EFFECTS OF MODES OF INSTRUCTION IN METRICS ON THE ATTITUDES AND KNOWLEDGE OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL INSERVICE TEACHERS
Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to determine whether instructional approaches used in the metrics training of elementary school inservice teachers would differentially affect their attitudes and knowledge of metrics. This study also sought to ascertain whether there were significant relationships among four teacher variables of age, grade level presently teaching, years of teaching experience, and college undergraduate major. Relationships between metrics attitude and knowledge for four teacher groups were also determined. Finally, the investigator sought to determine whether the teacher variables had any predictive value for metrics attitude and knowledge. Participants in this study, consisting of 91 elementary school inservice teachers who volunteered to participate in a 10-week metric training program in one district of the New York City Public School System, were pretested in metrics, attitude and knowledge, and asked to complete a Teacher Information Profile Sheet, used to collect teacher data. Teachers were randomly assigned to three instructional groups. In the final sample, 23 teachers were in each instructional group. Twenty-two teachers constituted a control group who received no instruction, and took posttests at the same time as the experimental groups. The Audiovisual and Workshop groups met for eight sessions of one and one-half hours each. The Programmed Instruction group met four times for the amount of time necessary to collect completed work, ask and have questions answered, and receive new packets of assigned materials. During the final session of the experiment, all teacher groups were administered posttests in metrics attitude and knowledge. The testing instruments used for measuring pretest and posttest metrics knowledge were parallel forms of 40 multiple-choice questions. The investigator employed two parallel forms of the Metrics Attitude Scale, consisting of 22 statements to assess metrics attitudes. Test reliability of these instruments was established by the investigator. The curricula and tests used in this study were validated by metric experts. One-way analyses of variance were used to determine whether there were significant differences among the means of metrics pretest scores, posttest scores, and gain scores of the four teacher groups. The Pearson product-moment correlational technique was employed to determine whether there were significant relationships among the four teacher variables, as well as significant relationships between the criterion scores on metrics attitude and knowledge. The teacher variables were further analyzed by stepwise multiple regression to determine whether they were significant predictors of criterion scores on metrics attitude and knowledge. Significant correlations were found between posttest metrics attitude and knowledge scores for Audiovisual Group and Workshop Sessions. There were also significant relationships between the variables of age and years of teaching experience for Audiovisual Group, Workshop Sessions, No Instruction, or Control Group, and the entire sample. Although there were no significant differences in the mean gain scores on both metrics attitude and knowledge among the three treatment groups and the control group, Workshop Sessions did attain the highest mean gain score in metrics attitude, and Audiovisual Group did attain the highest mean gain score in metrics knowledge. These findings seemed to suggest that elementary teachers profited more from the classroom teaching of an instructor. Neither a single teacher variable, nor teacher variables in combination, proved to be significant predictors of metrics attitude or knowledge for the entire group. One recommendation of the study is that a variety of instructional approaches in the metrics training of teachers should be implemented to effect positive changes in their metrics attitudes and knowledge.
Subject Area
Mathematics education
Recommended Citation
WATSON, JUDITH BINISH, "EFFECTS OF MODES OF INSTRUCTION IN METRICS ON THE ATTITUDES AND KNOWLEDGE OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL INSERVICE TEACHERS" (1981). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8120081.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8120081
