The phenomenon of over-achievement and under-achievement among school populations and the probable correlates of these two achievement patterns has been the subject of a number of studies reported in the literature (Altus). The study reported here was designed to determine what differences, if any, exist between high school seniors classified as overachievers, normal achievers, and under-achievers on the basis of a relationship between I& scores and grade point average, and measures of their attitudes toward study, certain personality traits, and problems which they manifest. PROCEDUREA sample of 475 seniors in two urban Indiana high schools were used as subjects. For the total sample of 475 an IQ score was obtained from performance on the Otis Qriick Scoring Mental Abilities Test (Gamma Test, Form C). In addition, a grade point. :wer:tge representing grades earned in three years of high school study in the four course :ire:ts of Eiiglish, Srienre, hfathematirs, and Social Science was computed for each student. After the selection of the three su1)s:tmples (over-achievers, normal achievers, arid under-achievers), these three groups were given the 13rown-Holtzm:in Survey of Study Habits :tiid Attitudes, the C:tlifornia I'sy(:liological Iuventory, sncl the High Scliool Form of the Mooney Problem Check List.The three groups of under-:toliievers, over-:iehievcrs, and normal achievers were selected by first constructing a so:tttergr:im h u e d on the ()tis IQ and the collootive grade point :kver:iges for :dl 475 senior students. Grade point average was c:omprit,cd by :issigning :I weight of 100 to "A," 75 to "B," 50 to "C," 25 to "I)," and 0 to "F." The mc:m IQ for the tot:d s:iml)lc w:ts 99.2 with a standard deviation of 12.1. The mean grade point average for the tiiree year sequciiw of hhglish, Mathematirs, Science, and Socitil Science was 49.8 with a stantlard devi:tt,ioii of 17.4. On t,he h s i s of these means, the scattergram was divided into four sertioiis. Although, on inspection, the sc::it.tergr:tm indicated a positive correlation, patterns of atypical groupings were identified. Oiie group w:m 1:il)eled underachieving on the b:isis of grade point averages I d o w the mean for t,he t,ot:il s:tmplc with IQ scores above the total s:tmple mean for IQ. Another group w:is identified by inspection arid I:il)elcd overachieving on the basis of grade point averages above the mean and IQ below the mcaii. The iiormsl achieving group was made up of students whose I& and grade point aver:ige most nearly conformed to the regression line indicating high positive A ratio of mean grade point average to mean IQ was calciil:tted for each subject in the three groups. The differences betw-een all groups compared on the basis of these ratios were significant at the .01 level of confidence.From the method described :Lbove, 18 over-aohievers, 27 normal achievers, and 25 under-achievers were identified. Responses on the 13rowwHoltzman Survey of Study H:d)it.s, the C:ilifornia Psychological Invent,or,v, arid thc Mooney Problem Check L...
Recent proposals for educational reform call for major changes in public education that, if implemented, will presage basic shifts in career patterns for teachers in the elementary and secondary schools of the United States. These changes, coupled with demographic trends now evident in the United States, suggest that public schools in the future will be staffed by teachers who are, on the average, older and more experienced. Reform statements often fail to recognize the symbiotic relationships of schools to the society they serve. As the population ages and becomes more pluralistic the developmental needs of teachers will change. Teaching is a unique skill that demands enthusiasm and vitality for its success. The continuing competence of those who stay in teaching beyond midcareer will depend less on personal characteristics of aging and more on the supportive nature of the context in which teaching takes place. The aging society will introduce many social issues not encountered before in schools or in other institutions. Teaching has, in the past, been predominantly a career for women, and it will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. Ways of maintaining generativity throughout a teaching career will need to become a part of professional expectations. Recent studies of career development, work, and aging provide some clues of expectation for the teaching profession.
No one has a better chance to observe the confusion and conflicting results in the field of programed instruction than an editor of an educational journal. This is particularly true of the question of the relative efficacy of such instruction when compared with other means of presentation (Pressey, 1964). This report presents the results of an experiment involving programed learning in a typical college classroom, designed to study the relationship between content dimensions (both relevant and irrelevant) and method of presentation (teaching machine and programed textbook). The objectives of the research were two-fold: (a) To develop a procedure for the use of automated instructional devices and programed learning to supplement the methods traditionally used in the teaching of an introductory psychology course for prospective public school teachers; and, (b) To evaluate the learning outcomes resulting from the use of programed text material which is highly relevant and a highly relevant program presented by a Skinner-type teaching machine, as opposed to learning outcomes resulting from the use of programed text material which is only slightly relevant and a slightly relevant program presented by a Skinner-type teaching machine. PROCEDURE Subjects. Subjects for the study consisted of male and female undergraduates a t Northwestern University who were enrolled in a two-quarter course in introductor psychology for education majors. The course was taught and administered jointly b the School of bucation and the Department of Psychology. Out of an original enrollment of 1% students, 114 subjects remained in the course throughout the two quarters and constituted the total sample for the research.Treatments. At the beginning of the Fall uarter 1963, the students were divided equally and or to a control condition for the duration of the experiment. Four of these groups were exposed for the two quarters to different experimental treatments involving the use of highly relevant and slightly relevant materials presented through the use of a teaching machine and a programed textbook. The fifth group was given only the traditional lecture and textbook materials.
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