teachers themselves became involved in leading their own continuing development through the adoption and adaption of the English model, the teacher center.^ An examination of the history of inservice education reveals several changes over time; changes related to the primary purpose of inservice education (remediation vs. growth), and changes in the forces and conditions which determined or influenced teacher participation. changes, In spite of these inservice education in one form or another has been viewed as the primary vehicle for bringing about improvement in the practicing teacher. Although "from its earliest beginnings, education has been a topic of considerable inservice interest with 5 professional educators," dealing with the wealth of recent publications inservice education suggests growing attention. Edelfelt reported that from January 1978 through December 1979 the number of inservice education entries in the ERIC Clearinghouse on Teacher Educa tio n increased nearly 50 percent.^ 4 The vast majority of current and earlier Edelfelt and Johnson, pp. research 7. 5 Marsha A. Ream, Inservice Education of Teachers (Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, Research Summary 1966-71, 1966), p. 24. C. Roy A. Edelfelt, "Six Years of Progress in Inservice Education," Journal of Research and Development in Education (Vol. 14, No. 2, 1981), pp. 112-118. 3 on inservice education is "oriented toward specific programs, toward techniques and methods, usually suggesting with the results that programs and activities lack certain qualities or characteristics." 7 It appears that most of these studies really stop short of trying to understand the substance and nature of professional d ev elo pm ent .8 the terms in fact, inservice education and professional development may be too readily eq uated.9 Rubin notes that professional development is a complex phenomenon of which very little known about the subtle is interplay among the various factors involved. While formal inservice education programs may in fact contribute to the professional development of a teacher, they do not constitute professional development. Inservice education may be viewed as just one of the factors that may contribute to the professional growth of a teacher, but it should not be equated with professional growth. Professional development is an individual p r o c e s s . H Newton 7 Ben M. Harris, "The Ev aluation of Inservice Education: Taking a Closer Look," The Developer (June 1982), p. 4. O Herbert Hite and Kenneth Howey, Planning Inservice Teacher Education: Promising Alt er natives (The Ame rican Association of Colleges for Teacher Ed uca ti on and the ERIC Education, May 1977), p. 6. 9 Lawrence Ingvarson and Philip Greenway, "Portrayals of Teacher Development," U.S. Department of Education, National Insdtitute of Education, ERIC Reprint 200600, pp. 2-3. •^Louis Rubin (Preface), The Inservice Educat io n of Teachers: Trends, Processes, and P e r s p e c t i v e s , ed. Louis Rubin (Boston: Ally n and Bacon, 1978). 1'*'Ingvarson and Greenway, p. 2. 4 describes professional development as the interactive effect of formal (like inservice activities) experiences. those 12 According to Newton, and informal informal activities are in which one engages that "foster learning and professional growth, that p u r p o s e . "13 but are not necessarily designed for These informal activities may be no more than the teachers day-to-day life e x p e r i e n c e s ,14 or they may be as complex as the learning projects T ou gh .15 In any event, investigated by they represent a component of the professional development of teachers which has gone largely unexplored. As Rubin states, "it is essential that we enlarge our conception of the ways in which professional growth can o c c u r . "16 This study will explore the informal activity as a contributing factor to the professional growth of inservice teachers. Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify the types of informal experiences and activities which contribute to the professional development of selected Michigan home economics 12 Mark Newton. "Perspectives on Professional Development." V oc at ion al E d u c a t i o n , (Vol. 55, No. 6), pp. 30a-30f. 1 3 Ibid. 14 Rubin, p. 8. 15 Allen Tough. The Adult's Learning Projects; A Fresh Approach to Theory and Practice in Adult L e a r n i n g , (Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1971). ■^Rubin, p. 5. 5 teachers. The primary objective which guides this study is to examine the types of experiences and activities apart from formal inservice events that teachers feel positively influence how and what they teach. The informal activities of interest may include experiences from nonformal educational offerings to unintentional learning derived from day-to-day living. The intent is to discover the range of experiences that have meaning to home economics teachers in their role as classroom teacher. The second objective of the study is to discover selected professional characteristics of the teachers who find informal experiences to be of most value. will explore 1) if there The study is a significant relationship between the number of years of teaching experience and the perceived value and use of informal activities as professional development experiences; and 2) if a significant relationship exists between access to formal professional development activities and the perceived value of informal experiences. A final objective is to determine if the teachers are aware of a purposeful or deliberate attempt to process the learning from the informal experiences they identified, and if the presence or absence of a conscious attempt makes a difference in the value of the experience. The experience itself may be insufficient to stimulate growth. growth, teachers may need To achieve to go beyond having the experience 6 to benefiting from it. This requires some time and effort to make sense of the experience, from the experience. so that change can result This study will explore whether or not teachers are concious of an effort to process information from experiences. Research Questions The questions that guide this research are as follows: 1. What types of informal activities do teachers identify as contributing to their professional development? 2. In what ways does learning from informal experiences specifically influence the teacher her role as classroom teacher? in 3. How valuable do the teachers activity? identify each 4. How do teachers process the information from informal activities? 5. Is there a relationship between the perceived value of the activity and whether or not a conscious attempt was made to process the information from the activity? 6. Are there differences in the types of activities ranked as valuable by teachers with more than six years of teaching experience and those with six or less?* 7. Do teachers from schools with fewer resources available to support participation in professional development activities value informal activities more than teachers from schools with greater resources? * Six years was chosen because of the State of Michigan continuing certification guidelines which require participation in a formal continuing education program in order to receive continuing secondary education teaching certification at the end of a six-year period. The State Department of Education requires completion of a minimum 18 semester hour program of coursework at an accredited teacher education institution. 7 Importance The findings of this study provide contributions to what is known both about the professional development of teachers and adult learning. First, as noted, the majority of the studies related to inservice education have had as foci needs or problems. to what is known about By contrast, (perceived) this study contributes growth enhancing activities. Second, a review of the studies which have investigated inservice activities teachers regarded as beneficial have generally ignored all but formal activities. This research may lead to a broader understanding of ways in which professional growth does occur. This study of informal professional development experiences is also important because of decreased participation in formal professional development activities by maturing or more experienced public school enrollments, hired, Heitzeg is shifting to older In a recent study of Michigan teachers, found that older, were less Due to declining and thus fewer teachers being the teaching population professionals. teachers. more experienced staff members inclined to participate in formal professional growth activities than their younger counterparts.17 indicates however, that the decline in participation in professional development events did not necessarily 17 He Howard Heitzeg. Student Enrollment Decline: for Determining Implications for Staffing and Staff Development in Public S c h o o l s . (Unpublished Ph.D. disseration, 1978, Michigan State University). include A Model informal professional development events. 18 activities and experiences may be significant the professional growth of maturing Informal in enhancing teachers. Formal professional development activities may be less meaningful for more experienced inappropriate Fuller 19 teachers if they are for the career stage of the maturing and Yarger and Martens stages through which 20 teacher. have described career teachers progress. These stages can be characterized by specific concerns and interests. While formal activities and experiences may not be designed to match the concerns and interest of more experienced teachers, informal activities may be highly appropriate because they are defined and selected by the teacher on the basis of personal needs or interest. The study will also contribute to what is known about adult learners and the types of learning experiences they find valuable. in this area. There has been a good deal of research done Most of this research , however, has looked at either how students self plan learning projects or why adults engage in these projects. This study will identify the specific activities from which learning resulted, "^Ibid., pp. as 72 and 74. ■^F.F. Fuller. "Concerns of Teachers: A Developmental Characterization." Ame rican Educational Research J o u r n a l , No. 6 (2), 1969 :207-226. Of) S.J. Yarger & S.K. Mertens. "Testing the Waters of School-based Teacher Education." In Concepts to Guide the Teaching of T e a c h e r s . D. Corrigan and K. Howey, Eds., (Reston, VA: Council for Exceptional Children, 1980). 9 well as experiences that may have resulted in unintentional or non-deliberate learning. Finally, this study will contribute to what is known about how teachers process information. Previous studies have examined this process within the context of the classroom, and the relationship of information processing classroom decision making. to This study will explore how and what types of information are processed by teachers for professional growth outside the formal classroom arena. If informal professional development activities or experiences are viewed as stimuli, by teachers? On what basis are they differentiated as relevant or irrelevant? comprehended? phase? What what kinds of stimuli are perceived How are these stimuli understood or Are teachers conscious of this comprehension is the teachers' response to a given stimulus? These are subquestions of research questions 4 and 5 which guide this study. Assumptions This study is based on the following four assumptions. The first is that informal activities do, in fact, contribute to the professional development of teachers. second is that home economics teachers are engaged informal activities which contribute development. The in to their professional The third assumption relates to the selection of the population of the study. It is assumed that informal activities may play an especially significant role in the 10 professional development of home economics teachers due to the nature of the content they teach. economics has been described The content of home in a variety of ways, from a study of the family in it's near environment to the "triffles of everyday l i v i n g . "21 The skills required for everyday living with which home economics deals include managing resources, making decisions, family members, getting along with establishing personal goals, and maintaining personal relationships, creating change. Clearly, teach closely matches and coping with and what home economics teachers the kinds of skills and knowledge they use each day in their personal lives. therefore, establishing It is assumed, that the learning derived from informal day-to- day living experiences could contribute significantly to the home economics teachers ability to teach daily living skills. Finally, it is assumed that the identification of these informal experiences and activities has important implicatons for those involved in the preservice and inservice education of teachers. Those involved in the planning and preparing of formal professional develoment programs may benefit from knowing: -what kinds of experiences and activities teachers prefer to engage in to enhance their pr ofessional skills -what needs or interests are reflected in the activities and experiences selected 21 Future Marjorie East. Home Economics Past, Present and (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1980), p. 198. 11 by teachers for their own professional development -what types of activities and experiences are preferred by teachers at different stages in their career development. Limitations and Scope This study is limited to the perceptions of 20 Michigan home economics teachers currently teaching reimbursed programs. in vocationally The following are acknowledged limitations of the study. 1. The subjects of the study were self-selected, so findings of the study may not be generalizable to other populations. Districts sites, Randomly selected Career Education Planning (CEPDs) were selected as the data collection but teachers within these CEPDs elected to participate on a volunteer basis. 2. The subjects of the study represent a small sample of Mic higan home economics teachers, so findings of the study may not be generalizable to other populations. The subjects were drawn from the pool of teachers currently teaching in vocationally reimbursed secondary home economics programs in Michigan. The sample represents about 2.5 percent of this population, but may not be representative of all home economics teachers in Michigan, teaching in programs not meeting particularly those the State Department of Education guidelines for vocational reimbursement. 12 3. The study is limited to the perceptions of the individual teachers. The teachers identified those activities and experiences in which they found personal meaning for professional development. given a context in which to define and experiences, the researcher While teachers were identify these is dependent upon their individual conceptualizations of "professional development" and their interpretations of the significance of the activities and experiences. 4. The study is limited to the activities and experiences years. in which teachers participated This limitation was in the last two imposed to help the teachers focus more carefully on their recent experiences, to provide more reliable and detailed data. limitation may, however, and thus, The imposed have eliminated some potentially helpful data. 5. The size of the sample made analysis of the data for some questions difficult. Specifically, inter-group comparisons were sometimes difficult due to the small sample size. While in some cases the sample size may have inhibited some highly definitive serve as strong indicators. findings, the results still 13 Definition of Terms Definitions of key terms as they are used in this study follow. Professional D e v e l o p m e n t . A process of promoting growth or evolving the possibilities of persons who already possess specialized knowledge. of experiences, It encompases a broad range the interactive effect of which contributes to the individual's efficiency and/or effectiveness in relation to his/her work role. Secondary Home Econ o m i c s T e a c h e r . currently employed 12) in a secondary school teaching home economics classes An individual (grades 9-12 or 10- in a home economics program which receives vocational education reimbursement f un di ng .* Formal Professional Development A c t i v i t i e s . refers to those standard activities in which This individuals intentionally engage to facilitate a desired change. Informal P r o f e ssional Development A c t i v i t i e s . refers to those activities foster in which This individuals engage that learning and professional growth, but are not *The State Department of Education, Vocational-Technical Education Service has established certain guidelines for vocational education reimbursement funding. School districts are reimbursed an amount of money per pupil enrolled in qualifying courses within an eligible vocationally reimbursed program. Qualifying requirements include that Consumer Education be taught within the home economics program, and that all funded courses be taught by a home economics teacher with a valid vocational author ization. 14 necessarily designed for that purpose. Included category may be general life experiences, activities, viewing, both paid and voluntary, work reading, in this related television and interaction with peers and friends. Processing. In this context the term processing will be used to describe the actions taken by teachers to perceive and sort potential growth-producing experiences and reflect systematically on the information acquired informal activity so that the experience learning to be utilized is from the transferred as in their professional role. Procedures The outcome of this study is a description of the types of informal activities which have been identified as valuable professional development experiences and of those who use them. To develop these descriptions the following steps were taken. First, subjects of the study met in small groups where the concept of informal activities as professional development experiences was explored. A questionnaire utilizing the content from these meetings was designed and distributed to participating home economics teachers. The analyzed, information from the questionnaires was content categorized, and frequency counts were compiled in order to identify types of valued activities and experiences and the characteristics of teachers by whom they were identified. 15 Summary and Overview Most previous research on inservice education and the professional development of teachers investigated only formal activities. This study describes informal activities that teachers identify as valuable development. in their professional It is postulated that informal activities may have special relevance to teachers of home economics. This descriptive Chapter study is reported in five chapters. I consists of an introduction contrasting education with professional development, inservice a statement of the purpose and objectives of the study and related research questions. Statements of assumptions, key definitions, limitations and significance of the study are also included in Chapter I. In Chapter II selected literature is reviewed. focus is upon the role of informal experiences professional development. The in Literature related to inservice education and adult learning are reviewed. Chapter III contains the methodology: sample and data analysis techniques. Chapter IV consists of the presentation and analysis of the data. the study is presented and instrumentation, The summary of in Chapter V, along with conclusions implications for both continuing teacher education and pre-service teacher education, personal reflections. as well as the researcher's CHAPTER II REVIE W OF SELECTED LITERATURE What is the role of informal activities in the professional development of home economics teachers? addressing this question, a clear conceptualization of professional development as distinguished education is necessary. In Thus, from inservice literature related to both professional development and inservice education were examined. In addition, relevant literature teacher career development, in the areas of adult learning, professional development needs and preferences of home economics teachers and information processing by teachers were reviewed. Selected literature from these areas as is anoronriate to . 4 support this study are included i- ±. in this review. Professional Development vs Inservice Educat io n Most discussion of the professional development of teachers is to be found in the larger body of literature on the inservice education of teachers. Ingvarson and Greenway note that inservice education and professional development are regularly equ ated.22 22 They reject that practice, Ingvarson and Greenway, p. 3. 16 17 however, and argue that professional development is not a particular progr am or strategy. Nevertheless, the terms inservice education and professional development are often used sy non om o us ly . example, Edelfelt writes For in Rethinking Inservice E d u c a t i o n : "Inservice education of teachers (or staff development, continuing education, professional development) is defined as any professional development activity that a teacher undertakes singly or with other teachers, after receiving his or her initial teaching certificate, and after beginning professional p r a c t i c e . "23 Nicholson et al. in their review of definitions of inservice education probably best exemplify the lack of clear distinction between professional development and inservice education. suitable synonym for They suggest a way of formulating a inservice. 24 To form a suitable synonym for inservice educat io n— 1) choose one word for Column A and/or one word from Column B; and then 2) choose one word from Column C: A continuing continuous B C staff professional teacher personnel development growth education preparation renewal improvement 21 Roy A. Edelfelt. "In-Service Education: The State of the Art." In Rethinking In-Service E d u c a t i o n . (Washington, D.C.: National Educa tio n Association, 1975), p. 5. 24 Alexander Nicholson, Bruce R. Joyce & Donald W. Parker. The Literature on Inservice Teacher E d u c a t i o n . Palo Alto, CA: ISTE Report III, June 1976. 18 In a more recent publication, added to the list, including some new synonyms are "on-the-job training." Harris notes a number of commonly used terms that are used "as if they were almost synonymous with the term in-service e d u ca ti on . "25 development, Included in his list is professional as well as continuing education, renewal, on- the-job training and professional g ro wth .26 Other writers, however, note distinctions between inservice education and professional development. often cited destinations relate example, Hite27 proposes The most to scope and intent. For this definition on behalf of teacher educators: "Inservice Ed uca tio n consists of those experiences which are designed to help practicing teachers improve their services to both clients and c o l l e a g u e s ."28 He notes, however, inservice education, value that by attributing purpose to incidental events which have learning for teachers are excluded. The definitiion of inservice education used in Harris and Bessent's book, Inservice Education: A Guide to Better Practice also illustrates the use of the scope and intent qualifiers in a definition of inservice education: 25 Ben Harris. Improving Staff Performance Through Inservice Education (Boston: All yn and Bacon, 1980), p. 20. 2 6 Ibid. 27Hite, p. 6. 28 Ibid. 19 . . we are defining inservice education as planned activities for the instructional improvement of professional staff m e m b e r s . " 2 9 In contrast, there are a number of definitions of inservice education in the literature that fail to require any particular structure to an experience to qualify an inservice activity. it as The only qualifiers in these definitions are that the activities occur after professional practice begins, For example, and that the activities produce learning. in Inservice Teacher Ed uc a ti on — Report I; Issues to F a c e , Joyce, Howey and Yarger review a wide variety of definitions of inservice education that are reflected in the literature, including "Inservice education is defined as all the experiences undertaken by a teacher after beginning professional pr e pa ra ti on ."30 This definition fails to qualify either purpose of the experiences, the type or and resembles some of the commonly used definitions of professional development. For example, "Professional development (may be defined as) enhancing the interests, improving the competence and otherwise facilitating the p r o f e s s i on al ...growth 29 Ben M. Harris and Wailand Bessent. In-Service Education: A Guide to Better P r a c t i c e . (Englewood Cliffs, N J : Prentice-Hall, 1969), p. 2. 20 Bruce Joyce, K. Howey and S. Yarger. ISTE Report I, Issues to Face (Palo Alto, California, 1970) . 20 of faculty members, particularly their roles as instructors."31 in Repeated examples could be documented of the synonomous use of the terms development, inservice education and professional as well as the terms are defined. inconsistencies in the way these This study, however, distinction between the two concepts, delineates relies upon a a distinction which inservice education as having a role in professional development, not as a synonym for professional development. Orrange and V a n Ryn define "portion of professional In his article, inservice education as a d e v e lo p m e n t. "32 "Perspective on Professional Development," Newton refers to inservice education as a component of professional development in his discussion of the importance of inservice education for vocational teachers.33 He characterizes professional development not as an experience or activity, but as the effect of experi en ce. 34 31 John Dopyera, Eric Beamick, and Helen Verec. Professional Staff Development in Two Year Colleges Final R e p o r t , (Research Pub. 80-7, New York State Education Department, 1979). 32 Patricia A. Orrange and Mike V an Ryn, "Agency Roles and Responsibilities," Roy A. Edelfelt and Margo Johnson, eds., Rethinking Inservice E d u c a t i o n . Washington, D . C . : National Educa tio n Association, 1975, p. 47. 33 Mark Newton. "Perspectives on Professional Development." V oc at io nal E d u c a t i o n . (Vol. 55, No. 6), pp. 30a-30f. 3 4 Ibid. 21 Ingvarson and Greenway support this conceptualization of professional development by describing it as "an individual process" which may be influenced by, among other things, forms of inservice education. Jackson refers to this 35 individual process too, in his discussion of a new approach to inservice education. challenges educators He to think seriously as to how professional growth and development can occur during or as a result of inservice e du cat io n.36 Holly refers to professional development as a uniquely human process of complexity and interaction, beyond "trai ni ng."37 Rubin describes professional development as "an exceedingly complex phenomenon. is known about the subtle factors . . about which little interplay among the various involved."38 This conceptualization of professional development as a process rather than an event implies that "inservicing" teachers may not result automatically in growth or change. This has some serious activities. 35 implications for formal inservice Horstrand notes that inservice education has Ingvarson and Greenway, pp. 2-3. "^Philip 0. Jackson. "Old Dogs and New Tricks: Observations on the Continuing Education of Teachers." In Improving In-Service Education: Proposal and Procedures for C h a n g e , ed., Louis J. Rubin (Allyn and Bacon: Boston, 1971) , p. 28. 37 Mary Louise Holly. "Teacher Reflections on Classroom Life: An Empirical Base for Professional Development." (Mimeo, 1982). 38Rubin, p. IV. 22 been viewed passively by teachers, "to" or "for" teachers.39 to be "inserviced."40 activities has come as what has been done Teachers have allowed themselves But the meaningfulness of such into question. Holly found that the inservice activites which were meaningful to teachers were those which had individual relevance and personal implications.41 In her research, Holly discovered a number of activities identified by teachers as being meaningful to their personal or professional growth which would not be classified on the basis of most definitions as inservice education. Among these activities or experiences were: talking with teachers, participating activities with students, in extra-curricular family life, politics, and travel and vacation.42 Some of these types of activities were also identified earlier in a National Education Association study as "types" of inservice. experience, Their list included: committee work,- work cultural experiences and community 39 ■ Richard Horstrand. "A Process for Self-Directed Professional Growth," Illinois Teacher, (September/October, 1979), p. 22-26. 40 Toni Sharma. K a p p a , (Vol. 63, No. 41 "Inservicing 6), p. 403. the Teachers," Phi Delta Mary Louise Holly. "A Conceptual Framework for Personal-Professional Growth: Implications for Inservice Education." (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Mi chigan State University, 1977). 4 2 Ib i d . , p. 91. 23 organization work. 43 Rather than types of inservice, these activities might be classified as informal professional development activities. According to Newton, informal activities are those in which one engages that "foster learning and professional growth, but are not necessarily designed for that p u r p o s e . "44 Included are general life experiences, related or work-type activities reading, viewing television, work (including volunteer work), listening to the radio, and interacting with peers. T he len discusses his involvement in informal activities while teaching in a middle class suburban high relates how he and other He spent weekends devising and worked with colleagues teaching a new course. 45 teachers spent time on a picnic talking about school activities, laboratory set-ups, school. inventing and He notes that these activities were not thought of as inservice activities, but as a way of life.46 The types of experiences suggested by Newton and described by Thele n have been recognized as professional development experiences by those endorsing self-directed 43 "Inservice Educa tio n of Teachers: Research Summary, 1966-SI," Research Division, National Education Association, ERIC ED 022 728: 1966. 44 Newton, p. 30a. 45 Herbert Thelen. A Cultural Approach to In-service Teacher Training." In Improving In-Service E d u c a t i o n , ed. by Louis J. Rubin (Allyn and Bacon, Boston: 1971), p. 71-103. 4 6 I b i d . , 82-83. 24 professional development. development Self-directed professional is based on the assumption that teachers are self-motivated and that the motivation and direction for learning comes from within the per son. 47 Most of the models for self-planned professional development require teachers to assess their own needs, participate formulate goals, in educational activities, select and and assess their own growth. John Dopyera and others at Cornell University developed a pilot program whereby occupational teachers in community colleges engaged in a totally self-managed program for professional d e v e l o p m e n t .48 activities listed in which they were encouraged to engage were a wide variety of other Among the educational informal activities, from visiting schools and businesses to setting up a school service or attending a community or cultural e ve nt .49 The self­ directed models proposed by Karnes^O and Horstrand^l also recommend participation 47 Nicholson, in informal activities. p. 14. 48 . John Dopyera, Erie Beamick, and Helen Verec. Pro fessional Staff Development in Two Year Colleges Final Report. 49Ibid. 50 Christine Karnes. "A Personal In-Service P ro gr am can Keep You Relevant," The Aqriculture Maqazine, (Vol. 59, No. 9) . 51 Horstrand, p. 25. 25 We have noted that teachers have identified informal activities as beneficial. activities valuable Why are these experiences or in contributing development of teachers? of informal activities. to the professional One reason may be the flexibility Arends, Hersch and Turner52 observe that inservice teachers are not like pre-service teachers; that they seek a broader array of experience and look for ways to integrate work, education and leisure. Informal activites may also be of value because teachers can select those that are relevant to them. suggests that when the teacher Holly is self-directed and acts on choice the consequences are likely to be participation and pr a c t i c a l i t y .53 Teachers may, in fact, seek out relevant informal activites which are meaningful to them because of their developmental or life stages. extent to which Norbert observes that the variant perspectives and behavior are associated with different life-stages would appear to have considerable implications for the types of inservice activities which are appropriate for individual teachers. He suggests further that since developmental patterns vary, so will the types of inservice approaches perceived as helpful or effective by the t e a c h e r s . 54 52 RichardArends, Richard Hersch, and Jack Turner. "Inservice Education and the Six O'clock News." Theory Into P r a c t i c e , (Vol. XVII, No. 3), pp. 196-200. ^Holly, "A Conceptual Framework," p. 66. CA Ralph Norbert. "Stages of Faculty Development." New Directions for Higher E d u c a t i o n , (Spring 1973), pp. 61-68. 26 Other researchers have suggested that teachers progress through predictable stages that these stages in their career development, and imply certain professional needs, interests and concerns. Fuller through which teachers progress 55 identifies three stages in their teaching careers. The first stage may be labeled the "survival stage" where the teacher's primary concern is about his or her own adequacy. Stage two is the "mastery stage," where the teacher focuses on developing and mastering content. teaching methods and skills The "impact stage" is the last of the identified phases where the teacher becomes concerned with his or her impact on the student. Fuller suggests that efforts to assist teacher growth should reflect these teacher interests. c C. Yarger and Mertens describe six career stages ("professional age" variables), pre-service education. one four of which occur after The third stage is a transitional in which the beginning teacher moves from the supportive environment of the teacher education into the complex school environment. These teachers are primarily concerned with teaching skills, content knowledge and discipline, and many come to realize that the teacher education program did not fully prepare them for all that they find in the classroom. Teachers with three to eight years of experience have 55F u l l e r , pp. 207-226. 5^Yarger and Mertens, "Testing the Waters." 27 mastered the "survival skills" and become interested in branching out in new professional roles and mastering further content. Mertens and Yarger describe the final stage as one in which experienced teachers really need to be involved in inservice education, which will allow them to draw upon their experience so that it becomes a productive experience for them and for the rest of the staff. Summary The terms inservice education and professional development are often used synonymously. This interchange is viewed by many as incorrect since inservice education generally refers to programs or events while professional development is a personal process. Professional development may be the interactive effect of both formal and informal experiences. Informal experiences are those activites voluntarily engaged professional growth, in by teachers which foster learning and but are not necessarily desiqned for that purpose. Informal activites may be of value to teachers as professional development experiences because they offer opportunities to integrate work, leisure and education. They can be seleted for their personal relevance as is appropriate at the developmental stage of the teacher or her career. in his 28 The Teacher as Adult Learner Any discussion of the role of informal learning activities in the professional development of teachers must also include consideration of the teacher as an adult learner. There is a considerable body of knowledge on the adult learner. The uniqueness of the adult as a learner has been discussed, described, and researched for many years. This section will review selected relevant works related to informal learning experiences for adults. A variety of aspects of adult development appear to support the appropriateness of informal activities for adults. For example, most writers, including Knowles, the number of differences between adults. they vary in their endowments, note He observes that in their opportunities and in the speed and direction of their growt h.57 Hiemstra notes that each adult comes often rich, to any learning situation with an and very unique bag of experiences. 58 Knowles describes the changing motivational picture throughout adult d e v e l o p m e n t . 59 He suggests that over time certain needs arise and perhaps cause tension, prompting adults to act. He This action is sometimes a learning effort. identifies several types of motivations which may result 57 Malc olm Knowles. Informal Adult Education (New York: Associa tio n Press, 1950). co Roger Heimstra. Lifelong Learning (Nebraska: Professional Educators Pub., Inc., 1976), p. 29. 59 Knowles, p. 12. 29 in learning efforts, security, including a need or desire for recognition, new experiences and growth.60 From these observations of adulthood one might conclude that any generalizations about adults and their learning needs or preferences are risky because of the idiosyncratic nature of adult development. Some researchers, however, have attempted to describe adult development in terms of stages. One approach vehicle in describing is to use chronological age as a "general orientations, developmental tasks, personal concerns, characteristics." 61 or other Le vinson et al. presents developmental characteristics of adults as age related. changes problems, They describe the in adults in the context of age blocks. approach is to view development 62 A second in stages which are hierarchically organized and through which one progresses sequence. in Knox describes development as it relates to a sequence of events. 63 Other variations on this theme. stage theorists present In P a s s a g e s , Sheehv brings together a number of studies in adult development as she 60Ibid. 61 A.K. Chickering. "The Educational Needs of New Learners: Implications for Liberal Arts Colleges." (Paper presented at the East Central Colleges Consortium Conference on the New Learners, December 1974). 62 D.J. Levinsin, C. Darron, C. Klein, M. Levinsin, and B. McKee. The Seasons of a Man's Life (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978). fi3 A.B. Knox. Adu lt Development and L e a r n i n g . Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1977). (San 30 CA presents predictable crisis in adult lives up to age 50. Erikson also views human development as a series of crisis /• C stages, three of which occur during adulthood. these approaches is useful in providing Each of some clues as to the life changes of adults and thus, clues to the learning needs and interests of the Krupp, individual. in her book Ad ult Development; Implications for Staff D e v e l o p m e n t , builds upon the work of Levinson by suggesting staff de velopment concepts appropriate age.66 for each one of the more useful observations she makes difference is the in staff development needs of men and women. She recommends that staff development specialists be flexible with teachers conflict, in the 30-transition, who have a career-family and notes that "at this transition women are more likely to express such c o n f l i c t . "67 While those concerned with the education of adults acknowledge the wide range of individual differences in adult learners, they note some characteristics of adulthood which may influence how and why most adults learn. says, "to be an adult means to be independent, 64 Life. to possess a Gail Sheehy. Passages; Predictable Crisis (New York: Ba n t a m Books, 1977). C\^ E.H. Erikson. Identy and the Life C y c l e . International Universities Press, 1959). ftf Hiemstra m Adult (New York; Judy Arin Krupp. Adult Development: Applications for Staff Development (Adult Development Center, Project RISE, Connecticut, 1981) . 6 7 Ibid. 31 certain amount of self motivation and to be capable of making d ec i s i o n s . "68 Knowles' This is the assumption on which process of androgogy is pre dic at ed. 69 Androgogy is the name given a teaching and learning process designed for the adult learner and adult education teacher. implies mutual needs assessment and planning. is a resource in the learning activities, The process The learner and the teacher serves as a fac il it at or .70 Knowles' process is supported by the research on the success of student-centered education and the value of student involvement in planning learning activities. Although Knowles' process involves a formal relationship between a learner and teacher, its philosophy seems generally compatable with self-selected informal learning experiences. The literature related to adult learners and adult education makes frequent reference to the circumstances that may hinder participation circumstances may, in formal adult education. in fact, result in informal activities being more likely alternatives. Knowles observes that adult life involves many responsibilities and competing so that individuals question whether 68Hiemstra, 69 interests they can spare the time p. 12. Malcolm Knowles. The Adu lt Learner: S p e c i e s , (Gulf Publishing Company, Houston: 7 0 Ibid. These A Neglected 1973) . 32 and energy for continuing e d u c a t i o n . 71 responsibilities, Home and job problems securing child care, and just not enough time are regularly cited reasons for failure to engage in continuing education by adults. 72 These comments generally refer to formal adult education programs. Canadian researcher, much more involved A however, discovered that adults were in continuing eduction than previous research had indicated. Tough studied the adult learning projects of individuals which took place outside formal classes or organized groups. Tough estimates that as high as 70 percent of all adult learning directed.73 jn his is informal and self­ initial study, Tough describes the learning project as a sustained effort of adult learners to learn something that is fairly clear to the learner. He examined the projects of adults and noted that those in his study invested approximately 700-800 hours yearly to these independent pursuits. 74 fellow researchers who, 71 Knowles, 72 ■ Hiemstra, His study was followed by several in related research, looked Informal Adult E d u c a t i o n , p. 4. p. 85. 73 Allen Tough. The Adult's Learning Projects; A Fresh Approach to Theory and Practice in Adult Learning (Ontario: The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Second Edition, 1979). 7 4 I b i d . , p. 196. 33 specifically at teachers as learners. In 1976, Kelly studied the self-planned learning projects of both beginning secondary teachers and those who had taught 10 to 15 y ear s. 75 One year interviewed teachers later, Miller in non-urban up-state New Yor k.76 McCatty surveyed Canadian health and physical education teachers.77 These studies concluded that the major learning efforts of teachers were largely self-planned and non­ credit. A number of the learning projects described could be classified as professional development projects, although this was not the context of any of the cited studies.78 In the studies of Tough and those that followed, the purpose of the learning project was the focus of study, the activities goals. in which they engaged to meet their learning As might be expected, activites not however, many of the learning in which the adults engaged could be classified as informal. 75 Nancy E. Kelley. "A Comparative Study of Professionally Related Learning Projects of Secondary School Teachers." (Unpublished master's thesis, Cornell University, 1976). 7 £\ Nancy L. Miller. "Teachers and Non-Teaching Professionals as Self-directed Learners." )Unpublished master's thesis, Cornell University, 1977). 77 Crissy McCatty. "Patterns of Learning Projects Among Physical and Health Education Teachers." Reporting Classroom Research (Ontario Educational Research Council, 1976, 5(2)) pp. 7-8. 78 Allen Tough. "Major Learning Efforts: Recent Research and Future Directions." Adult L e a r n i n g , (Vol. XXVIII, No. 1, 1978), p. 256-257. 34 Tough's study, education, like most of those in the area of adult dealt only with intentional learning. Very little attention has been given to the incidental learning that results from experience. Rubin notes specifically the incidental learning of teachers: "teachers do learn intuitively through their day-to-day Jackson points out, just have the experience, means," says Jackson, us, ponder however, experiences. 79 that it is not enough to one must benefit from it.80 "This "we must reflect on what happens to it, and make sense of it."81 Processing Information This reflection step is part of a larger processing system. The complex phenomenon of information processing may be simplified by viewing stages. The first stage individual perceives n o n v e r b a l . 82 limited, 79 the process in three involves perception of cues. some range of stimuli, The both verbal and The perception of available cues by humans however, Rubm, information and Garner83 is suggests that this perception p. 8. OQ Jackson, p. 28. 81Ibid. p2 Bruce Joyce. "Toward a Theory of Information Processing in Teaching," (Research Series No. 76: Institute for Research on Teaching, Michigan State University, 1980). 83 W.R. Garner. The Processing of Information and Structure (New Jersey: Lawrence E rl bau m Associates, 1974). 35 is in part limited by what one has been taught or chooses to attend to. In terms of informal experiences, then, this may mean that professional growth producing opportunities or experiences go unnoticed because the teacher does not perceive the experience as one with potential for learning. The second stage of this phenomenon involves processing the stimuli. "test" for Once perceived the stimuli must first pass a relevance. 84 Joyce suggests that within the teaching context the stimuli must be judged to be relevant to the teachers' "field of c o n c e r n . "85 determined to be relevant, if the cue it may be processed understanding or comprehension, is for and finally for action. Action or response is the last stage in the information processing chain. The covertly; individual may react overtly or the action may be immediate or Joyce and others studied delayed. information processing teaching within the context of the classroom. observations, 86 in Their part of the larger South Bay Study, advanced a set of propositions about the relationship between thought and action in the classroom. They particularly focused on the effect of the activity flow within the classroom on the kind of information or stimuli teachers 84 Joyce, p. 5. 8 5 I b i d . , p. 8. 8 6 I b i d ., p. 6. 8 7 Ibid. received. 87 36 The information processing system clearly becomes more complex for teachers outside the walls of a classroom. first two stages have particular informal activity The relevance to the role of in professional development. The stimuli outside formal experience must first be perceived as potentially professionally related, relevance and comprehension. the individual relevant, then processed for Sheffrin emphasizes again that is able to mask or block out stimuli not or not in the perceiver's "problem f r ame ."88 This suggests that the teacher who is not sensitive to the potential value of informal experience or activity for professional growth may be less likely to perceive these experiences as such. The authors of Conceptual System and Information Processing (Harvey, Hunt and Schroder) individual differences in ones capacity to process information.89 describe They suggest a theory which links the individual ability to differentiate or "sort" capability to integrate information. stimuli to the They see these capabilities as a possible function of p e r s o n a l i t y .90 Knox suggests that there are also some age-related differences in some aspects of the information processing system.91 88 R.M. Shiffrin. "Capacity Limitations in Information Processing, Attent io n and Memory," in W.K. Estes (Ed.) Handbook of Learning and Cognitive P r o c e s s e s , (Vol. 4, New Jersey: Lawrence E r lb au m Associates, 1976). 89 Havey, O.J., D.E. Hung and M. Shroder. Conceptual Systems and Information P r o c e s s i n g . (New York: Wiley, 1963). 9 0 Ibid. 91K n o x , p. 432. 37 The work of Holly in her most recent study, this theory of information p r o c e s s i n g . 92 builds on i n her research Holly has explored with teachers the use of their own classroom experiences as learning experiences. Through group discussion and journal entries the teachers have explored the stimulus field of their classrooms and interpreted both the stimuli and their responses. have, They in effect, made a conscious effort to understand and comprehend the meaning of what goes its relevance in their classrooms and to them. Summary Adults as learners vary greatly in their abilities, their interests, and their reasons for engaging continuing education. There in is a growing body of research to indicate that adults are extensively involved planned, Adults also learn independent learning efforts. from non-deliberate learinq efforts, in daily living experiences. in self­ by perceiving relevance The theories of information processing as they relate to incidental or non-deliberate learning may be of particular relevance to this study. adult's alertness or attention to an experience, perception of the e x p e r i e n c e s 's relevance, response to experiences 92 Holly. the adult's and the adult's is effected by the unique way information is processed by that The individual. "Teacher Reflections on Classr oom Life." 38 Professional Development and the Home Economics Teacher Although there have been relatively few studies which have looked specifically at home economics teachers and professional development, there has been some research which examined characteristics and attitudes of both preservice and inservice home economics teachers. Several descriptive studies have been conducted to identify characteristics of practicing home economics teachers. A 1960 study of home economics teachers in 26 states showed that these teachers seemed to fall into two distinct groups; one group interested in people and interpersonal relationships and the other concerned with non-human resources and abstract conce pts .93 Other studies looked at the values of home economics teachers. A 1962 study of vocational home economics teachers revealed that they valued, efficiency, in order: health, thrift, recreation and beaut y. 94 Marjorie East, relationships, Home Economist, Dr. in "A Portrait of Todays Home Economist," summarizes the findings from over 30 studies: 93 Roxanna R. Ford and Hoyt, Cyril J. The Identification and Measurement of Secondary School Homemakinq T e a c h e r s 1 Attitudes and Other Characteristics Associated with their Ability to Maintain Desirable Learning S i t u a t i o n s , (St. Paul: School of Home Economics, College of Education, University of Minnesota, 1960). 94 Keenan, Dorothy Marie. "An Exploration of Value Patterns." (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, 1962). 39 . . most of us are friendly, expressive, sociable. We are family centered . . . while we like our work, most of us evidently are not ambitious." "Home economics is practical. value order, convenience, and efficiency. We value prudence and planning as ways to achieve goals without waste of time, effort or m o n e y . "95 Other studies have focused on inservice home economics teachers and their attitudes toward a survey inservice education. of over 400 Illinois consumer homemaking most stated that they found themselves effectively than they the We felt cap abl e. 96 teachers, teaching less Over one-fourth respondents cited lack of time asa major involvement In of obstacle to in formal professional development a ct i v i t i e s .97 Teachers stated they had limited time for preparation and additional study.98 An earlier study of home economics teachers in Massachusettes yielded similar the 956 persons responding findings. Over 40 percent of indicated that formal continuing study was not possible due to, among other reasons, r e s p o n s i b i l i t i t e s . 99 family while teachers in this study did not 95E a s t , p. 132. 96 Spitze, Hazel and Robert Minish. (Vol. XXI, No. 1), p. 3-5. Illinois T e a c h e r , 97Ibid. 98Ibid. 99 Marion Wilson. A Study of Home Economics Programs and the Expressed Educational Needs of Home Economics Teachers in M a s s a c h u s e t t s . Massachusetts Department of Education, 1974. 40 rank evening courses or workshops as highly desirable forms of inservice education, they did rank some informal activities like observing programs borrowing in other schools and instructional materials as highly d e s ir ab le .100 No attempt has been made to learn about the attitudes of Mic hi gan home economics teachers toward education, although the Mic hi gan State Department of Edu ct io n does survey periodically the teachers. that has inservice There is, however, implications teachers. First, reporting teachers inservice needs of some information available for the pr of essional develo pme nt of approximately 62 percent of the 861 in 1981 had earned their continuing or perman ent teaching certification; 43 percent of these teachers hold at least a master's degree. Summary Like other teachers, expressed a need and home economics teachers have interest in pr ofessional qrowth. M em ber s of this largely female population, however, have also identified some constraints on their pa rti ci pat io n formal pr ofe ssional development activities. in Lack of time and home and family responsibilities are regularly cited reasons for not participating more fully in formal 100ibid. ■'■^Sherry Anderson, of the Vo ca ti on a l- Te ch ni ca l Ed uc at io n Service, Mic hi g an Department of E du cat io n in a pr es ent at ion to the Mi chi ga n Home Econom ics Teacher Educators, East Lansing, Michigan, October 15, 1982. 41 continuing education activities. Teachers do report, however, an interest in some types of informal activities. This may in part be accounted for by the "personality" of the home economics teacher, who has been found to be highly efficient and practical. The role of informal activities in the professional development of Mi chigan home economics teachers may be increasingly significant because of the absence of extrinsic motivators for formal continuing education. The majority of Michigan teachers have earned their continuing certification, teacher and almost half have earned a degree beyond the undergraduate degree. CHAPTER III PROCEDURES The purpose of this chapter and procedures of this study. Included a description of the population, instrumentation, is to describe the design in this chapter are sample selection, data collection procedures and the plan for the analysis of the data. Population and Sample Selection The sample for this study was drawn from the 861 home economics teachers teaching in programs which received vocational reimbursement funding for the 1981-1982 year. school Teachers within these programs are reported to the State Department of E du ca tio n by Career Education Planning Districts (CEPD). The sample selection procedure was designed to draw a sample from the population representing a cross-section of home economics teachers. reporting For that reason, the CEPDs for vocational reimbursement were demographically stratified. CEPDs were classified as being made up of 1) primarily urban schools, 2) primarily suburban schools, 42 or 43 3) primarily rural schools. One CEPD from each strata was randomly selected. Initial contact was made with the home economics coordinator in each CEPD. by telephone, The researcher solicited her help briefly explaining the purpose of the project and the data collection procedure. Each secondary teacher in the CEPD was contacted jointly by the researcher and CEPD home economics coordinator and invited to attend a one-hour meeting. Interested teachers from the randomly selected CEPDs who attended the initial meeting and were found to be currently teaching in vocationally reimbursed programs served as the sample for the study. Table 3-1 displays the respondents in each CEPD. As indicated in Table 3-1, 20 teachers served as the sample for this study. teaching experience. They ranged from 3 to 25 years of All subjects were female. The highest educational degree held by eight of the teachers was the Bachelor of Science. Eleven teachers had a Master's Degree, and one the degree of Specialist. Table 3-2 displays the sample by years of teaching experience, location and degree held. The schools in which the subjects taught ranged from 320 students enrolled to 1975 students enrolled. teachers reported teaching economics departments. in one person (self) home in size Seven 44 TABLE 3.1 RESPONDENT'S TEACHING LOCATION CEPD Classification Number Urban Area 8 Suburban Area 7 Rural Area 5 45 TABLE 3.2 SAMPLE BY YEARS TEACHING EXPERIENCE, DEGREE HELD AND TEACHING LOCATION Years of Tea ching Exp eri en ce Degree Held Teaching Site 3 B.S. Suburban 3 B.S. Urban 5 B.S. Rural 5 B.S. Rural 5 M .A . Urban 8 M .A. Urban 9 M. A. Suburban 10 M .A. Suburban 10 M.A. Urban 11 Ed Spec. Urban 12 M.A. Urban 12 M.A. Suburban 12 M.A. Suburban 12 B.S. Urban 12 M.A. Rural 17 M.A. Suburban 17 B.S. Rural 18 B.S. Rural 21 M.A. Suburban 22 B.S. Urban 25 B.S. Suburban 46 Seven of the 20 teachers came from schools that might be classified as having few resources to support participation in formal professional development activities. Thirteen teachers reported that time and funds were available so that they could attend off-campus activities. Three of the 13 indicated, were limited. however, that these resources Table 3-3 displays the sample in relationship to their school size and available resources to support participation in formal professional development activities. As acknowledged in a discussion of the limitations of the study in Chapter I, this study is limited to a relatively small number of teachers and may not be representative of teachers beyond this population. A small sample was desirable and appropriate, however, for the design and objectives of this study. The purpose of this study was to gain indepth understanding and insight into the types of activities that teachers found meaningful and how these choices were meaningful. The small number of subjects allowed for more personal contact during both phases of data collection. The results of the statistical analysis of the data from this study should be interpreted as indicators and may be followed up and validated at a later time with a larger and broader sample. The sample was comprised of teachers who attended the group meetings voluntarily; thus, those teachers not inclined to volunteer or who were unable to school meeting may not be represented. attend an after The sample as TABLE 3*- 3 SAMPLE IN RELATIONSHIP TO SCHOOL SIZE ANE) RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT PARTICIPATION IN FORMAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES Subj ect School Size** Available Resources 1 1600 2 600 3 1600 Few 4 1900 Few 5 1400 Few 6 975 7 1200 8 600 Adequate 9 1800 Adequate 10 320 Adequate 11 1800 Few 12 1300 Adequate 13 16 00 i. 14 1900 Adequate 15 1500 Adequate 16 1500 Few 17 1400 Adequate 18 900 Adequate 19 1975 Adequate 20 1900 Adequate *Listed in random order "Indicates student enrollment Few Adequate Adequate Few U L i U U- 48 selected had the following Range of e x p e r i e n c e : strengths: Teachers with 3-25 years teaching experiences respot led, providing a range of teachers at various stages of their career development. Diversity of r e p r e s e n t a t i o n : Teachers from rural, suburban and urban settings responded. A broad range of professional settings are represented within each of these sectors from very small schools to schools with almost 2,000 students. Diversity in available re s o u r c e s : schools varied, directors, Resources in these including professional libraries, vocational professional development advisory committees, "inservice calendars" and home economics department offices and resource centers. Data Collection The Gr o up M e e t i n g . arranged in each CEPD. A one hour group meeting was Two of these meetings were held at school district facilities. One was held at a local restaurant. The primary objective of the group meeting was to develop among teachers a common understanding necessary to respond to the written questionnaire. storming and discussion the concepts of By way of bra in­ informal professional development activities and information processing were explored. The teachers attending each meeting generated specific examples which were returned to 49 them with the written questionnaire in the form of a summary sheet. Each of the three meetings opened with a brief introduction to the task, which was followed by three questions. needed. broader Add iti on al probing questions were used as The questions were designed to gradually evoke a range of answers. In each meeting they had the intended effect. 1. "Can you describe for me any activities or events in which you've participated that you feel have been beneficial to you in your teaching? Think of those things you have occasionally done or regularly do to improve or enhance your teach ing .” In response to the first question subjects generally began by identifying formal activities. mentioned were university courses, Educat io n inservice programs, Among those State Department of professional conferences (particularly the Mi chigan Home Economics Association's An nual Meeting) and school inservice days. Teachers tended to recollect those that were especially helpful, they may have been several years before. even though Some informal activities and experiences were also mentioned in response to this question. "Foods" The most typical included reading the • section of the local paper, watching certain television programs on the Public Broadcasting System ("Footsteps") and an occasional workshop or class sponsored by a church or dep artment store. 50 2. "Let's think now of only those informal activities or events like reading the paper or attending the stress workshop that were mentioned. Apart from formal inservice activities, can you describe to me other activities or experiences you've had that have influenced your teaching of home economics?" a. "Can you think of any community-based experiences?" b. "Do any personal projects come to mind?" c. "Are there any contacts with businesses, organizations, or professional groups that have been helpful?" The sub-questions to question two were generally asked o n e - a t - a - t i m e , and each evoked a set of responses. general, In there were few responses specifically to the question about community-based experiences. Some examples were offered of particip ati on in church activities and programs, such as leading youth groups and attending church sponsored seminars. community Ex amples of volunteer work in the included working handicapped and working Personal projects antiques, shopping. examples for the Girl Scouts and 4-H. (sub—question "b") teachers, included collecting travel and "menu collecting," home canning and Teachers were able to contribute the most in response to the sub-question about helpful contacts with businesses, groups. in a hospital for the mentally organizations and professional Interaction with the county extension agent, a physician, other and the school custodian are examples of the kinds of individuals and groups teachers identified. Finally, teachers were asked: 51 3. "Are there any other personal experiences you've had that have influenced what or how te a ch ?" you In response to this question teachers most frequently shared examples of family-related experiences, rearing of children, relating to in-laws and husbands, purchasing and maintaining their homes. examples involved including the and Most of the interpersonal relationships and involvement with "human" rather than "non-human" resources. In responding to the second and third questions, subjects frequently prefaced their answers with, sure this is want." "I'm not right," or "I'm not sure this is what you Each group had to be assured repeatedly that there were no wrong answers. In summary, the activities and experiences identified grew increasingly informal with some very personal experiences cited in response to question three. In almost all cases, their subjects voluntarily followed specific responses with an explanation of how the activity or experience had been helpful to them in their classroom teaching. For example, a teacher who indicated that she regularly read the foods section of the local newspaper followed that by explaining that she did so to learn about new products, new recipes, and to obtain updated information on nutrition and food handling. instances, In other teachers took this one step further by identifying exactly how this information was used classroom. in the A teacher who had viewed a fashion show in an 52 elite New York shop explained how she incorporated the information she obtained from this into a lecture on fads and fashions. After teachers had had sufficient time to share examples of informal experiences and activities, researcher the introduced the group to the concept of information processing. that in order The researcher did so by explaining for an experience their professional practice, transfer the learning impact on some steps had occured to to action. that in each case cited, to have a specific The researcher explained teachers had consciously or unconsciously moved through three phases: first, the teacher had recognized that the activity or experience had some relevance to her comprehended or came her. Finally, in her role as teacher. Second, she to understand how this was useful to she took some action in response. In each case, one of the activities or experiences the group had suggested was used as a context For example, for explanation. in one group a teacher reported that the pregnancy of her teenage sister had an impact on her teaching. The researcher asked her to identify how she perceived that experience to be relevant to her teaching. or why Then she was asked to describe how she came to understand or comprehend how it was role as teacher, and finally, relevant to her how the experience had influenced what she did as a classroom teacher. in her 53 In the above example the teacher indicated that the incident seemed relevant because her sister was the same age as her students and because at least one of her courses dealt with family planning, pregnancy, and parenting. She indicated that she spent a considerable amount of time discussing the situation with her sister, feelings, exploring her and trying to understand the situation from the perspective of the teenager. In response to the experience, the teacher reported that she changed her approach to teaching about teenage pregnancy. She indicated that her focus now in discussions of teenage sexuality is on decision making and the consequences of decisions, rather than just dissemination of information. This example was perhaps the clearest of those presented during the group discussion phase of data collection. While teachers were quite clear on their responses to a particular experience, they rarely identified that phase of processing which brought about the und erstanding— the "ahai" phase. The "aha" or "light clicking on" analogies were often used by the researcher to help probe for responses. clarify the concept, Although it appeared to help teachers were seldom able to identify how they came to understand how the experience "fit." After each small group session the examples of informal activities or experiences contributed by that group were loosely categorized and summarized based on similarity of 54 response. For instance, typical categories travel, interactions with family, people, interactions with youth, invcluded interactions with resource dealing with personal crisis and professional workshops. Under the heading "travel" would be all the specific examples mentioned, field trips, included factory tours, in the Appendix. vacations. An example like is This summary sheet was mailed to each subject with the questionnaire. review the sheet as a reference, Teachers were asked to but were invited to describe any additional experiences or activities that had come to mind since the group meeting. The Q u e s t i o n n a i r e . The second phase of the data collection process utilized the three-part questionnaire. The first research question, activities do teachers identify as contributing to their professional development?" the questionnaire. "What types of informal was addressed in part three of Teacher s were asked to describe these activities or experiences. (Ill) 1. In column 1 describe specific informal experiences you've had or activities in which you've participated in the last two years that have positively influenced your classroom teaching. The second research question is addressed section of the questionnaire: in the same "In what ways does learning from informal experiences spcifically influence the teacher in her role as cla ssrooom teacher?" Subjects were asked to 55 respond to this question in the second column of Part III. (Ill) 2. In column 2, describe how the activity influenced how or what you do within your home economics classroom. Research question three dealt with the perceived value of the activity or experience to the teacher. do teachers rate each activity?" Part III respondents were "How valuable In the fourth column of instructed to (111)4. . . "rate the activity or experience according to its value to you as a professional development experience." Research questions occurs as a result of four and five address how learning informal experience, awareness of that process. teachers process the and the subject's Question four asks, "Ho w do information from informal act ivi ti es? ” Subjects were asked to identify purposeful ways they processed the information in which in Column III of the questionnaire. (111)3. In column three describe (if appropriate) how you processed the information from the experience or activity for use in your teaching. Research question five asks, Is there a relationship between the perceived value of the activity and whether or not a conscious attempt from the activity? was made to process the information The responses questionnaire were used to answer Research question six, in columns 3 and 4 of the this question. "Are there differences in the types of activities ranked as valuable by teachers with more than six years teaching experience and those with six or 56 less? " is addressed through Parts I and III of the questionnaire. Questions and demographic data, in Part I ask for some personal including: 1. How many years have you taught home economics? 2. What is the last educational degree you've earned? 3. Are you currently enrolled 4. Approximately how many students are enrolled in a degree program? in the school where you teach? Part II of the questionnaire solicit lists five questions which information about the human and financial resources available to support formal professional development activities. 5. Is there a person in your school or school district who regularly passes along economics related 6. information to you about home inservice opportunities? Is there someone with whom you regularly discuss the kinds of things you do in your classroom? If so, whom? 7. Are funds available for you to attend off-campus inservice events? 8. Are you given time off to attend off-campus inservice events? 9. Besides yourself, how many home economics teachers are there in your building? 57 Schools were classified as having available to support participation development activities" "few resources in formal professional on the basis of negative responses to two of the three questions five, seven or eight. negative response to question five could A indicate that the teacher was unaware of formal professional development opportunities and thus lacked information on which to act. A negative response to question seven would indicate lack of financial resources which might prohibit participation. A "no" to question eight might indicate that the teacher was unable to leave school responsibilities because of lack of release time from school. Based on this, the researcher determined that lack of at least two of the three resources (information, money, or release time) would constitute "few r e s ou rc es ." Data Analysis Techniques The primary analysis technique employed was content analysis. Categories which serve as indicators were developed from the responses given of types of activities and from the ways in which the learning from these activities was identified as beneficial to subjects in their teaching. Frequency tables were constructed for each category. A mean value was calculated for each category of activity and comparisons were made between categories for the purpose of indicating which categories appeared to be most valuable. 58 In order to address the questions related to processing, similar techniques were used. made between activities where teachers Comparisons were indicated some intentional processing had occured and those activities where it had not. Comparisons of the responses of subjects with more than six and six or less years teaching experience were made. The responses of teachers from school districts having fewer resources and greater resources available for formal professional development were also compared. Finally, responses. the data were analyzed for trends of From this, themes suggested from the data were identified. Implications drawn from these trends and themes are included in chapter five of this report. CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS Home economics teachers are involved in informal activities and experiences which contribute to their professional development. What types of informal activities do teachers identify as contributing to their professional development? What effect does participation in these activities have on their teaching of home economics and on the professional development of the teachers? Are some informal activities and experiences valued more by some home economics teachers than by others? This chapter contains a detailed presentation of the data from the questionnaire as it pertains to these and other questions. question is stated, Each research followed by a presentation of summary statistics derived from the responses from the questionnaire. follows, A description of responses by category with selected examples included. "What types of informal activities do teachers identify as contributing to their professional development?" question was addressed in Part III, questionnaire. Responses This (1) of the from this section were placed into 59 60 14 categories based on similarity of response as presented in Table 4-1. The experiences or activities most frequently cited as helpful were related to home and family living. This category represents quite a variety of activity, which are highly informal and take place lives of teachers. Specific responses dealing with family crisis, all of in the personal included shopping, and observing the growth and development of their own children. Seventy percent of the respondents cited at least one home and family living experience as having had a specific impact on their teaching. The following represents the range of respnses within this category: "My home refrigerator lost its motor one month after the warranty ran out. Retailer was unable to do anything about it but suggested we contact the manufacturer. Pursued the redress system until we received satisfaction." "Comparison and window shopping." "A friend and myself experimented with home canning." (sic) Courses and workshops were also frequently mentioned as experiences which contributed to the teachers' development. These courses and workshops, professional however, occurred outside formal education settings and included those offered by churches, community education, establishments. stress, and commerical A class in microwave cooking, a workshop on and computer courses were some of the specific examples from this category. 61 TABLE 4.1 INFORMAL ACTIVITIES IDENTIFIED BY TEACHERS AS CONTRIBUTING TO THEIR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, RANKED ACCORDING T0‘ FREQUENCY Home and Family Living Experiences 22 Courses and Workshops 14 Popular Media 13 Interaction with Colleagues 9 Travel/Vacations/Tours 7 Curriculum De vel opment/Program Planning 5 Interaction with Resource People 5 Interaction with Youth, other than Students 3 Extra-curricular Activities 3 School-related responsibilities 2 Involvement in Professional Associations 2 Social Interaction 2 Teaching 2 Non-professional work experience 2 62 Use of popular media received equal recognition with workshops and courses. television programs, Teachers listed examples of movies, and popular magazines which had influenced how or what they taught. mentioned regulary reading Several teachers the "foods section" of local newspapers. Talking with colleagues ranked fourth in terms of the frequency with which it was mentioned. were other home economics teachers. Most often mentioned Respondents also mentioned elementary teachers and counselors. Travel, frequently. vacations, and tours were also cited Here again, the category represents a wide range of individual experience. For example: "When traveling I toured hotel kitchens, dined in their facilities, collected menus." and "Travel to the Rockies and Northwest Territories." Curriculum de vel opm en t and program planning were also cited as benefitial. In this category were specific examples of developing new courses for their home economics programs and working on a State Department of Education curriculum project. Interacting with resource people was also indicated to be a learning experience. In this category, identified resource people from custodians to a produce manager at a food store. teachers In some cases the respondents 63 indicated that these resource people had served as guest speakers in particular classes. Three respondents mentioned that their interaction with youths was a growth producing experience. cases, no context was mentioned, In these three so it was necessary to categorize these separately from other responses like "extra-curricular activities" or "teaching" where students were specifically mentioned. In fact, extra-curricular activities was mentioned with the same frequency as interacting with students. in coaching and Teachers mentioned participation in sponsoring student clubs as being helpful to them in their teaching. Other staff responsibilities were also perceived to have an impact on the teaching role. One teacher cited her participation on a North Central Evaluation team as making her more aware of the standards she should be applying to her own teaching of home economics. Two teachers indicated that their participation in a professional organization had been a growth-producing experience. Both were members of the Michigan Home Economics Educators Association. Social interaction was cited as being helpful to two teachers. One teacher indicated that casual conversations with commuity members was an important source of information to her, while another teacher mentioned conversations with non-teaching professional friends. 64 Teaching itself was mentioned as a professional growth producing activity. One teacher explained that teaching an adult education class had been helpful to her and preparing Another for her secondary home economics courses. teacher mentioned learning of teaching. in planning from the daily activity She indicated that she systematically assessed her performance in the classroom, and learned from her successes and failures. Work experience was mentioned by two teachers. Both were referring to non-professional work experience which related to home economics content areas. cited her work One respndent in a day care center, while another mentioned her employment as a cook In summary, in a restaurant. the 20 respondents cited 91 informal activities or experiences which they indicated had a positive impact on their teaching performance, professional growth. cxategories. The most resulting in These 91 items were collapsed into 14 frequently cited activities and. experiences were those related to home and family which took place in the personal lives of the teachers. "In what ways do teachers identify informal activities or experiences as helpful to them in their roles as classroom teachers?" To address this question, teachers were asked to indicate the specific effect of the activity or experience on their teaching. these responses from Part III It is important to examine (2) of the questionnaire apart from the activity to which they relate because of the 65 individual relevance teachers found in similar activities. For example, two respondents indicated that coping with divorce had influenced their teaching. experience, As a result of this one teacher stated that she now included a unit on family trauma in her family life class and had eliminated the wedding planning unit. The other teacher stated that she was now more empathetic with students in this situation. While both teachers had had a similar experience, applied the learning they from the experience to their classrooms in distinctively different ways. The responses from Part III (2) of the written questionnaire were carefully analyzed to determine the primary impact or influence of the cited activity or experience. Upon completion of the analysis, areas were observed. One area of influence was the teacher's knowledge of the content taught. frequently four general Teachers indicated that a particular experience expanded their knowledge of what they taught, certain content area, updated them in a or gave them new information about something they were teaching. For example, a teacher indicated that travel to Europe expanded her knowledge of foreign cooking. A second area of impact was teaching methods and materials. A variety of experiences and activities were cited as influencing the materials or resources teachers used in their classroom, the classroom. or techniques or methods used in One teacher, who also cited travel as a 66 growth-producing experience, indicated that she used in slides of different housing styles taken while on her vacations. A third area influenced by informal activities and experiences was the teacher's attitude or view of students. Some of the activities and experiences described by teachers were credited for altering the way they felt or reacted to the students they taught. One teacher indicated that rearing her own children had been particularly helpful in teaching growth and development, been the increased "tolerance" but the real benefit had she had for junior high school age youth when her own children reached junior high school age. Finally, some activities and experiences influenced the teacher's attitude or view of self as a teacher. These informal professional development experiences caused teachers to feel more confident, more competent, more determined, more enthusiastic, home economics. or more committed to teaching One teacher described the personal benefits of a stress management course, more in control in her own teaching. While some of the individual responses may have suggested more than one area of and how it helped her impact, feel careful attention was given to categorize the response according to its primary intent. An additional example of a response within each of these categories is displayed in Table 4-2. 67 TABLE 4,.2 EXAMPLE OF A RESPONSE IN EACH OF THE CATEGORIES OF INFLUENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN INFORMAL ACTIVITIES ON TEACHING The activity or experience influenced the teachers’ knowledge of teaching content. "I designed a lesson on tracing one's family history based entirely on information from this workshop. I used the information and data collection methods I learned." The activity or experience influenced the teachers' selection of methods or materials used in teaching. (As a result of teenage pregnancy of sister)..."I give students more opportunities for decision making." The activity or experience influenced the teachers' attitude or view of students. "Through, coaching I learned about students' families and their personal likes and dislikes which enabled me to better understand those kids in class." The activity or experience influenced the teachers' attitude or view of self as teacher. "Since I've had a leadership role in MHEE I've been encouraged to keep growing, to keep updated. I'm happier as a result." 68 Teachers most frequently indicated that participation in the informal experience or activity influenced knowledge of the content they taught. of the describeed their Thirty-seven percent informal experiences and activities provided teachers with opportunities to keep abreast of new developments within subject matter areas, to become aware of current trends and to acquire new information. For example, teachers specifically identified acquiring new knowledge about foreign foods, anorexia nervosa, updating surrogate parenting, and child birth. geneology, The vehicles for in content areas ranged from travel to popular media to courses and workshops. Twenty-five perc ent of the activities mentioned were cited as beneficial because they provided new ideas for teaching methods or materials. These activities influenced the selection or creation of particular methods or materials used in teaching. For example, one teacher with 22 years of experience noted that tours through bakeries had been helpful to her and that she had "adopted the use of timesaving techniques and use of equipment in demonstrations." Twenty-three perce nt of the experiences or activities cited by teachers were identified as contributing to the professional develo pme nt of the teacher by way of influencing the teacher's view of self as teacher. year veteran One ten- indicated recent participation in a cu rriculum development project. She stated that that involvement "increased my condfidence that peers felt I could make a 69 positive impact on my profession." Another teacher indicated that involvement in a workshop overwhelmingly "rejuvinated" her. teacher working One experienced in a one-person department claimed that her participation in a county wide curriculum development project caused her to re-think her overall philosophy of home economics. Informal activities least often affected the teacher's attitude toward or views of students. Only 15 percent of the cited activities were credited with having impact. One teacher employed in an urban school did indicate that a personal tragedy experience) this type of (home and family living had impresseed her with an "overwhelming desire to instill students with a sense of responsibility, Another good citizenship, and respect for others." teacher with 18 years teaching experience described her work with youth in 4-H Clubs. She indicated that this involvement helped give her a "broader perspective of teens today. It gives me encouragement." "Ho w valuable do tachers rate each activity?" Teachers were asked to rate each activity or experience they described on a three point scale, 3 indicating very valuable, 2 somewhat valuable, III-4 of the q u e s t i on na ir e) . and 1 not too valuable (Part Although 90 of the 91 reported responses were rated according to that scale, meaningful analysis of the data appears difficult. 70 First of all, meaningful comparisons between categories is made difficult due to a large number of categories (14) and the unequal number of responses within categories (from 22 to 2). Weighted averaging in this case is not particularly helpful because of the narrow range of differentiation available on a three-point scale. Means were calculated for each category, however, and a comparison between categories does yield some interesting indicators. The means ranged from 3.0 to 2.5 to somewhat valuable plus). of a perfect three, organizations, Eight categories yielded means including involvement in professional non-professional work experience, related responsibilities, teaching, social interaction, interaction with youths, and Five of these seven, were cited only twice by respondents, there were only two ratings average. school- extra-curricular activities, interactions with resource people. however, (very valuable therefore in each of these categories to The other two were mentioned three times. Tr ave l/v ac ation/tours earned the lowest mean the most frequently mentioned category, living experiences, had a mean of 2.76. (2.5) and home and family It is interesting to note that of the 90 examples that were rated, only two were assigned a rating of one. This initial analysis of the value of types of activity was in fact just that— by type or category of activity. categories were valuable. All A second look at the assignment of the rating by respondents suggests an alternate way of 71 examining the value of cited experiences. Teachers were asked to "rate the activity or experience according to its value as a professional development experience." This in fact may be interpreted to mean not the value of participation It may, in the activity, therefore, but the value of its effect. be more appropriate to compare the mean values of the four categories developed to represent the impact or influence of the experiences, rather than the mean values of the categories representing types of activities. The mean value of each of the four "impact" categories was calculated using the rating assigned to each activity within the category. 3. As These means are displayed indicated there, in Table 4- activites or experiences which influenced the teacher's attitudes or view of self as teacher were most highly rated (2.8). Following, in order, are those activities which influenced the teacher's knowledge of the content area (2.78), those which influenced the teacher's attitude toward or views of students and finally, (2.66) those activities or experiences which influenced the teacher's selection of methods and materials used in teaching (2.42). "How do teachers process the information from informal activites? " "Is there a relationship between the perceived value of the activity and whether or not a conscious attempt was made to process the information from the activity?" considering the ways from the activities In in which teachers processed learning in which they were engaged it was first 72 TABLE 4.3 MEAN VALUES'-OF INFORMAL ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES GROUPED ACCORDING TO THEIR EFFECT Activity Mean Value on 3 Point Scale Activities or experiences which influenced the teacher's ability or view of self as teacher 2.83 Activities or experiences which influenced teacher's knowledge of home economics content areas 2. 78 Activities or experiences which influenced the teacher's attitudes toward or view of students 2 .fifi Activities or experiences which influenced the teacher's selection of methods or materials used in teaching 2.42 *3-Very Valuable 2-Somewhat Valuable 1—Not too Valuable 73 helpful to distinguish between those activities or experiences in which they engaged for the purpose of learning or in anticipation of learning those (intentional) and in which learning occurred as incidental to the experience (unintentional). The reason for attempting to distinguish between deliberate and nondeliberate experiences and activities deliberately engaged is perhaps obvious. learning If teachers in an activity or experience in order to learn something that would be helpful to them as teachers, They have, they have already begun information processing. in fact, already determined that the experience will be of relevance to them, themselves and thus may have prepared in some way to understand or comprehend the specific relevance to them. In nondeliberate learning activities or experiences the first two steps may take place unconsciously. The teacher may not perceive the relevance until after the activity or experience. Thus, it may be helpful to examine the experiences and activities described by teachers and try to determine which of these were clearly entered into with some anticipation of learning, and which produced learning as incidental to the actual experience or activity. Typical examples of the types of intentional and unintentional learning experiences and activities described in the data may make this di stinction more clear. the foods section of the newspaper, course, taking a bakery tour, enrolling Reading in a cooking and talking with the County 74 Cooperative Extension agent are all examples of activities or experiences deliberately engaged in to learn, probably anticipation of using the knowledge in the home economics in classroom. Other described incidents were clearly not engaged to enhance classroom performance. of a parent, These having and rearing children, in included the death coaching, and home ma i n t a i n a n c e . Unfortunately, respondents were not asked to indicate whether or not the growth producing experiences they described were deliberate or nondeliberate, so this type of secondary analysis of the data is certainly subiect to error. Only a few activities or experiences could not be clearly categorized. These and some home projects. included some examples of travel Based on the written descriptions of the activities and experiences and the recorded comments from the group meetings, the researcher did determine that approximately 63 percent of the activities or experiences were deliberately engaged in to produce learning, and about 37 percent of the incidents might be classified as having produced learning as incidental to the experience. In those cases where learning was anticipated or planned teachers generally prepared to transfer the information from the activity to their teaching. percent indicated that they engaged Forty in some purposeful way to collect information from the experience by note-taking, video-taping, taking slides or pictures, picking up 75 materials, etc. In the rest of the cases teachers were able to give specific examples of how they used the learning these experiences from (their re sp on se ), but they were unable to identify specifically what steps or activities occurred between the time they attended the workshop or consulted another home economics teacher and the time it "appeared" as a new unit in a course or a new handout for student use. Al though no other written responses were given on the questionnaire, some other examples may be cited from those recorded at the group meetings. During this discussion at the group meeting most teachers said, get a good "It just comes to you," or "Suddenly you just idea," or "You just group discussion, however, see how it fits." During one a teacher with 25 years of experience tried to explain to the group how watching her own children grow had influenced her teaching. She explained that she had become more aware of the problems of children, and more tolerant of their behavior as it related to their developmental stage. But when trying to explain just how or when she had processed her personal experience for relevance and comprehension, she responded: "I'm not sure— it just happens as you gain insight. I guess I thought about it, re-examined my positions." Another teacher who reported interacting frequently with colleagues said she came up with many of her good the shower. morning She ideas in indicated that this was the time each that she thought about and planned what she would do 76 for the day. During another group meeting a teacher described a creative relationship she had with another home economics teacher. exchanging good, She reported that by talking and ideas they always seemed to come up with "other new ideas" for teaching. Of the activites or experiences where teachers had made some purposeful attempt to transfer the information or learning from the experience to their cl assroom teaching, all but two (55 of 57) experiences" were ranked as "very valuable (rated as "3" on the questionnaire). the 57 were rated as valuable, for these experiences (2.9) indicated by "2". is somewhat higher Two of The mean than the mean for those activities or experiences where teachers were unable to identify any conscious attempt to process the information from the experience "Are there differences (2.69). in the types of activities ranked as valuable by teachers with more than six years of teaching experience as those with less than six?" Teachers were asked to indicate the number of years of teaching experience in Part I of the questionnaire. and the responses in Part III analyzed Only (1) of the questionnaire were in addressing this question. five of the teachers in the sample had six or fewer years of teaching experience. group reported having other three reported contrast, That information Two teachers in this taught three years, and each of the five years of teaching experience. the "over years of teaching experience" group In 77 ranged from seven to 25 years of teaching experience. Table 4-4 presents the sample according to years of teaching experience. The five teachers with six or less years teaching experience (25% of the sample) cited 21 specific examples of informal activities or experiences (23% of the total described) which had been beneficial to them in their teaching. Seventy-five percent of the sample, with more than six years teaching experience, specific examples, the teachers contributed 70 or 77 perce nt of the total described. The activities or experiences cited by each group were ranked according to the frequency with which they were mentioned. These are displayed in Table 4-5. Alt hou gh the small size of the "six years or less" group may have hindered the range of activities and experiences described, some ob ser vations can be made. By far the most often cited activity or experience by the less experienced teachers were courses and workshops. Th ir ty-three percent of their responses were category. As pr eviously noted, in this these courses and workshops ranged from adult enr ich me nt/community education offerings to those sponsored by man ufacturers and retail merchants. Only seven percent of the more experienced teachers' responses were in this category. In contrast, the most frequently cited category of activities and experiences by the more experienced group was home and family living experiences. Twenty percent of their 78 TABLE 4.4 SAMPLE BY YEARS OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE Number of Te achers Years of Experience 2 3 3 5 1 8 1 9 2 10 1 11 4 12 2 17 1 18 1 21 1 22 1 25 TABLE 4-5 ACTIVITIES CITED BY TEACHERS WITH SIX^-OR-LESS AND MORE-THAN-SIX YEARS TEACHING EXPERIENCE, IN RANK ORDER BY FREQUENCY OF MENTION Responses of teachers w i t h less than six years teaching expe rie nc e ! Respo nse s of te ach er s w i t h six or more years tea ching exp erience C ou rse s and wo rks ho ps Home and family living ex periences Home and family living e xpe ri enc es Use of popular m ed ia Int era cti on wi t h co lleagues Cours es and works hop s T r a v e 1/to ur s/ vac at ion s Interac tio n w i t h col leagues Sc ho ol -r el at e d re s po ns ib il i ti es C ur r i c u l u m d e v e l o p m e n t / P r o g r a m planning I nte rac ti on w i t h Res o ur ce People Interac tio n w i t h resource people N o n -p ro fe ss i on al wo r k experience T ra ve l/ va c t i o n s / t o u r s E x tr a- cu r r i c u l a r activities I nte rac ti on w i t h students In vol vem en t in p ro fe ssi ona l o rg a niz ati on s Social interact io n T eac hin g N o n -P ro fe ss io na l work exp erience 80 responses were in this category. This category ranked second among less experienced teachers with only 14 percent of the responses. The second most frequently mentioned activities from teachers with more than six years experience was use of media. Ranked third by less experienced teachers was interaction with colleagues, contrasted with courses and workshops by more experienced teachers. Travel/vacation/tours ranked fourth by teachers with six or less years teaching experience, with interaction with colleagues ranked fourth for teachers with more than six years experience. Further comparisons of the rankings of activities and experiences based upon the frequency of which they were mentioned can be made by examining Table 4-5. Table 4-5 lists the activities in declining order for both groups by the frequency with which they were mentioned. Although the rank order groups, is different between the two it is interesting to note that the two groups share in common three of the four most frequently mentioned categories: home and family living experiences, with colleagues and courses and workshops. experienced group cited a wider interaction While the more range of activities (13 categories contrasted with seven categories mentioned by the less experienced group), this might be partially explained by the unequal group sizes and the small number of teachers in the less experienced group. 81 The absence of certain categories from each group may also be worth noting. While use of the popular media was second in the number of times mentioned by teachers with more than six years of teaching experience, percent of their responses, comprising 13 it was not mentioned at all by the teachers with six or less years experience. Noticeably absent as well from m ention by the less experienced teachers are involvement in professional organizations, extr a­ curricular activities and cu rriculum development/program planning efforts. Al though these were not prominently mentioned categories among experienced teachers, their absence of mention by less experienced teachers may be attributable to more than just the small number of responses from the sub-sample of five teachers. Possible explanations for the presence and absence of these categories will be explored in Chapter V. To add another dimension to this exploration of differences of types of activities cited by the contrasting groups, the groups were compared informality of the categories according to the of activities degree of in which they engaged. Within the parameters of informal experience or activity, variation may be observed structure of the experience and in the degree of in the degree of obvious or direct relationship to the teaching of home economics. example, For a microwave cooking class offered by a retail store is an informal activity, but this activity is highly structured and has obvious relationship to the teaching of 82 food preparation in home economics. By contrast, a family vacation would most likely not be viewed as a structured learning experience, and might have little obvious relationship to what is taught as home economics. For this co mparison between groups, each category of activities and experiences was rated according to its degree of informality. Ratings were made on the basis of the two criteria previously mentioned; first, according to the degree of structure of the activity. The closer the activity or experience resembled formal professional development activities, rated. Second, the more highly structured it was each category of activity or experience was rated according to its obvious or direct relationship to home economics content areas. The researcher rated each category 3, 2, or 1 on each of the two criteria. A "3" represented highly structure or highly obvious relationship; a "2" moderate structure or moderate relationship; little structure or little direct relationship. and a "1" The numerical criteria ratings for each activity were summed, yielding the "degree of informality" the scoring is displayed score. A breakdown of in Table 4-6. Although this system does require personal judgment, many of the categories are clear cut. validity of the rating by category, To increase the the researcher rated each specific activity or experience within the category and averaged that, and compared that score to the overall score assigned to the category. One of the smaller categories, TA BLE 4-6 RATING SHEET - DEGREE OF INFORMALITY Ac tiv it y Degree of Structure* Degre e of Obvio us Relationship** Score Cours es and Wor ks ho ps 3 3 6 Cu r r i c u l u m D e v e l o p ­ ment/Program Pla nn in g 2 3 5 Inv olv eme nt of Pr ofe ss io na l Or g an iz ati ons 2 3 5 Tea ching 1 3 4 Sc h oo l- re lat ed re s po nsi bi lit ies 2 2 4 In teraction wi th col lea gue s 1 3 4 Use of popular m ed ia 1 3 4 Home and family li v­ ing experie nce s 1 3 4 *3-highiy st ructured 2-moderate structure 1-little structure *3 -d ire ct rel at io ns hi p 2-moderate re lat io ns hi p 1-little di rec t relat io nsh ip TABL E 4.6, A c ti vi ty CONTINUED De gr ee of Struct ure Degree of Obvi ous Rel at ionship** Score No n-P rof es si on a l wo rk ex perience 1 2 3 In teraction wi t h Resource Pe ople 1 2 3 Int er act io n wi th Students 1 2 3 Tr a v e / V a ca ti on /T ou rs 1 1 2 Social Interaction 1 1 2 Ex tr a-c ur ri cu la r Act i vi ti es 1 1 2 *3-highly structured 2-moderate structure 1-little structure **3- dir ect re la ti on s hi p 2- moderate rel at io ns hi p 1-little d ire ct re lat i on sh ip 85 "non-professional work experience" may serve as an example. The researcher judged that overall work experience would have very little structure as compared to a formal professional development activity, using as a "standard" a university course or school inservice workshop. engaging That is, in a typical day of physical labor would have very little resemblence to participating in a university ocurse or an inservice workshop or proga m in terms of objectives, strategies and expected outcomes. Thus, nonprofessional work experience was rated "1— little structure", or very informal. working Then both examples were examined. They included in a day care center and working for a bakery. Each incident was evaluated to have little in common with a formal professional development experience, also rated "1— little structure." experience was examined could not be assumed Next nonprofessional work in terms of its relationship to what is taught within home economics. both relate to what thus each was The work experiences cited is taught within home economics. It that the experiences described were entirely relevant to what is taught in home economics. Thus, the category was rated "2— moderate obvious relationship." A cross-check of each of the examples verified this assessment. Both teachers had been able to apply some of the learning from the work experience, transfer was not a direct one. One teacher indicated that she had learned the importance of time management, attempted to teach that in her classes. but the and now The other teacher 86 indicated that she was now aware of the "technical revolution" in equipment, and now tried to keep up with new appliances and equipment. The scores were plotted on a continuum and are displayed in Figure 4-1. Act ivi tie s or experiences become increasingly informal the further right they are plotted on the continuum. The activities most frequently cited as helpful by the less experienced group of teachers (courses and workshops) appears at the farthest point left on the continuum. This point represents the most highly structured/highly related experiences. The home and family living experiences mentioned most often by more experienced teachers appears further down the continuum, indicating less structure and less obvious relationship. As earlier stated, this category was the second most frequently cited by the less experienced teachers. The more experienced teachers second most frequently mentioned activity, use of the popular media, holds the same point on the continuum as their most often mentioned home and family living experiences. or less group's third entry, This is also true of the six interaction with colleagues. The more than six year group's third entry courses and workshops is found at the extreme left of the continuum. The degree of informality is merely another way to compare the preferences of the two groups. No concrete generalizations should be based on this method of 87 Courses and Workshops CL 4-> G 0) O c c o o •H o P (0 W ,-H O •H x. m Ct o [m T3 a) E O a u) G p a O o o a H a) P > ~ 1 > > X i £ J3 O tji t r -P •H *H sc se 00 r-< i Use of Popular Media Interaction with Colleagues Teaching School Related Responsibilities Home and Family Living Experiences < CO O CD M U M (X H O M O > CO M E-1 O < o Non-professional Work Experiences Interaction with Resource People Interaction with Students CO u H QJ O CD W H < a w x H Cm O CD M H O J a. c-> Extra-curricular Activities Travel/Vacation/Tours Social Interaction a-p G x: Q) (/>-P c G o O •rl O ■P nj to o a> 0) p P a cn •p a o o a •H P . > P JQ a) co O E O a) x p p o p p p •H *H P? P) t6. 2. What is the last educational degree y ou ear ne d ? B.S. 3. Are y ou cur re n tl y e n r ol l ed in a degree program? .YES HO Is there a person in y o u r school or school district who r eg ularly passes along infor­ mation to y ou about home economics related inservice o p p o r t un i ti es ? YES HO Is there someone with w h o m y o u regularly discuss the1 kinds o f things y o u ' v e doing in y o u r c la ssroom? YES HO 7+ yfu. M.A. OtheA 4. A p p r o x im a te ly h ow m a n y students are enrolled in the school w h e re y o u teach? Part II 5. 6. If so, whom? [Volition] 7. Are funds a va ilable f or y o u to attend offcampus inservice e v e nt s ? l/PC 8. Are y ou given time off to att en d off-campus inservice events? YES 9. Besides yourself, h o w m a n y home economics teachers are there in y o u r bui ld i ng ? i«w HO P a r t III Directions: On the sheets that fol lo w please describe the informal activities and experiences you've had during two yea rs of teaching which have positively influenced y ou r c lassroom teaching. your last 1. In column 1 describe specific informal experiences you 'v e had or activities inwhich in the last two y e a r s that have positively influenced your classroom teaching. 2. In column 2, please describe how the activity influenced how or what you do within y o u r home economics class. In column 3 describe (if possible) how y ou processed the information from the experience or activity for use in y o u r classroom. 3. 4. you 'v e participated In column 4 rate the activity or experience according to its value to you as a professional development experience. Column 2 Column 3 Column 1 Column 4 Describe the Impact On Your Describe how y o u "processed" Rate the Experience. 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